The process behind “seduction and scheme” was heavy on intrigue.
“We snuck into the writers’ room and studio when they were attending soundtrack sessions. We weren’t supposed to be there!” says KaMillion, who plays Mia on the comedy series “Rap Sh!t” created by Issa Rae on HBO Max. The series follows Mia and Shona (Aida Osman), high school friends who reunite after years and form a rap duo that quickly rise to fame – at least on the internet. To create the original songs performed by Shawna and Mia, as well as the soundtrack that pays tribute to the show’s Miami setting, Rae’s music label Raedo set up “camps” where rappers and songwriters came together to collaborate.
This process was headed up by Sarah Bromberg and Philippe Pierre, Raedio’s Vice Presidents who served as music supervisors on “Rap Sh!t”. They had weekly meetings with model Serita Singleton to check how the show’s writing was progressing, and put together summaries that set the mood and goals for each song accordingly. Then, at “Camp” in Los Angeles, a group of rappers and songwriters came together to create the beginnings of both Shawna and Mia’s rap songs.
“We brought in people we felt really spoke to the voices of the characters on the show, and we put them together based on the summaries — which were [changing]because Issa and Serita were writing in real time and working with them,” says Pierre diverse. He worked during the production of “Rap Sh!t” to continue shaping the music for the characters.
“Once we got into the studio, we were allowed to fiddle with it,” KaMillion adds. (Besides acting, she is herself a rapper.) “But mostly, the songs were brought to us. Raedio brought great artists together to create these songs.”
“Drizzy wrote all of Shona’s early rap songs, and her conscious songs,” says Usman. Part of the series’ central conflict is that Shauna’s lyricism at first was intellectually exaggerated — at one point, she writes Pete from a student loan perspective. Bromberg sought to create exaggerated versions of rappers like Noname and Rapsody, while Usman cites Leikeli47 and Lauryn Hill as additional inspiration.
Mia’s character is inspired more by characters like Megan Thee Stallion and Trina, as well as the City Girls, who produce the show “Rap Sh!t”. PineappleCiti has done a lot of writing for Mia’s lines, as has rapper Miami A Chic. Ass Shawna approaches Mia, and begins to rapping more in this direction, as evidenced by her freestyle at the end of the pilot, which eventually became “Seduce and Scheme.” At this point, PineappleCiti also began contributing to Shawna’s character.
“PineappleCiti has written a bunch of stuff, but she’s also asked Dreezy to write on it,” Bromberg says. “We ended up mixing what they both wrote together. Then we sent it to Isa and Sirita for approval.” “But there was no room for Mia to do hype moments, where she jumps up and the duo starts to develop. So we had a session with Danja, a huge producer from Miami who produced all the vocals on the show, and we were going to get Aida to re-track and try again. But what happened in the end was That Issa was in town, got into the booth and did a rap concert. She had this thing on her mind that she’d been trying to express to us for two months. It was amazing and hysterical.”
Raedio set up a second camp in Miami to fill out the series’ soundtrack. “It was definitely more brutal,” says Pierre. “It’s Miami!”
“The music on this show is unlike any other show. It’s real music you can listen to,” says Chameleon. “Mia would do whatever Camelon wanted him to do as an artist and I love that. I will live through it indirectly. I take it as seriously as I do my own music career.”
“I’ve never recorded my voice in a professional studio,” Othman says. “We were really lucky to work with Danja, and he would sit with me in the cabin for hours, just trying to figure out how to get in [right beat] And in good shape and strength. All the things you don’t think about when you just rap along to Meg’s lyrics in your car. I had to learn a lot.”
Being from Jacksonville, accurately portraying Miami was key to KaMillion.
“As a Florida girl, I already knew people in Miami would wait to see something fake, then go on Twitter and go crazy,” she laughs. “But when it comes to Issa and how she writes, she doesn’t touch anything unauthentic.”
“Miami is a melting pot of different cultures, languages, foods and fashion – and it’s also known to be very treacherous. Just showing real shit,” she continued. “Even strip clubs! everything. Many people value vision. I’m really proud to be from Florida and to represent us like that on a big stage.”
From an acting perspective, Osman was proud of how the show uses social media to achieve a level of authenticity regarding how the young characters relate to each other, as there are many plot points circulated through Shona and Mia’s Instagram live.
“You have to be aware of more than just how you feel and trying to tell it [your scene partner]’, she says. ‘It’s also like, ‘What are they trying to tell all of their followers at the same time?’ When Shauna has a meltdown moment and threatens to quit rap as a whole, she’s not really going to quit. She wants people to react, so she’s playing desperation.”
As a writer, Osman enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to combine different recording devices into more private moments: “When we were writing it, it was like, ‘We want to see this intimate moment between Mia and Lamont’ [RJ Cyler]. But who will score this? Oh, they have a daughter who has an iPad constantly, and she probably records her mom and dad who never sat at a table together. They are in real life. Outright real shit.”
“We’re one of the first shows to come up with this kind of thing,” KaMillion adds. So when you see it, duplicate it and copy it, just make sure to mention ‘Rap Sh! t. “We’re the leaders of the new school. Tell Discovery to give us that second season!”
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