Whereas Hip Hop music won’t have had the banner chart 12 months that it has in earlier years, the tradition at massive did present some promising illustration on the small display screen.
Hip Hop has all the time been full of distinctive tales, angles and themes completely fitted to tv storytelling however hasn’t all the time acquired the assist and funding it maybe deserved. However in 2023, with a brand new streaming service popping up what appeared like each few months, extra Hip Hop tales began making it previous the pilot stage.
With that stated, the Hip Hop TV panorama has diversified in an enormous means. As soon as solely compiled of gang-related documentaries, monotonous actuality reveals, and music video countdowns, it has since became a full-blown providing made up of considerate scripted tv with compelling storylines and much more compelling characters.
The previous 12 months led to all the things from scripted rap come-up tales and deep dive documentaries to podcast-style sports activities reveals with rap veterans. That isn’t to say that reveals like Love & Hip Hop are irrelevant or unwatchable – 2023 merely introduced extra selection for Hip Hop followers to devour like by no means earlier than.
Under is a listing of reveals DX deemed to be one of the best to air in 2023, with one specifically standing out as HipHopDX‘s Greatest Hip Hop TV Present of 2023. Evaluate all of our 2023 Hip Hop Award classes right here.
Editors Notice: Greatest Hip Hop TV Exhibits of 2023 picks had been restricted to reveals which aired — no matter season — between December 1, 2022 to December 1, 2023. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order.
BEST HIP HOP TV SHOWS OF 2023 NOMINATIONS
The award for Greatest Hip Hop TV Present of 2023 goes to…
Rap Sh!t
From the genius thoughts of Issa Rae, HBO Max’s Rap Sh!t follows Mia and Shawna, two outdated associates who reconnect to type a rap group with the intention of attaining mainstream international success. Set in current day Miami, the present takes viewers on the wild journey that’s the Hip Hop come up; particularly from a feminine rapper’s perspective.
From the second the 2 characters reconnect on the pilot episode, they’re each bombarded with stigmas, limitations and their very own various variations of success. There are lots of moments on this present’s first season to get enthusiastic about, however it’s the second season (which started airing in November this 12 months) that pulls the curtain again much more and dives deeper into the trials, tribulations and switch ups of the duo.
Actually leaning extra on the drama aspect of “dramedy,” each Mia and Shawna’s early lives are explored and start to supply context for even a few of Season 1’s behaviors. Though Season 2 focuses on the darkish aspect of the music business particularly, the subjects revolving round medication, previous traumas and flying too near the solar can relate to only about anybody, anyplace.
Now that Season 2 has wrapped, HBO higher minimize Issa a cheque and greenlight a 3rd season.
RUNNERS UP
DAVE
At this level, Lil Dicky is best recognized for his hit FXX present than dropping music. DAVE (named after Lil Dicky’s authorities title, Dave Burn) has three 10-episode seasons, the third of which landed on screens in 2023. In brief, the sequence is loosely based mostly on Lil Dicky’s real-life rap come up. After all, there are some exaggerations and gildings however it actually does showcase how a suburban white child would/does try and make it huge within the rap sport.
There are many snicker out loud moments, sentimental scenes and even some stellar authentic rap tracks used to soundtrack the present. On this third season, Lil Dicky departs on his first headlining tour throughout America by which intercourse (or lack thereof), medication and rap music form the wide-eyed Hip Hop hopeful. The newest season options cameos from Jack Harlow, Drake, Usher, Machine Gun Kelly, Killer Mike, and even Hollywood A-Listers Brad Pitt and Rachel McAdams.
Pricey Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur
Each few years one other 2Pac or Biggie documentary pops up within the Hip Hop zeitgeist, typically telling the identical story as its predecessors. This time round although, director Allen Hughes — who, alongside his brother Albert Hughes, directed ‘Pac’s first couple of music movies within the early ’90s — completely nailed a brand new model of the late legend’s story with Pricey Mama.
The five-part FX sequence paperwork 2pac’s life by means of not solely music however modern revolution. Moreover, the docuseries focuses on his relationship together with his mom, Afeni Shakur, who was, for all intents and function, the driving compelled behind his deeply significant music. It’s a type of binge-able documentaries that must be consumed in a single sitting based mostly solely on how charming Afeni’s story is.
Regardless of the controversy surrounding Allen Hughes’ extremely publicized love/hate relationship with ‘Pac, there’s numerous sincere moments all through that present all sides of 2pac’s private, skilled and prideful life.
It Is What It Is
In 2023 it actually felt like each rapper and their cousin had a podcast they had been peddling. Most of them can simply be thrown into the proverbial pile of podcasts merely created in an try and get some advert cash — however not relating to Cam’ron and Ma$e.
Whereas some take into account It Is What It Is a podcast, the 2 Harlem rappers — who had been as soon as longtime foes — will argue to the dying that it’s truly a sports activities debate present. Out there to observe on YouTube, the acclaimed present, which options well-known friends, hella sizzling takes and numerous self-officiated “pause” moments, just lately inked an eight-figure cope with Underdog Fantasy.
With the assistance of Treasure “Stat Child” Wilson, Cam and Ma$e discuss store world wide of sports activities (principally NFL and NBA) however can shortly spiral into NSFW subjects that viewers would by no means hear on the likes of NBC or TNT. From versatility alone, It Is What It Is supplied some nice candid commentary this 12 months — from two Hip Hop legends who sound like they’ve been broadcasting for years.
Women First: A Story of Ladies in Hip-Hop
When speaking about views and tales that wanted to be informed — or informed louder — in 2023, girls in Hip Hop ought to have been the primary to come back to thoughts. Serving to to push this ahead, Netflix’s four-part docuseries Women First: A Story of Ladies in Hip Hop supplied an in-depth look into the rise, journey and rollercoaster of ladies within the style.
From the early days when MC Lyte and Queen Latifah had been paving the best way for what was to come back, so far, a time when girls are arms down dominating the style, the sequence — narrated by Rapsody — does an incredible job of telling all kinds of tales from the women who proceed to make an impression.
Though there are some powerful truths to swallow when watching, the message that it leaves viewers with is that ladies in Hip Hop “are all the time stronger collectively than they’re aside.”
Return to our 2023 Hip Hop Awards web page for extra classes or take a look at this 12 months’s winners of Greatest Hip Hop Album of 2023, Greatest Rap Verse of 2023 and Greatest Rapper of 2023.
Paintings and graphic design by JR Martinez.
Paragraphs written by Scott Glaysher.
