Issa Rae
Issa Rae Shares How She Was Told To Add White Characters To Her Shows
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 Actress Issa Rae is enjoying the spotlight of major success thanks to her hit HBO series Insecure, but she recently revealed that a former colleague gave her a startling piece of advice – add a white character to her shows to make sure they’d be popular. In a profile interview with Mic, Rae spoke about her versatile career and future plans, which led her to talk about the “white gaze” that hangs over the work of Black creatives at times. “From the jump in creating the show, it was put in my mind that you had to have a white character to be a bridge, and for people to care, for it to get awards, for it to be considered worthy of the television canon, she remarked. Related Stories That point led to her sharing the conversat...
Issa Rae Shares ‘Insecure’ Trailer for Final Season
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Courtesy of HBO / HBO After a glorious and entertaining 4 seasons, Insecure is coming to an end. While we hate to see the beloved series go, it just can’t get here fast enough. Source: Merie Wallace / HBO This October 24th the fifth and final season of the culture’s favorite HBO series kicks off and in the latest trailer we get an idea of what to expect from Issa (Issa Rae) and company as they embark on the next chapters of their lives. With Issa still struggling to find her path in life, she and Molly (Yvonne Orji) head back to visit their alma mater at Stanford University while Lawrence (Jay Ellis) seems to be struggling with the fact that he’s now a baby daddy to a child he never intended on having. Throw in the fact that Issa will seemingly be humorin...
EXCLUSIVE: The Guys from Issa Rae’s ‘Sweet Life: Los Angeles’ Use Their Platform to Promote Healing
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Courtesy of HBO Max / P’Jae Compton On the surface, it’s another reality show. A handful of beautiful women and handsome men getting into clashes, dating and partaking in drama. But, there are some twists to HBO Max’s Sweet Life Los Angeles. The seven main characters: Tylynn Burns, Jerrold Smith II, Briana Jones, Cheryl Des Vignes, P’Jae Compton, Amanda Scott, Jordan Bentley are all ambitious and focused on success and a quality of life. The young stars heard about the show through a mutual friend and who suggested their friend group be featured. The crew is about 20 young men and women who make appearances on the show, but the storylines are about the seven main cast members. The three main male stars: P’Jae Compton, Jerrold Smith II, and Jordan Bentley ...
Issa Rae & HBO Shares When The Final Season of ‘Insecure’ Will Arrive
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 We now know what month Insecure’s final season will premiere. Fans have been in their feelings since Issa Rae announced that when the hit HBO dramedy Insecure returns for its fifth season, it will be the show’s final one. Rae who has made a tremendous leap from being a YouTube star to a successful media mogul launching her own music imprint Raedio Music starred in numerous big-screen films and landing an 8-figure film and television deal with WarnerMedia announced via Twitter that Insecure is returning to HBO in October by retweeting a tweet from the cable networks official Twitter account. Speaking with Deadline in January about the show’s final season, Rae said, “Prentice [Penny] and I are so grateful that HBO believed ...
Issa Rae Teams With Converse For New Converse By You Collection
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Converse / Converse As Issa Rae prepares for the final season of Insecure to get underway, the talented actress is already working on side projects and one of them happens to be some new attire courtesy of Converse. HypeBeast is reporting that Issa will be working with Converse to drop a Customize By You collection and will be collaborating with designer, Nicky Fulcher to make her vision come to life. The kicks are said to be centered around the classic Chuck 70 silhouette that were all the rage back in the day. “Launching the Converse By You collection, Issa Rae said, “it was all about empowering the next generation to get up and DO what it is they aspire to do. So the team took some of my personal affirmations and approaches to life, and put them i...
Issa Rae Tapped To Lead ‘Project Greenlight’ Revival For HBO Max
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 Issa Rae is showing creatives how to do it and with her latest project, she’s providing them the opportunity too. According to Variety, the Insecure creator has been tapped by HBO Max and Miramax to revive the critically acclaimed docuseries “Project Greenlight,” which originally spotlighted first-time filmmakers on HBO. The updated reboot of “Project Greenlight” will focus on talented female filmmakers who are given the chance to direct a feature film. Rae will appear in every episode as an executive producer, providing guidance and mentorship to aspiring filmmakers, with the finished film premiering on HBO Max. “By relaunching the iconic ‘Project Greenlight’ with the brilliant Issa Rae and HBO Max, we continue...
