Effective Immediately - The Drop: A Snowfall Saga Creators On Behind The Scenes Storylines, Casting & Possible Spinoffs

0:00 Welcome to Effective Immediately, a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.

0:08 Yo, it's Effective Immediately.

0:09 I'm DJ Head.

0:10 What up, bro?

0:11 This your favorite homegirl, Gina Views.

0:12 We have special guests in the studio.

0:14 The drop of Snowfall Saga is tearing shit up all over Hulu, Disney Plus, and FX. And we have the amazing showrunner, creator... His name is Malcolm Spellman. Malcolm Spellman is here.

0:25 What's up, y'all? Glad to be here.

0:26 We got writer, producer, director, executive producer of The Drop of Snowfall Saga after show, as well as writer on The Drop of Snowfall Saga. and all around contributor Emil Pinnock is here thanks for having me and of course another producer this man needs no introduction in the city of Los Angeles at all creator producer all of the things consultant everything you want to call him on the drop of Snowfall Saga Jimmy Chris is here too yes sir yes thanks for having us man thank y'all for being here and also Rashidi is here too Rashidi is somewhere around here too he was the director of episode 6 Kilted Kilted shout out to Rashidi Harper okay First and foremost, Malcolm Spellman, bro, you had an incredible task

1:11 in front of you approaching the drop of Snowfall Saga, okay? Big draws to feel coming off Snowfall. I just want to know how you feel to have a number one TV show globally on Disney +, Hulu, and FX.

1:25 It's been beautiful. You know, I've said this before. It was terrifying coming into it, A, because of my relationship with John.

1:31 John Singleton.

1:32 And then... the Snowfall fans are, you know, they hardcore. Snowfall is one of the most legendary shows every May. So, you know, that's a lot of pressure on you. And you don't know until the fans tell you, There's no, so like we was getting to a point where we felt like we was doing something special, right? And it was feeling good to the inner circle. But you don't really know until you get it out to the streets.

1:55 But I know we played it for, who was the two biggest haters we played it for? We played it for, I know Top and his man G-Weed. Top Dog? Yeah, and you know, they came up together too. So that turns into a certain energy. And I'll tell you this, like Jim will tell you, Top be like this with us I don't fuck with it he'll just and that be the extent of the conversation so once the inner circle and people like Top and shit like that was hey I gotta stop saying his name in these interviews two people gonna be thinking I'm jocking we knew we was good on our end but it was when the people embraced us man I'm gonna tell you this more than I was happy I was like the fear is gone the fear of getting it wrong yeah okay also

2:40 just I gotta give you credit as well You have created these characters.

2:45 I mean, you and the team. I know it's a team of writers. I was in the writer's room. First of all, you let me and Salas and G Malone in the writer's room, which we didn't belong there initially, and you're crazy for that. You and Emile and Jim for letting us hang out in the writer's room. It's fucking crazy on a multi-million dollar television show.

3:04 Credit to you, but.

3:06 I got to know from your perspective when you did have that fear initially from going like taking the reins from a John Singleton creation and then kind of spawning your own. Was there a fear of not getting it wrong? Did you have fear of success? I don't know if that's the right way to phrase it, because like what happens if you get it right?

3:25 It's I think like for me and the way I work, you know, I was talking to Jason about this problem is he's like we was in New York and it was we were big and it was up.

3:35 Right.

3:36 And the show was doing great. And he's like, yo, man, have fun or whatever, right? And I just kind of die and shut down when things are going good, right? Yeah. And he was like, well, what part do you enjoy? And I'll tell you, the best parts of this for me was being in post when an episode, post is the edit room, and you spend weeks and weeks and weeks on these episodes. And then there'll be a moment where one of it when, it comes in and you're like, this is it. It's the feeling. It's exactly like producing music.

4:08 It ain't no different when the song really comes together. That's the best part of success. I'm really kind of trying to shut out the other shit because it is, yeah, I have a fear of, success is kind of unknown to me in a way as far as the public are here. Like meaning this, being a writer is very behind the scenes in general. This is a little bit scarier because people recognize you. So, yeah, maybe just the idea of the unknown. Sorry, man, I'm a little rambling a little.

4:40 Can you share with us how the idea of the drop was birthed?

4:45 The initial idea came from the original showrunner, David Andron, and FX. And then it's a funny story. Before it came to me, it went to Jim Bob. and Jim Bob was like, you know, he don't talk. Yeah, he be low-key. He was like, hey, man.

