HBO Max's "Rap Sh!t" Gives Us a Mean Soundtrack, Legit Sex-Positivity and a Progressive Look at American Blackness

Starring Aida Osman who39s also an executive story editorwriter on the show Rap Sht follows Shawna an aspiring artist whose main focus is conscious rap a style that prioritizes thoughtprovoking lyrics and messages over the trendier more shallow aspects of the mainstream like cars money and ass In the meantime she works the lobby desk at a Miami hotel Eventually she ends up linking with an old high school friend Mia played by rappersingersongwriter and Love and Hip Hop Miami Season 3 alumna KaMillion who is a single mother working several jobs to take care of her daughter and after a night of hanging out and realizing that they both want and deserve more than the hood39s been offering them they decide to be a rap duo and drop a freestyling video on social media It blows up locally and the two are convinced that between Shawna39s talent as a lyricist and Mia39s ear for what the streets want to hear not to mention the builtin following she has from her Onlyfans account that they have a legitimate chance of successfully capitalizing on the momentum they haveOne of the first things I appreciated about this series besides the social media overlayinfused aesthetic of it all which I39ll get to was the conversation it has about how female rap artists are viewed in the industry A name or two is dropped specifically those of Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim and some interesting points are made Shawna is of the opinion that female rappers often play the role of side chick second fiddle or walking prop to a male rapper and are often tossed aside when they39re no longer useful She also calls out female rappers who have male ghostwriters instead of writing their own lyrics and how those lyrics once sexualized in any way are usually no longer really being heard at all as the female artist is being written off Again all valid pointsMia on the other hand while still being able to see Shawna39s point also points out that artists like Kim and Nicki are more a woman39s fantasy than that of a man They assert their dominance in a way that embraces their sexuality not for quotthe male gazequot as Shawna puts it but in celebration of themselves That39s what being a quotbad bitchquot is all about According to Mia quotWe in the middle of a bad bitch renaissancequot When looking at the abundance of quality female rappers in the game right now especially considering their numbers in the Nineties for example I39d have to say that I agreeBeyond all that a lot of the choices made by the cast and crew of this series work for me Visually this show takes advantage of pretty much every opportunity it gets to remind us how inundated our daytoday lives are with social media Almost every character is either live streaming scrolling through someone39s else39s feed or recording the situation in order to post about it later though we see those recordings in real time All the overlays are pretty accurate to the apps they39re portraying and from time to time they even add visual gags to the plot For example in episode four arguably the funniest episode so far a friend Nelly DomiNque Perry records the girls during a drugfilled night on the town and besides her hilarious commentary keeps putting ridiculous Snapchat filters on their faces like huge eyes and the one that turns your face into that of a horseOther elements lend a lot of credence to the series as well like the fact that such guest stars as Sam Sneak and DJ Dimples are real people or how Caresha and JT of the reallife rap duo City Girls are coexecutive producers of the show It kind of explains why Shawna and Mia give City Girlvibes when they spit together Let39s not forget how Issa Rae39s character used to freestyle in the mirror on Insecure either especially because Shawna seems to summon that same energy when we hear her rap the first couple timesRap Sht definitely comes into its own but that doesn39t mean I don39t feel the Insecure of it all beneath the surface We39ve got a series filled with a realistic amount of adult language and nudity that follows a pair of female friends who live different aspects of the Black experience in a less publicized city outside of a major city in a major state Also the men in their lives could probably be a bit better though this really isn39t about them Factor in a mean soundtrack and an overall cinematic look outside of the phone stuff a lot of sexpositivity and a progressive look at American Blackness and you39ve got all the basic parameters of an Issa Rae productionSure to date all we currently have to go on besides Rap itself are Insecure and Sweet Life LA but that39s great company to be in no matter how you slice itRap Sht is streaming on HBO MaxClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HBO Max's "Rap Sh!t" Gives Us a Mean Soundtrack, Legit Sex-Positivity and a Progressive Look at American Blackness

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Ainsley Andrade

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HBO Max's "Rap Sh!t" Gives Us a Mean Soundtrack, Legit Sex-Positivity and a Progressive Look at American Blackness

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