Issa Rae and Syreeta Singleton on ‘Rap Sh!t’ season 2, peeking behind the music industry curtain

TheGrio caught up with the series’ creators ahead of the second season, now streaming on Max.

“Rap Sh!t” is back. The new popular Max show from the minds of Issa Rae and Syreeta Singleton has returned to the streamer for a second season, reuniting viewers with Shawna and Mia, a rap duo with big dreams of making it to the heights of the music industry. TheGrio caught up with the creators ahead of the second season premiere, breaking down what sets this season apart from the first, what they have learned so far and peeling back the curtain of the music industry.

When asked if there was anything they learned from season 1 that they were able to transfer over to season 2, Rae told us: “so much.” She explained, “For us on a granular level, just production. We had so many learning lessons about what we valued in a show and what we were looking for. Aesthetically, even behind the scenes where departments were concerned, we wanted to step it up in so many ways. Some of those things you can’t know until you do.”

Season 2 of “Rap Sh!t” certainly steps it up in many ways. Shawna and Mia, the rap duo we met in season 1 played by Aida Osman and KaMillion, venture out of Miami to go on tour as an opening act. The location changes, as well as moving away from the heavy use of social media used in the first season, are one of many changes the creators brought to the show’s second season.

“How do we make them look the best [as] possible? As performers how do we help them elevate everything? It was just a lesson in being better,” Rae added. For Singleton, who serves as showrunner of the series, she called it a lesson in “confidence.” She told us, “We really found our confidence, like, ‘okay, this is the story we are telling.’ It was a bit easier for us to just know what we are making.”

Like season 1, the show is anchored by Mia and Shawna’s relationship and dreams of stardom, peeling back the curtain of the music industry. “You can see someone go viral, and there’s an idea of what that may look like for them,” Singleton explained to us. “A lot of times it’s not that, especially because social media does take on a life of its own and can put you in front of a bunch of people before you are ready.”

“Hip-hop is a very young genre and it’s very youth-oriented,” Rae added. “You have these people who are thrust into this fame and rapidly with social media before they even know who they are, what they want to be and what they want to say. Our show is also tackling that … It’s very clear sometimes when artists pop that you know they are going to be of the moment. Some surprise you, but some don’t and you’re just like I knew this was going to come and go.”

The first two episodes of “Rap Sh!t” season two are available to stream on Max now.

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