5:03 He hate being on the microphone.

5:04 Just like I said, top is, Jim is twin. He was like, hey, man, what if they did a spinoff? You might fuck with that. And I won't get into the politics, but there were politics initially, and I said, I doubt it because of this, this, and that, or whatever, and Jim went and worked all that shit out, and then all of a sudden now FX was calling me.

5:29 If y'all appreciate that Jim is like a real native and that that's how it's coming, that gives you a sense of what the show is.

5:38 Was there ever a point where we were supposed to see Wanda and Leon in Africa?

5:42 That was supposed to be an original show and it cost too much. So yeah, it's a thing. There's a lot. The great thing is flashbacks or whatever. We would love to do that episode. And I'm not dissing nobody. But, you know, if you do it, you got to do it right. You got to do it right.

6:01 We're like avid power fanatics. Like, we talk about power so much up here.

6:08 Shout out to the GOAT 15, for sure.

6:09 And obviously, we know that power has like so many different spinoffs. Do you guys have any other ideas of spinoffs that you might want to do from the original?

6:18 I my ideas are more L.A. based, but in the single like we call it the Singleton universe. You know, I'm saying and the movies we watch coming into this was Poetic Justice, Boys in the Hood and Baby Boy. That's the spirit of the show.

6:31 Right.

6:33 I think some great look at L.A. 's history at this time. Bunchy Carter story. But through the lens of Snowfall, LA riots, really? You know what I'm saying? Through the lens of Snowfall, all that would be amazing. You know what I'm saying? But I don't know if it'll ever happen. But yeah, I'd be down to do it. But we wouldn't be doing it like true spinoffs. Like Power, that's their lane. They got that down.

6:58 I was just telling Twitter how I don't know who to thank. So I'm happy that y'all here that I can thank you guys in person, but the drop and reasonable doubt are both Aaron on Tuesdays on Hulu, both West coast based shows, both black led cast. And to me, it feels like UPN Mondays back in the day where we have Moesha, the Parker's girlfriends, which were all also West coast based black led, you know, shows even the game, but that's a different era, but the game was West coast black led. Were you guys at all influenced by that era of TV?

7:28 I mean, how could you not be? Yeah, I mean, everything you're just saying is making me smile, you know what I'm saying? And I think one of the things we want to do with the show is be able to constantly reference all that stuff in the culture. Like the way we did Belly or whatever, right? It'd be great to get a fucking Moesha reference in there or a South Central reference in there.

7:47 You know what I'm saying?

7:47 The dance?

7:49 They can go to the D.

7:50 Yeah, exactly. They can go to the D. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

7:54 Get Chris Shaw up in there.

7:55 Yeah, I think the biggest part, too, that really comes from those shows that you brought up, because it's interesting, is, like, having a writer's room that people who have a love for, like, all of those old black shows is, like, bringing that inspiration into the room where we, like, everything don't have to be, like, shoot them up, bang, bang. and all this different stuff. Like, where are those characters of the uncle or the grandfather that's really raising somebody, the aunt that's trying to make something happen, a Lamar that could be from the community, but he don't got to have a pistol on him. His brother comes from the same community, was out there doing it, but he really trying to actually get out. We like, these are our stories, too.

8:29 We don't have a problem with all the other stuff, too. But we're like, how do we come in the writer's room? That was one thing big with Malcolm. He's like, yo, for a long time, he didn't even want a shooting to happen. It would be like, we don't even want to get into that at this particular point, like, right?

8:42 And when it does happen, it's going to be really organic. It's not going to be for, like, to throw trauma porn out there and just make somebody just, you know, have to do something to make the audience be shocked. We're like, how do we actually do that from a different perspective of creating dynamic characters and allowing people to see themselves in these characters? And I think that's what it is. Even though it's an L.A. show, we're getting so much love from everywhere else because people see theyself.

9:03 Everybody knows that person like Wanda who has tried to recreate theyself.

9:08 Mm-hmm. I'm one of them.

9:09 We know each other. You done did so much that every time somebody sees you, they're like, oh, this motherfucker here. It's going to be hard for you to go from what you did before and recreate yourself. Everybody knows a Lamar that's right from the community, street adjacent, trying to do something else but still got to travel. You know what I mean? Or the Big Daddy. That's really the head of the family that's doing that. We can go through all those different characters. But I think that's the big part of it, where it's like it's so L.A., but it's still representative of our culture everywhere. Like New York dudes is calling me all the time.

