Issa Rae

Issa Rae’s ‘Rap Sh!t’ Takes On The Double Standard For Female Rappers In Its Official Trailer

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After previewing her upcoming HBO Max series Rap Sh!t with a twerk-tastic teaser, Issa Rae finally shared the official trailer today, revealing more detail about the show’s plot. While previous descriptions had the show sounding like an unofficial City Girls biography (they’re listed as executive producers), the series will actually address the fractious dichotomy facing women who pursue careers in rap.

The narrative follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Mia and Shawna, as they reunite and form a rap duo. However, there’s friction within their ranks as Shawna (comedian Aida Osman) dreams of making it as a more socially-conscious rapper, lamenting the industry’s expectations of booty-baring and rump-shaking for women in hip-hop (as one observer puts it in the trailer, “Just say you want to be Queen Latifah!”). Meanwhile, the more freewheeling Mia (Love and Hip Hop: Miami star KaMillion) is a single mother willing to do whatever it takes to provide for her four-year-old daughter. Over the course of the show, they will learn to lean on their sisterhood, even when they’re at odds over how to present themselves as Black women in entertainment — or in general.

They’ll also encounter Miami nightlife characters who try to help them reach their goals, such as Chastity a “sex work manager” with connections throughout the industry as a result of her profession, and Jaboukie Young-White’s music producer Francois Boom, whose arrogant social media posts both inspire and discourage Shawna, his former classmate. News flash, kids: That money your favorite rappers flash on camera isn’t always the real deal.

The show seems to tie together threads from the last few years of discourse as new female rappers have emerged on the scene and detailed their struggles with the rap biz’s double standards for them, such as Rapsody and Cardi B being pitted against each other, Latto’s insistence that women have to do twice as much as their male peers for less recognition, and City Girls’ own insistence that they could have made more “relevant” content but that consciousness isn’t commercially viable. I guess you could say the show kind of is their biography — and the biography of any woman trying to make it in hip-hop.

Watch the official trailer for Rap Sh!t above.

[WATCH] HBO Max Releases Trailer for Issa Rae’s New Series ‘Rap Sh!t’

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HBO Max Releases Trailer for Issa Rae's New Series 'Rap Sh!t'

Insecure may be over but Issa Rae is back with a new show for HBO. On Monday, HBO Max revealed the trailer for the new series Rap Sh!t.

The new show is set to release on July 21 and will highlight the work women have to do to break into the Hip-Hop industry. The story will focus on Shawn and Mia who form a rap group.

“I think this is just such a unique time in hip-hop, especially when it comes to female rappers, because there’s such an abundance, and it doesn’t feel like they’re all in competition with each other. I’m a child of the ’90s, and there used to always be a tendency to put two women against one another,” Rae said to BAZAAR.com. “It feels like we’re in an era where there’s such a supportive environment now because of that abundance. All of that, combined with just my own story of coming up, became the next story that I wanted to tell.”

You can see the trailer below.

The post [WATCH] HBO Max Releases Trailer for Issa Rae’s New Series ‘Rap Sh!t’ appeared first on The Source.

Issa Rae’s ‘Rap Sh!t’ Trailer Riffs On City Girls’ Twerking-Fueled Success Story

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Ever since the series finale of Insecure, Issa Rae fans have waited with bated breath for her next big television project. They didn’t have to wait long; Issa and HBO announced that the multitalented creator would be crafting a show semi-based on the come-up story of Miami duo City Girls, Rap Sh!t. Today, she shared the first trailer from the show, which included a Guapdad 4000 (aka Guap) cameo. The show follows a pair of Miami strippers turned aspiring rappers named Mia and Shawna as they find fame and navigate the trouble that comes with it. Sound familiar?

Issa’s certainly accumulated her fair share of experience with the music industry — and not all of it has been good. She started her own label, Raedio, under Atlantic Records and signed her first rapper, NCognita, but also encountered the unbalanced contracts that have unfortunately become industry standard over the past few years. The experience prompted Issa to call the music industry “the worst industry I’ve ever come across,” characterizing it as “an addiction industry.” How much that will inform her depiction of the industry in Rap Sh!t remains to be seen but if the response is similar to any of her other projects, the show is sure to be a hit, even among those who don’t know the behind-the-scenes workings of the average record label. Check out the trailer above.

Issa Rae Addresses Pregnancy Rumors With Explicit Tweet To Fans

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Issa Rae ByBlack

It’s just a food baby — for your information.

After ending her acclaimed HBO series Insecure last year, Issa Rae, actress-turned-mogul, has been flourishing in both her personal and professional life. On Wednesday (Mar 30), she cleared up rumors circulating on social media of the possibility of her being pregnant with a raw and uncut response.

MORE: ICYMI: Issa Rae Hosts South Los Angeles Airbnb “LA Stay, Her Way”

“I am not pregnant, fuckyouverymuch,” she tweets. “LET A BITCH EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY.”

Rae, 37, has always been private with her personal life. She married her husband, Louis Diame, last year in a private ceremony in the South of France. In September 2021, she opened up about her marriage in a cover story for Self Magazine.

“I’m extremely happy [being married],” Rae said. “[But] I like my life, I like this selfishness, and I know that I have a window. I’ve always felt that way, that women, Black women especially—unless you’re Viola Davis or Angela Bassett—you have a window when people are going to want to continue to see you and see what you can do. Then there are so many limitations placed upon you, and that does keep me up.”

MORE: ICYMI: Black Girl Magic: Issa Rae and H.E.R. Lead The 53rd NAACP Image Awards Nominations

In the midst of the rumors, Issa took the opportunity to promote her friend’s podcast. Sharing the link to the Amy Aniobi and Grace Edwards-hosted podcast, “The Antidote,” with the tweet: “O shit this blowing up, listen to my friends (@amyaniobi + @gracyact) new podcast that dropped today.”

