Hip-Hop legend Big Boi is taking the big leap into television production. The ATL rap superstar has announced that he's teaming with 850 Entertainment to produce a new drama series that will feature a who's-who of Hip-Hop icons.
“I’ve teamed up with Chris DeBlasio at 850 Entertainment on a project called Government Records, it’s going to be big! Can’t wait to get things moving,” said Big Boi via press release. The show focuses on two ATF agents who pose as music moguls to infiltrate the Atlanta Hip-Hop scene and bring down a notorious crime ring.
The series is being described by 850 Entertainment and show creator Terron R. Parsons as "sort of an Empire meets Get Shorty hybrid," and Parsons promises a project that is "essentially a heist movie, except the federal agents are the ones pulling the job. I don’t think we’ve really seen anything from that perspective before on TV.”
“I’ve been looking for a project that would both highlight the city of Atlanta and bring recurring work to the area,” said DeBlasio. “When the script first came to me it was actually being developed as a feature film, but the characters and material were so rich that I immediately decided that it needed to be a series, to fully cover the scope of the story.”
That scope includes quite the list of Hip-Hop legends: DMX, Big Daddy Kane.Rakim, Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa, Doug E. Fresh, Grandmaster Flash, Rob Base, Montell Jordan and Treach from Naughty by Nature are all named as cast members on the show. It's unclear if these are recurring or regular roles; along with Big Boi, they're all "set to appear on the show in the first season."
Check out DeBlasio and Big Boi discussing the project below.