9:39 Yo, I love the joint. That's what the Lamar is us.

9:41 You know what I mean? They don't care he's from L.A. They know the Lamar.

9:44 Oh, while they've been harassing me about the drop.

9:47 He loves it. Yeah, that's dope. That's dope.

9:52 Now, Jim, you like to be low key, but I want to go back to what Malcolm said about the show first coming to you. Did you automatically know what you wanted to do with that kind of authority to be able to say, where.

10:07 Is this going to go?

10:07 Did you automatically know, okay, Malcolm Spellman, his team, his vision, what was your thought approaching the drop?

10:16 We just did Hip Hop Uncovered, right? So, you know, I know Malcolm, and I know this is kind of something he needs to either have control over or either, you know, be involved with. But the thing was, he said, I think they kind of talked to him about it before, and he was feeling a certain way about certain things, so he didn't want to be involved.

10:39 So the guy.

10:41 I was dealing with, it came pretty much, if he can get this stuff out the way, Malcolm might, you know, consider it, you know, and we came to an agreement that that's what it would be.

10:51 And he took the challenge.

10:52 And this is what we got out of it, plus the team. And we start putting the team together before even, it took what, the process of what, three, four?

11:02 Almost three years.

11:03 Oh shit, for real?

11:04 Yeah.

11:05 Malcolm was writing that back in his house.

11:06 You know what I mean? We was there through that whole process. So that's the thing, like most people don't understand. That was a development process of him just redoing each script, getting notes done, going back and forth. But the thing about Jim, just to speak to him, even during that time when we was dead in that three years, we have a number of different companies that we do. Obviously, Malcolm has the 51. We have a bunch of other things.

11:27 But us three together have something nonprofit called Genius in the Hood that we're extremely passionate about. And the basics always is to go back to the hood and to find geniuses, to unleash them and give them talent and let them find the giant version of themselves. So even somebody like Jason who's Grammy nominated in other places, but he hasn't done what he's done on something like a television show. So that's an opportunity for him. So when we were sitting in the back house, we was crafting that.

11:54 So you are part of a vision that we literally was doing for months. That wasn't no like, oh, we just got the show? Let's go run and get everybody. We were sitting there building it out. How can we build consultants into this? How can we build actors that are from the community into this? How can we bring people in a writer room? So when you say coming to the writers, most people would not be allowed to do that. But Malcolm shapes the writers when he's like, The answer could come from anybody. Like, we respect everyone's titles.

12:19 We respect all of those different things. And people have their own positions in the writer's room. But if you coming into the writer's room, you're going to feel empowered to be like, yo, hold up. That didn't happen like that. Or, yo, why don't y'all consider this whole thing? And even that was something that was shaped throughout the three years to be like, if this ever gets greenlit, we're going to do this in a very unique way. We want this show to be unapologetically black all the way from the creator's all the way down to the PAs. I think one time we was walking on the set at Sony when some of the other execs was like, called them over and was like, yo, I just want to thank y'all.

12:48 I've been here on this lot for 12 years and I never seen this much black people. You know, that was a proud moment for us, you know, and that, and that just wasn't the writer's room. That was just across the board that that's how it looked. And that was something that Jim wanted to do from the beginning.

13:02 That's amazing. Cause when I'm watching the drop, it feels like a love letter to LA. kind of like I'm seeing like down from like the lingo to certain situations that's happening. I'm seeing people on the drop that I grew up with, you know, artists that I interviewed, you know, like, so it's amazing that it's actual real natives that are on the drop and like.

13:22 Jim got all the confidence in that motherfucker.

13:25 I'm like, they're going to hit us at three eating a baby ewe? I cried watching that episode. When I saw him, I'm like, is that baby ewe?

13:34 I grew up with Jabari.

13:35 So that was nice that you guys even are incorporating people because a lot of times we get these shows and they're L.A. shows, but it's the watered-down version of L.A. You know, niggas saying, increase y'all. I don't want to hear in Crenshaw. When I heard James say, I need that, I'm like, oh my goodness.

13:56 The other dude, when he was like, squabble.

13:58 Up or something like that, I'm like, yes! We fucking got it. I'm very, very excited watching it drop. How important was it for you guys to tell the story from the actual lens of somebody who grew up in the urban community versus the watered down version that we get on TV?