The post Issa Rae Addresses Pregnancy Rumors With Explicit Tweet To Fans appeared first on The Source.

Issa Rae Says Music Is ‘The Worst Industry I Have Come Across’

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Issa Rae, fresh off the series finale of her acclaimed HBO show Insecure, has a variety of endeavors in front of her, including more television, some movies, and her Atlantic Records label, Raedio, with which she’s trying to change a system that she sees as corrupt and toxic. In a new interview with Los Angeles Times excerpted by Variety, the multitalented creator called music “probably the worst industry I’ve ever come across.”

Comparing it to her experiences in film and television, she pointed out many of the issues she has with the music business that she likely hopes to change with her work with Raedio. “I thought Hollywood was crazy,” she said. “The music industry, it has to start all over again. There are lots of conflicts of interest. Archaic mentalities. Villains and criminals! It’s an addiction industry, and I really feel for artists who need to get into it.” She called it “shocking” to learn how the business works from the inside.

Indicating how her approach with Raedio contrasts this status quo, she explained, “I do not want to be too specific, but even with making our own appointments [for soundtracks] with labels or artists, it would be so intricate. And to find out how artists were treated on other labels … When I myself am a creator and know what I want in relation to a relationship with a production company or a producer, I would like to think that we are more artist-friendly than much of other brands and companies out there. I want to renew things.”

Issa also talked about the music for Insecure, which she curated, and which fans said they’d miss as much as the show. Of curating the vibes for the show with new and rising talents, she said, “As a music lover, nothing excites me more than feeling like you’re on to an artist first.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Fans Are Going To Miss The Music Of ‘Insecure’ As Much As The Show Itself

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One of the highlights of Issa Rae’s hit HBO show Insecure was always the soundtrack, curated by Issa herself and featuring some of hip-hop and R&B’s rising stars. Fans reveled in both hearing longtime faves and getting put onto newcomers with every episode, with the show’s team sharing each episode’s tracklist as part of a growing playlist on streaming services. On Sunday night, the series finale aired, bringing the show to a close that fans are still discussing and debating on Twitter.

And while the touching finale may have sparked diverging opinions on the resolution of its lead character’s complicated love life, one thing many fans seem to agree on is that the music helped make the show. Scrolling through the “Insecure” trending topic on Twitter, you’re just as likely to see messages praising the show’s musical curation as you are ones debating various plot points throughout its five-season run.

Many of the artists featured on the soundtrack also chimed in with both praise and thanks for Issa Rae’s fan-favorite series, which many say helped introduce them to new audiences — a sentiment that fans echoed wholeheartedly. Issa herself, who always live-tweets the show right along with fans, offering background information from the writer’s room and her inspirations for the show’s setting, plot, and its plethora of jokes, even noted how some of the finale’s songs found their way into touching pivotal scenes.

Issa Rae Includes Thundercat, Raphael Saadiq, SiR, And Others In Her Favorite NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

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Surely, we’ve all gone down the NPR Tiny Desk Concert rabbit hole. There’s something about seeing favorite artists (and new discoveries) in a highly intimate setting that feels special, even if we’re not there and just watching from our screens at home. The series has become a ubiquitous part of pop culture and lately, NPR has been asking celebrities to list out their favorite performances. Today, Insecure star, writer, and creator Issa Rae checked in to share her picks.

She led off her list with Raphael Saadiq, who is not only the composer for the musical score of Insecure, he’s also certifiably one of the best live acts in hip-hop and R&B. “When he linked up with Lucky Daye for “You Should Be Here” was just phenomenal,” Rae said as one of her highlight moments of the performance. She also counts Thundercat as one of her favorite Tiny Desks and in goofy Issa Dee fashion (her character in Insecure) she explains that “The lyrics [to his song FriendZone’] are lowkey kind of dumb. But to hear it sound so melodic was just like a treat for me.”

She goes on to talk about Sampha and how his music was featured in Insecure season 2, and that she “was introduced to Sampha by Solange when she was doing the music for season one, so he has a special place in my heart.” She tips the cap to SiR (“because, you know, Inglewood”), and rounds out her six with Baby Rose and Nick Hakim, who’ve both had songs featured on Insecure.

Read Issa Rae’s full comments on her favorite Tiny Desk Concerts here.

Issa Rae’s Artist NCognita Balances Her Career With School In Her ‘Nita Unfiltered’ Docuseries

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It’s not always easy balancing work with school — especially if you’re a recording artist. While more and more artists attempt to complete their educational goals at the same time as their career ones, you might wonder: What does that balancing act actually look like? South Central LA rapper NCognita attempts to answer that question with her new docuseries, Nita Unfiltered. Kicking off today, its first episode follows her NCognita as she prepares to return to Loyola University New Orleans, talking it through with her family at home and describing the differences between LA and New Orleans.

Ncognita is just starting her career, but she’s already got a lot of weight behind her thanks to the co-sign of Insecure creator Issa Rae, who signed the young rapper to her label Raedio earlier this year after holding a competition for an invitation to a writing camp for the show’s final season. Issa Rae has been curating the soundtrack for Insecure all five seasons, leading to expanded work on the soundtracks for shows like 50 Cent’s Power and HBO’s Betty. Raedio previously partnered with Baby Tate to release her After The Rain EP as well, spawning the hit record “I Am” with Flo Milli.

So while Ncognita may not be a household name just yet, there’s a strong chance you’ll be hearing her in at least one of the places Issa Rae currently holds sway. Take the chance to get familiar now.