‘RAP SH!T’ Season Two Episode Two “Heavy Traffic”
Entertainment Editor Bianca Gregg recaps the Issa Rae produced MAX series that follows rap duo Shawna and Mia through comedic and often difficult journey to Hip-Hop stardom.
Shawna and Mia begin their tour and are excited by the tour bus and having their very own dressing rooms. When Shawna goes live to show off her amenities, some of her fans begin to judge her for working with rappers that only talk about sex and drugs — the opposite of the type of artist she wanted to be.
The first show goes great for the ladies except Shawna takes note of Mia’s performing style. Mia is very bold on stage, energetic and has great chemistry with Reina Reign — appearing like a solo artist. After the performance, Shawna confronts Mia about how things appeared on stage and stating that they need to look like a group. Mia admits that was her get back for Shawna’s previous antics and she reminds Shawna that she had to leave her child to come on the tour, even hitting Shawna with the “nobody is coming to see you Otis.” Shawna becomes frustrated and just tells Mia to do whatever she wants to do.
Meanwhile Lamont gets to experience what it’s like taking care of his daughter, Melissa, full time. He brings her to the studio after picking her up from school early — failing to make sure she had something to eat. She has a full on meltdown in the studio because a nugget delivery would take about 40 minutes to arrive. Thankfully one of the guys in the studio offers to pick up some nuggets for her. Melissa is quick to remind her father that her mom would never forget to give her something to eat.
Later on in the session, Melissa becomes restless with being in the studio and begs to leave. Lamont suggests she get on her tablet however the tablet battery died. While Lamont goes back to working with his artist, Melissa unplugs the studio equipment to plug up her tablet. Lamont snaps at her and she begins to cry. He comforts his daughter hoping to quickly calm her down. When Lamont speaks to Mia later to find out how her show went, he admits that Melissa can truly be a hand-full.
The ladies get an invite to Lord AK’s greenroom for an after party. Shawna and Mia have no problem getting in but Chasity is denied because all she has is a staff badge. She notices that one of the members of AK’s entourage is scouting out women to bring into the party. Chasity heads back into the concert crowd and grabs a few women to bring back into the party, grabbing the attention of AK’s boy — she gets into the party. Chasity ends up snorting some coke and getting very high.
Shawna seems very out of place at the party although she does make attempts to network. During the party, a very odd drinking game begins. The rules are if a player gets the answers correct, they get a shot and can continue to party but if the player answers incorrectly, they are automatically kicked out. Shawna begins to notice a pattern, all of the non-black women get easier questions and even if they answer wrong, they get to stay. The Black women are asked harsher, and sometimes ignorant questions, resulting in them being kicked out of the party. When Gat asks Shawna to name all of the members of The Wu-Tang Clan, she states that she is aware of what Gat is doing and answers the question correctly. When she gets ready to call out one of the white women in the party, Gat sprays her with a bottle of champagne, she immediately exits the party. Mia and Chasity follow her but not before Chasity gives Gat some drugs and asks for his Instagram.
When the trio return to the bus, Chasity tells Shawna that she needs to stop calling out everything that she sees. Being around men in Hip-Hop sometimes means she needs to just go with the flow. Mia also announces that she will be meeting them in the next city because she is getting flown out. Shawna goes into the bathroom, visibly at her boiling point.
Catch the latest episode of “RAP SH!T” streaming exclusively on MAX, Thursdays at 12am Eastern Time/ 9PM Pacific.
