Look at us, sad at the thought of not seeing the talent of Issa Rae on HBO as Insecure comes to an end in it’s fifth season. Little did we know that through her deal with WarnerMedia we would all be shouting “Hoorae” (pun intended, as that’s the name of her production company), because Rap Sh*t from Issa Rae is in the works to come out on HBO Max. Word on the street is that Rap Sh*t was inspired by the reckless comments of Jermaine Dupri.
Let’s go back to 2019, the So So Def founder, like so many other pressed and bitter Black men, who never commented on the similarities of male rappers content, made a few cringe-worthy, patriarchy-driven, misogynoir comments about female rappers. Dupri said “They all rapping about the same thing,” , “For me, it’s like strippers rapping”. While he was called out by many, Issa Rae is leading the charge with creative visual content expressing how important women are to rap culture.
Rap Sh*t is a story about two estranged high school friends Shawna and Mia from Miami who reconnect over their love of hip hop music to form a rap group. This eight part series will star Aida Osman ( podcast host “ Keep It”) as Shawna and KaMillion (“Love & Hip Hop: Miami”) as Mia. Other cast members include Rj Cyler ( Power Rangers and War Machine), Daniel Augustin (Grey’s Anatomy, David Makes Man), Comedian Jaboukie Young-White, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut (Cruel Summer), Devon Terrell ( Barry and Cursed), Jonica Booth ( Bad Girls Club) and Amandla Jahava (DMZ).
Sadé Clacken Joseph (Ponyboi) will direct the pilot. Executive producing alongside Issa Rae will be Jonathan Berry (Insecure) and Montrel McKay (A Black Lady Sketch Show). Issa Rae tapped rap duo JT and Yung Miami of City Girls to co-executive produce the project with Sara Rastogi (Hoorae Productions) Pierre “P” Thomas and Kevin “Coach K” Lee.
The cultural impact that Issa Rae has made on media will be felt for generations. The unseen and untold stories of the black woman who mainstream has ignored have now been highlighted through the quirky and witty storytelling of Issa Rae. Rap Sh*t will no doubt continue her legacy.
