Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God have teamed up for a slate of originals for Audible, Amazon’s premium audio division.
The duo have set five new projects from their newly created audio production banner SBH Productions, coming to Audible in 2022 under their previously announced multiyear development, production and audio-licensing deal. Award-winning audio producer Nicole Shelton has been named SBH’s head of production.
Each new audio series supports Hart and Charlamagne Tha God’s overall vision of the development deal with Audible to “give rise to Black creatives and create content that speaks to the culture.”
SBH’s inaugural project is true-crime series “Finding Tamika,” slated for release March 3, 2022. The series deconstructs “the troubling phenomenon that is the media’s lack of significant coverage of cases of missing or murdered Black women,” according to Audible. “Finding Tamika” tells Tamika’s story through the voices of her family and other principal figures — and even Tamika herself from beyond the grave. The neo-noir production is hosted, produced and co-written by activist and actor Erika Alexander.
Additional SBH projects coming to Audible are:
- “Short, Black and Handsome”: A scripted “Odd Couple”-style comedy written by Abdul Williams (“The Bobby Brown Story,” “The New Edition Story”) starring Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God as fathers and husbands who become business partners — and find out they have more in common than they realized.
- “Summer of ’85”: The true story of the juxtaposition of two actual events that took place in Philadelphia that year: the Live Aid benefit for Africa and the bombing of MOVE, a controversial group of Black citizens attempting to create an African-style community. The series, created and co-produced by New York Times best-selling author Chris Morrow, examines both events, and how they were viewed differently by the city and around the world.
- “Un-lesh for Love,” a scripted comedy series starring Alesha Renee (“The Rich & the Ruthless”) as an actor looking for love in her 30s.
- “Brokedown Prophets,” a scripted thriller created and written by bestselling author SA Cosby (“Blacktop Wasteland,” “Razorblade Tears”).
In addition, under the partnership, Hart and Charlamagne Tha God will curate an ongoing selection of audio recommendations, featuring titles from “a diverse array of authors who have impacted and inspired them,” Audible said.
“We are excited to introduce our listeners to the dynamic inaugural slate of content from our collaboration with Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God’s SBH Productions,” said Zola Mashariki, head of Audible Studios. “Audible is dedicated to telling powerful stories and showcasing established and underrepresented voices in audio, and SBH’s first collection of projects will offer Audible listeners rich, multifaceted narratives.”
Hart commented, “SBH has the opportunity to be a driving force and new creative outlet for our culture. This vertical allows us to bring the voices of our community mases and to share our rich stories that run deep in our souls. I am excited to partner with Charlamagne, Nicole and the whole SBH team to bring these rich stories to the Audible original space.”
Charlamagne Tha God (Lenard McKelvey) added, “SBH and Audible are at the forefront of the audio renaissance, often times TV and film companies don’t SEE the vision for these great stories by black creatives so they are hard to get made. What Nicole, Kevin and myself along with the rest of team SBH have built is a space for these companies and the whole world to HEAR our vision. We thank GOD for it all!”
Both Hart and Charlamagne Tha God have worked with Audible previously. Currently available on the platform are Charlamagne Tha God’s “We’ve Got Answers” podcast on modern race relations and Hart’s “The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success.”
