Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta Episode 1 - Bow Wow desperate to be relevant again does a mixtape, Wacka Flacka lil Brandon gets his own piece of reality show pie, Reginae Carter - what can I say? Please just don't shame and judge me for watching...

Hello people,

It's been a long minute! Well it seems Growing Up Hip Hop has down South to Atlanta. And one thing about  ATL, A-Town...Atlanta always delivers when it comes to reality shows. Is there something in the water that makes these guys some different type....I'm loss for words maybe I'll call it crazy. Yes, crazy and raw.

So a new group of Hip Hop celebrity kids desperate for the limelight and fame, have got a part in this franchise and it is messy and popping.

Ya'll know I'm dyslexic and can't spell so please take this as it it.

This is my take on the story in no particular order!

LETS BEGIN WITH THE STAR OF THE SHOW - BOW WOW

So we begins with Bow Wow, who thirsty for grown up fame and the next pay check, and relocating to Atlanta for this messy reality show.

Bow Wow is the star because he HAD a career and after all that fronting on Istagram about private jets and travelling first class - when taking coach - thought still better than greyhound, we know he will do what he needs to do for a pay check.

Also every one know Bow Wow, though he's going by his real name which I forget...Shady Moss or something....

Anyway Bow Wow is telling us about his past, and how big he WAS, and all the women he had SLEPT with. Ciara, Erica Meana (Love & Hip Hop NYC) and some other unmemorable women. Anyway he is now settling in some kinda arrangement in LA with his Babymomma and cute daughter.

However Bow Wow the FATHER stills needs to pay checks to support his family. AND BE CLEAR THAT'S WHY HE'S MESSING WITH THIS FRANCHISE.

So the premise of this episode is Bow Wow drops into Atlanta to release his mix tape.

Now what kind of foolishness is that? I mean who travels that distance for a MIXTAPE release? So you know the man is getting paid for this nonsense,  he needs that cheque so bad he'll go along with this mix tape foolishness. It's not even a single! Shake my head!

So he drops into Atlanta and goes to give his respect to his mentor Jermaine Dupri, and tells him about his mixtape plans. Even Jermaine Dupri shakes his head and asks what all this Mixtape nonsense is. If the Bow Wow wants to make music, then he should MAKE REAL MUSIC. Not this foolishness about mixtape. What the heck is a mixtape in the landscape of music. So Jermaine Dupri tells Bow Wow not to waste his time.

Bow Wow is like all disrespectful about Jermaine Dupri saying it's the man's age. But what Bow Wow is forgetting is he is 29 years old and no spring chicken either. Also Jermaine Dupri is part of Hip Hop history so the man had made his mark. Bow Wow by the sounds of it, will make a fool of himself for a few coins.

Anyway nothing much really happens with Bow Wow apart from all the fuss over some mixtape. Da Brat comes into the mix giving advice but we've heard all that type of advice before 'stop getting distracted and get in the studio' talk so I'm not wasting my time with her.

Now lets move on to the other thirsty characters in the show - I'm writing in no particular order because to be honest these kids are not really relevant.

Zonnique Harris Pullins and Reginae Carter - Lil Wanye Black Lives Matter Drama

These start off as best friends on the show. Zonnique is daughter of TI and Tiny Harris, while Reginae is Lil Wayne and Tonya's daughter.

Zonnique wants to become a star but doesn't want to WORK in the hours. She is pretty but like a mermaid who seems to love stroking her hair and gazing in the mirror. I didn't get a feel for her character. She is only 21 but her makeup and styling makes her seem a lot older than she is.

Maybe a younger looking style where she looks fresh...rather than her mother's younger sister. In this picture she had the freshness of youth

She seems all about shopping, she'll love to be a famous performer but for now she's more interesting in social media and texting her friends. Overall she is bland, boring but likeable.  However she is also pretty sensible and calm which is a credit to her mother and stepdad.

Reginae Carter is an interesting one. She is always sweet spoilt but strong willed, and very protective of her father - and this can cause some problems especially because she is a sheltered and very privileged young woman so she doesn't always understand that in life you pick your battles.

I also think she is very much like her father - outspoken without considering consequences - you know Lil Wayne rolls in his interviews, if you'd ever read any.

