Ice Cube and David
Cohen, creator of the animated hit series “Futurama,” have teamed
up to create a half-hour animated comedy about an early 80’s Hip-Hop group.
“Grandmaster
Freak & the Furious 15” will center on a rap group in Englewood, New
Jersey, which was the home of Sugar Hill Records, the label that released the
first breakthrough rap record, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar
Hill Gang.
The animated show
will detail the exploits of a rap crew and their leader, 17-year-old high school
student, Grandmaster Freak.
Ice Cube and his
partner in VisionCube Productions, Matt Alvarez will serve as executive producers.
"He’s kind
of this groundbreaking, trend-setting cool guy whose parents would much rather
him study to become a lawyer," Alvarez told Variety. "We really want
to capitalize on the early stages and the innocence of Hip-Hop. It was a new
medium for all of these guys who didn’t know anything about (the music industry)."
Alvarez said that
he hopes to have a musical performance in each episode and that his famous partner
and former NWA front man will lend his well known voice to a character on the
show.
The series marks
VisionCube’s first foray into television.