14:14 It's essential. It may not look like it, but this whole camp starts from the streets. You know what I'm saying? Like, I caught my first dope case in 87. You know what I'm saying? I'm good now. But I'm saying, I say that to say, this story and arena in California pre-post and during crack, that defines my life. That defines their lives. I know even me being from Northern California, I've been out here and I've been in the mix out here or whatever. Right. But being in the streets in L.A. only teaches you how much you're not from L.A.

14:56 Like that's why I like when you watch it and people act like they know they do not know how stick because they really wasn't in the streets out here. But as a foreigner who been in the streets out here. Shit can go wrong in two other neighborhoods and go through a system and something that was working fine for you for months is fucked up now. And it's a problem.

15:21 And so I knew, like, starting with Jim and bringing in Emil to help us sort of organize the people, we went, Jim put the whole squad together, glasses, problems. Skip Townsend, you know what I'm saying? We got, we got motherfuckers, Roy, Roy, like, it's so deep, the streets in here, and they all really got a voice. Like, that's what Emile was saying. These motherfuckers, even like, you know, Monster's little brother works, you know, in production, right? If that nigga sees something that's not right, I'll tell you what he gonna say, negative, negative. That was not happening.

15:59 And that's it, and that ain't gonna happen. So, To what you're saying, a long-winded way to say that it was essential to get the streets right and not just on gangbanging. We talking the kind of R & B we picking. You know what I'm saying? Like the church. All that. Working in the.

16:15 Neighborhoods, you know, personally too, that right there, it seemed like magic. You're working right in the community where they say, you know, shit is not productive.

16:27 You can't do shit.

16:28 It got along so smooth that Everybody come up either next year or either they got some type of role in doing something. Security, helping out with craft, or either just a walkthrough or maybe a few words.

16:48 It was just watching the whole thing go down. It was a party on set, right? Yeah, watching the whole thing. And people had to put their work in, too.

16:57 So a lot of times people just think that it's just handing out stuff to people. But that's not the case. Even Y.S., When we did the pilot before we was greenlit, To go to series, YS was at Malcolm, one of his other houses, doing acting classes at the house before we had a role for him.

17:13 Wow.

17:13 Just saying, yo, if this goes, I want to be considered. And we like, yo, you our partner and everything else, but we ain't giving out nothing to nobody that's not ready prepared for this. But we will provide you the skill set to be able to do that. And he was coming to the house working with JJ.

17:26 Serious as a motherfucker.

17:27 Serious every day. Showing up for the acting classes, coming with us over the other different things. So, like, everybody really put in the work. It wasn't just like a handout of these different opportunities. People really earned it.

17:36 I want to know real quick some character development stuff because people online hate Lamar.

17:42 And I want to know if that's by design.

17:46 So Lamar is the antagonist this season, meaning this. He is the primary internal obstacle in getting there, right? But I also think a lot of it. I did not expect people to react this intensely to him. And I think a lot of the shit is either some kind of self-shame or whatever or people not really understanding how different this era was, right? When someone was on the spectrum in 1991.

18:16 So he is.

18:17 Yes.

18:17 Because I asked him that and he said he didn't know.

18:21 So he is. Yes. Okay. But the beauty of what Asante is doing is he ain't playing it like that. He's playing it like we understand it from the 90s, which is what Big Daddy says in episode five. He's different. Yeah. Right.

18:37 Exactly.

18:37 At the same time. I think people are mad at seeing a new kind of black cool in this way. Lamar is a nerd in the hood, but he is in the hood and he is of it. And he speaks up for himself. If you look at the story, can you say they got anywhere without Lamar pushing? Right. They don't get there. And yet people ain't rooting for him because the nigga ain't acting cool or whatever. And he's having trouble expressing himself. So, yes, it is. It is. Lamar, that said, and I don't know if Asante has heard this, but the whole, me and Jim having the whole writer's room has, Lamar was the antagonist this season.

19:20 He was, yeah.

19:20 He won't, by the end of the season, though, he won't be anymore. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And other people, though.

19:25 Yeah. So we want to embrace the hate. Like, it's like the more people that hate him, the more he's, the writing is not only working, but his performance is working. Yeah. Because it's not like they hate Asante, they hate Lamar, right? So it's like, dude, they hate the character because we shaped it to be this character that people are going to be really frustrated with. And I think AD does one of the joints, and he be screaming the top of his lungs. Lamar, why is your stupid ass?

19:50 Ass?

19:50 I'm like, okay, I love it.

