Posted by Atlanta, GA – Big Boi of Outkast has landed a gig as the co-executive producer of a new television series titled Government Records. The show, which is currently in development, is described as a hybrid of FOX’s Empire and Epix’s Get Shorty.
“I’ve teamed up with Chris DeBlasio at 850 Entertainment on a project called Government Records,” Big Boi said in a press release. “It’s going to be big! Can’t wait to get things moving.”
The crime series tells the story of two ATF agents trying to take down a crime ring ran by a ’90s Hip Hop artist. The two partner with the FBI and Atlanta Police Department to go undercover as music moguls in the Atlanta Hip Hop scene.
“This story, although it does fit into the genres of other successful shows, is unique in the way that it brings the worlds of law enforcement, crime and the music industry together – with the task force creating a music studio, building this undercover operation just to bring down one guy,” the show’s creator Terron R. Parsons noted. “It’s essentially a heist movie, except the federal agents are the ones pulling the job. I don’t think we’ve really seen anything from that perspective before on TV.”
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DeBlasio added, “I’ve been looking for a project that would both highlight the city of Atlanta and bring recurring work to the area. When the script first came to me it was actually being developed as a feature film, but the characters and material were so rich that I immediately decided that it needed to be a series to fully cover the scope of the story.”
Big Boi will not only be an executive producer but also appear in the show’s first season. He will be joined by fellow Hip Hop legends DMX, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash and Doug E. Fresh, among others.
“Seeing the story resonate with so many of the most legendary Hip-hop artists of all time really affirmed that we have something special here,” DeBlasio stated. “Every project you kind of secretly hope you’re catching lightning in the bottle, but this show seems to actually be doing it.”
The team behind Government Records is currently shopping the series to networks and streaming services. They intend to shoot the entire show in Atlanta and have received funding from the DCR Finance Corp firm to back the production.