News
ByJim Rowley
After first making his name in hip hop, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has proven himself to be just as dynamic in movies and television. While 50 Cent has been producing movies at TV series since as early as 2003, his breakthrough was the Starz series "Power," which ran from 2014 to 2020, with 50 cent both starring and producing. The success of "Power" led to several more announced projects between 50 Cent and Starz, like a show based on the life of sports agent Nicole Lynn, and a hip hop anthology series based on some of the genre's best feuds (via The Hollywood Reporter). He's also set to star in the upcoming sequel, "The Expendables 4."
Those projects are much further down the road. The next project that fans of 50 Cent and Starz can look forward to is "Black Mafia Family," or "BMF" for short. Like "Power," "BMF" is about the drug trade. But this time, 50 Cent and Starz will be telling a tale based on a true story: the real-life rise and fall of Detroit cocaine kingpins and brothers, Demetrius and Terry Flenory.
Here's everything we know so far about "BMF."
What is the release date for BMF?
"Black Mafia Family" premieres Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021 on Starz. Executive producer, 50 Cent, announced the premiere date on Instagram in July.
"Black Mafia Family" is the result of an overall deal between 50 Cent and Starz that the entertainment mogul signed in 2018. The last project between Starz and 50 Cent was "Power," the crime drama that ran for six seasons and concluded in Feb. 2020. Although it's worth noting that 50 Cent promised "BMF" will be even bigger than "Power" on Instagram.
50 Cent first announced that he was developing a series based on Detroit's Black Mafia Family in 2019. Starz greenlit the series in April 2020 (via Deadline) and production began in Jan. 2021 (via Tasha Smith on Instagram). The show was filmed in both Detroit and Atlanta.
50 Cent is producing the series via his company G-Unit Film and Television, along with Lionsgate for Starz.
Who is in the cast of BMF?
Starz/YouTube
As reported by TV Line, the co-leads are Demetrius Flenory Jr. and Da'Vinchi, who play brothers Big Meech and Southwest T, respectively. Flenory Jr. is portraying his real-life father and making his acting debut.
Russell Hornsby plays Charles, Big Meech's disapproving father, while Michole Briana White plays their mother, Lucille (via Deadline). Serayah plays Big Meech's girlfriend and mother of his child, Lori Walker. La La Anthony plays Markaisha Taylor, the wife of a "flamboyant drug dealer" whom Big Meech and Southwest T befriend on their way to the top (via Deadline).
Several real-life hip hop stars will also be making appearances. Snoop Dogg plays the recurring character Pastor Swift, the Flenory's not-entirely-clean spiritual advisor. Eminem has a cameo as "White Boy Rick."
The rest of the cast includes Ajiona Alexus as Kato, one of Big Meech and Southwest T's corner girls; Eric Kofi-Abrefa as rival drug dealer Lamar Silas; Myles Truitt as B-Mickie, the third OG in the crew; Steve Harris as Detroit Detective Bryant; Wood Harris as Big Meech and Southwest T's first boss, Pat; and Kash Doll as the paralegal Monique and one of Big Meech's lovers (via Pop Sugar, IMDb, and Deadline).
What is the plot of BMF?
"Black Mafia Family" tells the story of real-life brothers Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory, who eventually became two of the country's biggest cocaine dealers of the 1980s.
According to TV Line, the show begins in the brothers' childhoods and charts their rise from two youngsters with outsized ambitions to small-time cocaine dealers on the streets of Detroit to crime bosses. According to the documentary "BMF: The Rise and Fall of a Hip-Hop Drug Empire," the Black Mafia Family crime organization earned over $270 million via cocaine trafficking over 15 years (via Hip Hop DX).
The show also follows the brothers' personal lives and explores the strain that their lifestyle puts on their relationship, which eventually leads to a falling out. In real life, the Black Mafia Family eventually branched out into promoting hip hop artists, like Fabolous and Young Jeezy. In reality, those events happened in the 21st century, so Season 1 of "Black Mafia Family" would presumably save those storylines for future seasons.
Recommended