19:52 If that was his brother, man, I wish I could name these people. But I had some friends. I'm not even going to give that detail. But they're from the community, right? The Crenshaw community. And these were squares, but they grew up in that era. And one of them was like Lamar. And his two older brothers were. And these are squares, right?

20:15 They never gang banged. They never did none of that. But they really grew up on dying block, right? And squares. They had to squabble for their brother all the time and manage him. And that's the story I was telling y'all. I'll tell y'all the story about that nigga when he went bad on us. My point being, like, having seen it in real life, I wonder if these people are not understanding that. that your frustration is what it felt like to be different back then, when there is no vocabulary or help with it, and you're going to be put, I'm one of them, right? So, you know, I grew up in them situations, and anyone who meets me knows I don't have a certain kind of energy, but I've been around all that shit. That's just how, and I

21:05 was in retarded classes, just forgive me the words, but that's what they called it in high school. I don't mean that literally, but they put me in slow classes. That's also not appropriate. But again, that's just what you did. So that frustration they're feeling, that's what his family feels. That's what he feels. That's what it's like, you know what I'm saying, at that time period.

21:27 I think, too, because, obviously, like, being on the spectrum or having autism, it's not a new word, but for our generation, we kind of, like, just now learning it.

21:37 Yeah, I've never heard of it. Yeah, I really didn't.

21:40 Hear it until, like, probably, like, within the last five years. So, obviously, back then in that era, mental health, like, wasn't, like, popularized. Like, it wasn't a thing. Like you said, it's just slow classes or retarded or, you know, don't counsel me. We can't say that word no more.

21:53 Yeah, I got you. I got you.

21:55 But I think just because it's not explicitly said that he's autistic or he's on the spectrum, people are confusing it with arrogance. Because that's where he irritate the fuck out of me. At the music video, he like, I got this, oh, we switching the song.

22:09 Nigga!

22:09 We're the nigga!

22:12 And he is arrogant. But ask anybody, again, I'm not going to name the people, but your partner, it's obvious, the legend who grew up in Jim's neighborhood. Them motherfuckers is real artists. These niggas ain't dope dealers and shit. I wish motherfuckers could be around the real people, man. You know what I'm saying? So he is arrogant, and he is going to grow up. You know what I'm saying?

22:38 He's going to be very different going into season two. You'll see the beginning.

22:42 It's like the Tariq effect.

22:44 Yes. We hate Tariq.

22:46 I hate Tariq right now.

22:47 I hate the real person. Y'all will be rooting for Lamar. By the end of the season, he starts to grow up also. And y'all be rooting for him because someone else in season two, I don't know who yet, will be a bigger asshole. And then all of a sudden, you know what I'm saying? That's Simba.

23:09 That symbols a hater.

23:13 To the real tiptoe.

23:17 That tiptoe that tiptoes a hater. I don't like nothing about him, but I don't want to see I mean obviously we're only on what episode six But definitely if it's not already a thing season two, I want to see him more cracking as an artist It's.

23:31 It's it's cut listen that song Hey, he rapping about it for the fans because he will be bigger in season two and there's more coming this season. That song, Nobody Move, the character is right. I told Jason and Simba, here's who your character really is. You know what I'm saying? This the nigga that's robbing dope dealers and shit. He got four niggas he fucks with in the hood and can't nobody tell them shit. He's a jacker. janky motherfucker, and then you hear the song and he.

24:05 Put it out.

24:06 Can I ask, how early did y'all decide on DJ Block?

24:11 Because I never asked y'all that before. Where did that come from? It was going to be a bigger role. It was going to be kind of like the voiceover in The Warriors. You know what I'm saying? Because again, all y'all too young to understand that driving around in the city felt like that. You hear the DJ's voice.

24:32 We sitting there waiting on a song to come on. It could be ours.

24:35 Yeah.

24:35 So, yeah, it's like a godlike voice for us growing up.

24:39 Gotcha. Yeah, and then we started talking about, like, who was breaking songs at that time and, like, you know, the importance of the DJ even at that time. And then we was like, man, we want to get a real DJ. You know what I mean? And we started talking about that, and obviously we kind of all started to get the relationship with Chew. We like, all right, cool.

24:55 And Malcolm was like, are we using Head for DJ Block, or is he doing the after show?

24:58 I called Head.

24:59 I said, hey, what do you want to do? Head said... I want to do both. The guy said he's doing both. We got to go make that happen.

25:14 What's next?

