Issa Rae And Syreeta Singleton On Making 'Rap Sh!t' Authentic

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Rap Sh!t, but the HBO Max comedy is as much about every day life in Miami for Black people across the diaspora as it is breaking into the music industry.

Starring Aida Osman and rapper KaMillion as lead characters Shawna and Mia, two early twenty something young women pursuing their dreams, Rap Sh!t widens the lens on young Black womanhood, friendship, and how one’s environment — in this case Miami — shapes their drive and view of the larger world.“First it starts with the characters, right?” says showrunner Syreeta Singleton of making sure Black life in Miami was accurately represented. “We wanted to make sure that these women felt unique and real in their stories and their separate worlds.

They’re from the same city but they’re having very different experiences.”While writers and consultants helped shape some of the key elements in the project, from shooting locations to the music that serves as the bomb soundtrack to Rap Sh!t, Singleton and Rae drew on the experiences of real-life rappers Yung Miami and JT for the show. “We were super inspired by the City Girls and them being a duo whose music we really love and putting Shawna and Mia in this environment just felt right,” she adds.Speaking further to the work that went in behind the scenes, Rae who is also Executive Producer of the series, says, “We were really intentional about making sure the writers room was reflective of the people who come from there.