Just as fans were grappling with the fact that “Insecure” was ending after a successful five-season run, the show’s creator, Issa Rae, announced that she would be delivering a new series, “Rap Shit.”
Today (June 13), HBO Max dropped the official trailer for the program.
The sneak peek begins with two young female friends in a car, with one excitedly yelling, “305! We live!”
According to the network’s official YouTube account, the show was created by Rae and follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (rapper KaMillion), who reunite to form a rap group.
As the trailer continues, it shows the pair living it up from studios to malls to Miami nightclubs.
The series follows Shawna and Mia as they prepare to take over the male-dominated hip hop field. JT and Yung Miami of the hit-making rap duo the City Girls serve as co-executive producers for the show.
Earlier this year, Rae spoke with Harper’s Bazaar about the inspiration behind “Rap Shit.”
“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 the outlet. “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.”
She continued by discussing her casting process. “We actually hired Aida as a writer before we cast her in the show, but we just could not get her out of our mind, and after the chemistry test between her and KaMillion, it was a no-brainer,” she added.
Rae, an executive producer for “Rap Shit” alongside showrunner Syreeta Singleton, wrote the premiere episode and co-wrote the finale.
“Rap Shit” drops July 21 on HBO Max.