25:15 I appreciate that.

25:17 Speaking of the after show, Malcolm, thank you. I want to publicly thank you for lending us your vehicle to be able to do something like that. I know your name was on the line. It was a lot of behind-the-scenes things that people don't know. You had a lot riding on this, and you put your faith in us, and I appreciate that.

25:38 Thank you for doing what y'all did, man. That shit is just... I told them, I be getting jealous. I look at the comments, they be like, fuck this, the after show. That's the J's in the hood.

25:52 He come out, because not only did he create that, he showed the lane for people that was following and watching that, even yourself. Avenues to others, you know, same way with you. You know, you turn the, other avenues on to him as well.

26:09 Yeah, that's right. Just watching it.

26:12 It just lands.

26:13 Now, I'm not asking y'all to spoil it for me or the viewers. And if y'all do spoil it, then we can hold the episode until the season finale. Does Dara really like Leon or does Dara want to be Wanda?

26:33 It's realer than that. Like, once you meet her family in the next episode, she comes from the shit. And you're going to have to see the episode or be from L.A. to know what she come from. Well, we not live. Go ahead and tell us.

26:50 We'll hold it. We'll hold it.

26:52 No, but you know what I'm saying? Like, her daddy started the hood. Okay. Her mama's so fucking proud of that. You know what I'm saying? All her uncles are locked in as them people, so she's raised fucked up. up and she does see Leon.

27:08 She's bright.

27:09 All our characters are bright, right? She knows Leon is remarkable and she knows that them D boys all fell down except for him. So there's something special about him and she want to get that game from him. She is also, you will see very, very dangerous in that fucked up way. Like, This nigga done told me so many stories about these lethal women out here. You know what I'm saying? And it be coming from that. You be like, oh, that's what happens if you raise a woman in this. Just like if you raise a man in it, that poison going to get into him.

27:44 So she's a set-up bitch.

27:46 We going to cut this part out that I'm about to say?

27:50 Well, it's probably not going to come out until after the episode already.

27:55 The next episode.

27:55 The next episode.

27:56 No, no, this is for season two. I'll tell you after. Oh, okay.

28:01 But I do think.

28:02 I told.

28:02 Him she was a setup bitch.

28:03 I don't care. I still want to fuck with her. I do think Dorito, too, like, we still want her to be everything that Malcolm is saying, but to add a different dynamic to her where she still wants to be more in her feminine energy. Yes. Right? Where, like, sometimes a person could come from that culture and not want to be, but she just needs the right man to be. Because sometimes it's like, yeah, I got to be this rough person. because I don't have this person who kind of like helps me to be in my, in a more feminine energy. And so that's what we thought the dynamic was like. Yeah, she is all of this that Malcolm just said with her family and everything else.

28:34 But with, with Leon, because of the respect that she has for him and how community has from, she could actually be somebody different around him as well. Yes. You know what I'm saying?

28:43 So it's not about, because Leon told her straight up, like, I'm not inheriting your beef.

28:49 He only cared about Wanda. Yep.

28:51 So she kind of on her own. And that's why I think at some point, she going to go against Leon.

28:56 Yes, I see. Yeah, you know what?

28:59 She's co-acting.

29:00 She's co-acting.

29:01 She's selling it.

29:02 Elise is cold, man.

29:03 She is selling it.

29:04 The whole cast is murdering it. Gayle's a big, giant superstar, all that. I mean, grown Leon is great. But, like, for Elise to come out of nowhere, Peyton, phenomenal. Asante, I feel like I'm proud to be involved with someone doing what the fuck he's doing. That is some sophisticated shit.

29:22 Yeah, yeah.

29:24 All the actors, when I'm watching the show, it makes me feel like I'm watching people who I.

29:28 Grew up with.

29:29 Yeah.

29:31 I want to know real quick, because we got to get out of here in a second, but whose idea was it to put that scene in for Dara shooting at Leon? Like, what word did... did that originate? Did that originate from a story from Jim Bob? Did that come out of the writer's room?

29:44 That's how I met my wife.

29:47 Yeah, that's why, because you were saying, I was a popular nigga.

29:50 Y'all still in there?

29:52 Y'all married right now? Yeah.

29:54 Yeah, yeah.

29:54 Yeah.

29:55 She snatched you up from somebody else?

