Curtis “50 cent” Jackson and writer/executive producer Randy Huggins (Star, Rebel, Power) is set to produce a new drama series on Starz’s called the Black Mafia Family with a few known faces of Hollywood.
Russell Hornsby (Fences, The Hate U Give) and Steve Harris (The Practice, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) are set to be regulars on the new series along with entertainer and Detroit native Arkeisha “Kash Doll” Knight.
Filming of the series will begin next year in Detroit and Atlanta. The Black Family Mafia will be produced through Jackson’s G-Unit Film and Television in association with Starz and Lionsgate Television.
The series will be inspired by the true story of two brothers who made a way for themselves to succeed in the streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980s, which gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in the country.
Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory’s charismatic leadership, Terry “Southwest T” Flenory’s business acumen, and the fraternal partnership’s vision beyond the drug trade and into the world of Hip Hop would render the brothers iconic on a global level. Their unwavering belief in family loyalty would be the cornerstone of their partnership and the crux of their eventual estrangement. The series is about love, kinship, and capitalism in the pursuit of the American dream.
In the series, Hornsby will play Charles Flenory, the principled patriarch of the Flenory family and the struggling musician who uses faith, fortitude, and humor to keep his family on the straight and narrow as he tries to save Terry from the outsized ambition and influence of his older brother Demetrius.
Harris will portray Detective Bryant, a 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department, who has a longstanding relationship with Demetrius Flenory. When Detective Bryant gets assigned to the Down River Area Narcotics Operation – a real-life, county-wide assault team on all local drug operations – he is put in direct conflict with Demetrius. Bryant will be forced to choose between his career and his loyalty.
Knight will play Monique, a paralegal for Detroit’s biggest defense attorney and a strong single mom determined to give her daughter a better life. When it comes to being a parent, she’s a practical provider. But away from work and home, Monique is creative, adventurous, and one of Demetrius Flenory’s lovers. But Meech and Monique’s relationship is much more than just sex and pillow talk: Monique’s firm represents some of the city’s biggest drug dealers, which gives Meech and Terry an advantage in their rise through the streets.
From what we know about 50 Cent and his previous projects, we can only assume that this series will be as successful as Power and Book II: Ghost.
