Actor and writer Issa Rae once called the music business “probably the worst industry I’ve ever come across”. In a 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rae criticized the business as “abusive”, full of “crooks and criminals”.
“I thought Hollywood was crazy. The music industry, it needs to start over,” Rae said.
Rap Sh!t, Rae’s latest series since her critically acclaimed Insecure, acts as a fable on the music business’s insidious nature. The dramedy, following two emerging Black female rappers, is a razor-sharp and hilarious study on how Black women navigate the industry and the cost of carving out space for one’s self. Now in its second season, Rap Sh!t provides a stinging critique of how the music industry consumes and debases Black women, while also offering a hilarious and heartfelt story of two underdogs pursuing their dreams.
The show follows two up-and-coming female rappers from Miami, navigating the underbelly of the music industry while figuring out early adulthood. Shawna (Aida Osman) is a hotel receptionist, trying to build a legitimate rap career. She is frustrated on multiple fronts: the stagnation of her artist following and the pressure she faces to use her sexuality to inspire attention.
While talented, clips of her delivering socially conscious raps in a mask only garner pithy likes. “I want people to focus on the lyricism,” Shawna quips, when asked why she hides her face.
Mia (KaMillion) is a single mother working three jobs, including a popularish OnlyFans. Compared to Shawna’s sanctimoniousness, Mia embraces her sexuality and the pleasure that comes with it. But she struggles with her own feelings of being adrift, especially in the face of balancing parenthood and her aspirations. When the two reconnect on a night out, they write the ever-catchy song Seduce and Scheme. Once it goes viral, Shawna and Mia embark on a tour with tour manager and sex work manager Chastity (Jonica Booth).
Rap Sh!t emerges as Black female rappers continue to dominate the airwaves, from Miami duo City Girls to Megan Thee Stallion. Their music is empowering and fun, with lyrics that embrace the freedom of being sexual, feminine and dominant as the world tries to dictate otherwise.
Spliced with videos from Instagram and Tik Tok, season one focused on the currency of clout as a tool (and detriment) for emerging artists to be seen. But season two sinks into an even darker terrain. Having now achieved the “dream” of a tour, Shawna and Mia are met with the rotten core of the music space.
The writers of Rap Sh!t confidently touch upon a kaleidoscope of issues, including clout, cultural appropriation and misogyny within rap. Reina (Kat Cunning), a white rapper, gains more notoriety than Shawna and Mia, despite having less talent. She is able to cosplay as Black, hairstyle and all, a wink to known racial chameleons like Iggy Azalea.
Music producer Francois (Jaboukie Young-White), who invited both women on the tour, treats them as pawns, grabbing on their coattails to ride their wave of success while passing them off as soon as another opportunity emerges.
The show also continues Rae’s legacy of delivering hilarious, realistic portrayals of Black women. For five seasons, Rae starred in Insecure, which followed the daily lives and romantic relationships of Issa (played by Rae) and her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji). The show was rightfully described as groundbreaking for its rejection of cliche and its attention to the everyday disappointments that mark real life.
Rap Sh!t also includes Rae’s attention and reverence of Black female friendship. Shawna and Mia are frequently each other’s last defense against the toxic treatment of the music industry, especially in the face of abusive men. Between stops on tour, they share details of their sexual and romantic relationships, sleepover-style.
But the show also includes grittier topics of poverty, abuse, and mental health. Shawna, Mia and Chastity all struggle to make ends meet while embarking on what is supposed to be a life-changing tour. Even those who have “made it” are notably miserable as their turn with fame and success proves to be poisonous.
Rap Sh!t feels ever more relevant amid the real life degradation of Black female talent, including the assault of Megan Thee Stallion and the subsequent mistreatment of her. It acts as a mirror and interrogation of these events, an engaging and funny depiction of how the music industry really “works”.
