Hiphoplegenden Eric B. tog 2019 klivet från artist till skådespelare när han landade en roll i CBS kriminaldrama “Blue Bloods”. Nu utökar han sin repertoar med egna serien “Harlem World”.
Namngiven efter den ökända nattklubben i New York, tar serien fasta på maktkampen i drogvärlden i Harlem från 70-talet till millenieskiftet. Även om serien är fiktiv baseras den på verkliga händelseförlopp i staden när heroin, kokain och crack präglade gatorna.
“It’s about the New York City drug trade. The Italians had all the drugs. What happened was back in the mid to late ’80s, the Colombians came in, and they had more drugs than everybody and wound up taking the Italians out of play. And before crack, there was a thing called Bazooka — that was the first kind of crack. You gotta be from the streets of New York City to understand. It was the first version of crack”, säger Eric B. till HipHopDX.
“When we were in Harlem as kids, if you had dollar bills in your pockets, you were a sucka ass muthafucka. So we’re bringing all of that to the screen, subtle stuff like that. Being a native New Yorker and walking librarian, knowing all this stuff, I thought we better jump on it so nobody fucks it up.”
Produktionen väntas påbörjas 2023 och i serien kommer bland andra Scarface, Slick Rick, Fabolous, Too $hort, Ashanti, Peter Gunz och Fat Joe att synas. Eric B. själv menar att projektet varit i sin linda sedan han var 12 år gammal, men att det var först nu som bitarna föll på plats.
“Things take time, it comes in its time. Rakim used to say, ‘I’m never gonna say a rhyme before it’s time.’ And I laugh and say, ‘That’s some bullshit.’ It was just funny. What he says come true.”
Enligt HipHopDX väntas också en spinoff av serien att komma som fokuserar på kvinnorna i samma era.
“Women are responsible for every male drug dealer in Harlem and the world. They were in power, too.”
Håll utkik!
Foto: Instagram/@therealdjericb