29:57 She said, come here. No, it wasn't like that. It wasn't exactly. I'm also from the Bay. So it was obviously the way to portray exactly what Leon, not Leon, Emil's saying about Leon and Dara is this. This is the sincerity in it. Yeah. She meant every fucking word she said. And if you was around in the 90s, Them niggas looked like gods when you saw them. Them D-Boys, the ones, the real players, the ones that wasn't, you know, lunatics and shit. What a story. Like, that's it. You know what I'm saying? They bullshitting. You know, I put some Bay Area on it.

30:35 I had to.

30:37 I had to. That's that Willie Hutch. She would have got squabbled down.

30:41 She would have got squabbled down if that was in real life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

30:45 She's hella respectful. Really analyze the world. Are y'all two together or not?

30:51 They're still my niggas.

30:53 Say that.

30:53 They poppin' peas. They poppin' peas. Well, I'm the.

30:59 Better than me.

31:00 I'm comin' up off my nigga.

31:02 Yeah.

31:03 Okay, will we ever get a scene to drive by Franklin sitting outside a liquor store pumping gas?

31:08 Anything? Listen, one day we will, Damson has to be allowed to be a motherfuckin' movie star. But that is the face of snowfall.

31:18 Well, something came out today on Twitter.

31:20 Huh?

31:21 What?

31:22 They said it's coming back. That's what Twitter said today.

31:25 But, oh, really?

31:27 I didn't verify this. I don't know if it's a credible source, but I saw that tweet today.

31:32 Let's stop talking. Yeah.

31:35 I'll find it for y'all.

31:37 That's what it said. Oh, my God. That's some bullshit. They're going to be mad at me. Let me not pretend. That nigga not appearing to see the one. I'll get fucked up for that.

31:44 Yeah, exactly.

31:45 But, no, he got carte blanche.

31:47 Can we go see Franklin Mama in jail?

31:49 We're going to do a lot. This show is that kind of show. Okay. This show is about the people. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, It isn't going to become another type of show. It just can't. It's not what we're doing. We're doing Boys in the Hood, Baby Boy, Poetic Justice. You know what I'm saying? Now, it's going to get funky and all that, but this is about the human beings, you know what I'm.

32:14 Saying, and the music. Yeah, but also to answer you, though, Gina, one thing I will say is that we don't come into the writer's room saying that we can't do those things, though. Okay. Nah. It's not like, because sometimes you can have shows where it's like, we can't do this or we can't do that, right?

32:27 So it's like in our writer's room, it's a possibility. Like all of that stuff that you're saying could be on the board and we just got to start shifting around and making it work. But we also not coming in the writer's room saying, all of those different stories or visiting or the potential to bring somebody back. It's like we're not doing that because we the drop. It's like it all could be on the board. Right.

32:45 You see Big Deon came back. It was very, very organic. We needed that character. It was going to work. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to Chad. Yeah, for sure.

32:52 You know what I'm saying?

32:53 I also like the scene of Leon when he was looking at the pictures.

32:56 He was reminiscing.

32:57 I thought that was a nice touch. Yeah, that's for the people. If you was around for that era, you know.

33:02 Then you know. That's a nice touch.

33:04 But while y'all here, on Twitter they asking if I'm going to be Wanda's sister. So I don't know if y'all bringing in Wanda family.

33:10 Yeah.

33:11 DJ Block might need a rival. You know what I'm saying? DJ Block might need a rival.

33:17 You know what I mean?

33:18 Yeah.

33:20 Once we start shaping it, we're definitely going to reach out to you. I already said that to Ed a few times. You represent the culture.

33:26 You see this about that. The real people got to be on there. The twins and Sugar Free was written into this. That's not no stunt casting.

33:37 That's another thing that was perfect.

33:39 But that's written into the script. It was never nobody else. It's got to be that shit or it ain't going to be in the show. That's written into the script.

33:49 I'm saying that now the drop going to get an Emmy. It's such a freaking good show. Like, y'all, I'm watching the show proud. Like, this my shit.

33:57 Like, the show is so freaking good. It's so good. We appreciate that. It means a lot to us.

34:02 I really appreciate y'all, you know, for not only just being here, but also incorporating the culture, incorporating me and my team.

34:08 Nay worked on our after show. You know what I'm saying? Just thank you, man.

34:13 Appreciate you.

34:13 You know what I'm saying? We appreciate the energy. Look forward to many more seasons.

34:18 Of the drop.

34:19 Effective Immediately, a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. You can hit us collectively at Effective Immediately, and make sure you hit that subscribe button on all our platforms.