Wale is diving into the gritty previous of his hometown with Silk, a tv sequence spotlighting notorious D.C. hitman Wayne “Silk” Perry in the course of the metropolis’s deadliest years.
The Grammy-nominated rapper and Washington D.C. native is stepping behind the digicam to govt produce the crime drama, which facilities on Perry’s violent reign from 1989 to 1993—a time when the nation’s capital earned the grim title of “homicide capital” of the US.
“D.C. is extra than simply politics,” Wale mentioned in an announcement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We have now a wealthy, Black historical past that’s impressed audiences all over the world, and it’s time to inform extra tales which can be based mostly right here.”
The sequence will hint Perry’s rise as a feared enforcer for Harlem drug trafficker Alpo Martinez, who moved his cocaine operation into D.C. following the downfall of native kingpin Rayful Edmond. Perry’s fame for finishing up executions with precision and ruthlessness made him probably the most feared males within the metropolis’s underworld.
“This story is likely one of the final genuine tales in Black crime lore,” Wale’s supervisor Kazz Laidlaw mentioned. “Folks have seen slivers in films like Paid in Full and skim conjecture on-line, however beneath the floor is a whole world that hasn’t been seen earlier than.”
Perry, now generally known as Nkosi Shaka Zulu El, is serving 5 life sentences at ADX Florence, the federal supermax jail in Colorado. He was convicted in 1994 for a string of murders tied to Martinez’s drug empire. His conviction adopted Martinez’s arrest and cooperation with federal prosecutors, which included testimony that helped seal Perry’s destiny.
Among the many victims had been drug supplier Garrett Terrell and Evelyn Carter, a witness who had been ready to testify.
Wale has secured a stake in Perry Industries, the D.C.-based firm that holds Perry’s life rights. He’ll produce the sequence alongside Laidlaw and C. Edwards of Perry Industries.
Set towards the backdrop of early Nineteen Nineties Washington, the present will weave within the metropolis’s chaotic political local weather, excessive crime charges, and the heartbeat of its go-go music scene. The identical years noticed the Washington Redskins profitable Tremendous Bowls, Mayor Marion Barry underneath FBI investigation, and Congress passing the 1994 crime invoice.
“That period in D.C. was internationally well-known,” Wale mentioned. “The Redskins had been profitable Tremendous Bowls, the mayor was indicted by the FBI, Joe Biden handed the crime invoice, and D.C. had 482 homicides — the very best within the nation.”
Wale, who has beforehand acted in Ambulance and American Gods, has constantly infused his music with references to his D.C. roots. With Silk, he’s aiming to carry an unfiltered have a look at a metropolis that’s typically decreased to political headlines.
The undertaking continues to be in early improvement, and no community or streaming platform has been hooked up.
The sequence joins a rising wave of crime dramas like Energy, Snowfall and Narcos that discover the drug-fueled chaos of the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.
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