Issa Rae Teams Up With LIFEWTR For “Life Unseen” Campaign To Help Diverse Creatives
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: LIFEWTR / Issa Rae Issa Rae is looking out for all diverse creatives with her latest partnership with the Pepsi brand LIFEWTR. The award-winning actress, producer, writer, and advocate kicked off her new Life Unseen campaign on Wednesday (Apr.14). The nationwide campaign’s main goal is to “expose disparities in representation among diverse creatives (representing people of color, disabled people, the LGBTQ+ community and women) across four creative industries (fashion, film, music and visual arts),” according to a press release. LIFEWTR partnered with QSIDE, a nonprofit corporation specializing in the quantitative study of inclusion, diversity, and equity, for a first-of-its-kind study that revealed under-representation in the arts the following sta...
Bag Secured: Issa Rae Lands 8-Figure Film & Television Deal With WarnerMedia
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 Her show is named Insecure, but her money sure isn’t. Variety broke the news that Issa Rae secured a hefty bag after re-upping her commitment to HBO with a five-year overall deal, but will now see her Hoorae media company partner with WarnerMedia as part of its cover feature featuring the actress/media mogul. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement. Still, according to Variety, the pact is valued to be at around $40 million, putting her in the company with Donald Glover. He also recently landed an eight-figure deal with Amazon Studios. The publication reports that as part of the pact, HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. television will get the rights to Issa Rae’s television shows plus a ...
Issa Rae Launching ‘RAP SH*T’ HBO Max Series, City Girls Co-Exec Producers
Source: Jerritt Clark / Getty HBO Max has been making some epic moves in the content wars and once again, they’ve scored what could be a major hit. The streamer has just announced a new series tentatively titled RAP SH*T with Issa Rae named as the lead executive producer with co-executive producing credits for JT and Yung Miami of the City Girls. The announcement shares that along with the aforementioned Rae and City Girls, writer Syreeta Singleton will serve as the executive producer and showrunner for the eight-show series. The logline reads, “RAP SH*T (wt) follows two estranged high school friends from Miami who reunite to form a rap group,” which, to us, reads like the City Girls are a possible influence on the story. Montrel McKay, who worked on A Black Lady Sketch Show and Road Tripp...
Kendrick Lamar, MF DOOM, & More Featured On Biden/Harris Inaugural Playlist Curated Issa Rae’s Raedio & D-Nice
Source: Drew Angerer / Getty In just a few days, Donald Trump will be out of the White House. The country will begin healing as President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris takeover, to celebrate there is a playlist full of jams to mark the occasion. When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris each put their hands on a bible and swear to honor and defend the U.S. constitution as the 46th president and vice president of the United States, things will look very different. There won’t be hundreds of thousands of people flooding the National Mall to witness the moment because COVID-19 is still crushing the country. Also, there was that bootleg coup incited by the current lame-duck President Donald Trump last week that now has the entire country on edge and hundreds of national guard t...
Issa Rae Tapped For Next MasterClass, Announces ‘Insecure’ Ending After Season 5
Source: HBO / HBO Issa Rae is one of Hollywood’s brightest stars and she’s sharing tips on how those aspiring to break in the business can too. In an announcement on the official MasterClass website, the series of 14 video-based lessons detail the Insecure creators experience in the business, providing priceless insight for creators and preparing them to launch their own projects and break into Hollywood. “The Emmy-nominated star and creator of the award-winning HBO series Insecure is here to show you how it’s done. Issa Rae uses her signature do-it-yourself ethos, humor and voice to offer writers and creators of all types the motivation and tools they’ll need on their journey. Issa shares how she has navigated Hollywood while black and inspires you to reach your creative dreams ...
Black Ops: Kanye West Takes Issue With Issa Rae’s Swipe At Him on SNL
Source: Neil Mockford / Getty Well, it seems like “presidential candidate” Kanye West got some skin as thin as the orange peel on the current “commander-in-chief” residing in the White House. For their latest episode, Saturday Night Live had Issa Rae as their host and during one of the sketches, dubbed “Your Voice Chicago,” she played an NAACP lawyer who was set to vote Black down the ballot with the exception of one Kanye West to whom she said “Kanye? F-him.” Seemed innocent and funny enough, but it rubbed Yeezus the wrong way. [embedded content] While many in the culture feel the same exact way about the MAGA rapper who’s running election interference on behalf of Republicans, Kanye took issue with the sketch and took to Twitter to air out his grievances a la Trump. Accusing Saturda...
