One week before the originally scheduled Aug. 10 return of “Rap Sh!t,” Max has delayed the comedy series’ second season to Nov. 9. Season 2 will debut with two episodes followed by weekly drops until the Dec. 21 finale.
The move comes as a result of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. As the labor unions representing writers and actors continue to protest for a new deal with the major studios, actors are completely barred from promoting projects from struck companies, while writers carry out limited press opportunities. The new November premiere date of “Rap Sh!t” signals a hope on the studio’s part, in this case Warner Bros. Discovery, that labor conflicts will be resolved by then and that talent will be able help generate buzz.
“Rap Sh!t” isn’t the first summer series to delay its debut; last week, FX announced that “A Murder at the End of the World” starring Emma Corrin, TK would shift from Aug. 29 to sometime in November.
“Rap Sh!t” follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion), who reunite to form a rap group and are forced to decide if they will stay true to themselves or conform to the demands of the music industry. Jonica Booth, RJ Cyler, Daniel Augustin and Jaboukie Young-White also star.
Issa Rae created “Rap Sh!t” and executive produces with showrunner Syreeta Singleton; Hoorae’s Montrel McKay; 3 Arts Entertainment’s Jonathan Berry and Dave Becky; and Jim Kleverweis. Yung Miami and JT of the hip-hop duo City Girls co-executive produce along with Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas for Quality Control Films and Sara Diya Rastogi and Jax Clark for Hoorae. Rae’s audio content company Raedio handles music supervision for the series.