So the main drama between these two kick off when Lil Wayne made a comment about Black Lives Matter in an interview and TI went off at him. I saw the interview but given Lil Wayne's background - the man is the Michael Jackson of Hip Hop - he was the wrong person to ask - he doesn't get it and unfortunately doesn't even empathise with the situation.

 A lot of people don't understand Lil Wayne has had a very sheltered upbringing. He was a child prodigy of Birdman, he grew up in the studio.

He was discovered at a very early age so he lives in a different world, his own planet. Cash Money planet with all the bodyguards and entourages. Lil Wayne was never the average street cat trying to make it BIG. He probably only mixed with selected associates of Cash Money. His life was making music, touring and probably women. He doesn't get it, he doesn't connect with it and lastly does not empathise with it.

Lil Wayne was so sheltered and Cash Money did everything for him, he doesn't understand that BLM represents most of the young black men and women that buy his music.  These kids looked up to Lil Wayne as someone who made it. They thought he was representing them - now they know otherwise. So someone had to call him out, and TI did so.  TI who is a socially conscious artist, criticised Lil Wayne for the interview. Now, understand this, TI raps about life, struggle and is socially and politically conscious.

And yes, Lil Wayne went to jail, but even there he'd have been a celebrity, not your common jail cat. It's unfortunate because if Lil Wayne empathised with the situation he'd have been measured in his response. And also it depends on what he was on that day....

 It is what it is.

Anyway back to the story....

When the interview comes out, everyone is like 'Oh Lil Wayne had put his foot in it again', and Reginae comes out with a ton of excuses. Anyway TI drops his own response, and both Reginae and Zonnique agree they are going to keep out of. As If.

However Reginae is brewing underneath feeling that she needs to protect her father. Against what, I ask. However thinking about it, Lil Wayne is a big kid. Even to his daughter he seem to act like a big brother rather than a father. Even Tonya said she had to be the bad parent, the one who says no. She's the one who raised Reginae. So you can understand her need to protect her father, even though he doesn't need it.

What Reginae probably didn't understand, though her mother tried to explain to her, was this was beef between two grown men. Two friends, and it would blow over at some point. It would also be disrespectful for her to get involved. She's only 17 years old, very sheltered and doesn't understand a lot about life. Then again, you can understand because her father hasn't really grown up in some terms, he hasn't really drawn a line with where Reginae can get involved, boundaries are blurred so she behaves like a little mama rather than a daughter.

This is the difference between Zonnique and Reginae. TI raised Zonnique, so she knows her father's business is not her business.  Anyway full of hot air, Reginae gives a rude response to TI on social media....so we can expect it to kick off.

WACKA FLACKA'S LITTLE BROTHER BRANDON

We see  Debra Antney is working real hard to get all her babies a pay check on reality shows. Saying that Even Deb had upped her styling game since Love and Hip Hop Altlanta. I'm totally loving her new style. She is one fine woman.

We meet mouthy Brandon Barnes. I'm not sure what Brandon really does, but you know in the Debra Antney nobody is getting a free ride, not even Wacka Flacka.

He is introduced as a vocal coach and seems to be giving Zonnique lessons which she wasn't taking serious. I don't have much to say about Brandon other than he behaves very much like the baby of Antey family. He is very vocal about what he thinks, and I think partly because of his protective mother Deb Antey and big brothers including  Wacka Flacka. So his mouth writes cheques his family cashes.

So because Brandon Barnes knows he's protected in a way, he runs his mouth. Antey and her family don't mess with theirs. So he will be interesting because I know he has a lot to say.

SHANIAH (MAULDIN - JERMAINE DUPRI'S DAUGHTER)

Nice, gracious and sweet. Shaniah looks as if her father begged her to do the show. She just comes over too sensible for this nonsense. She is naturally beautiful, friendly and there is no fakeness. She also seems level-headed and practical. I'm not sure what she's doing on this show. I guess a part of me wonders if her father begged her to be part of it.

She is actually much better with less makeup. Who the heck is stying these girls like middle aged women. Please get a new makeup artist!

ANAYA - DAUGHTER OF A BEASTIE BOY DJ HURRICANE.

She's not really doing anything other than quitting a paid job to LAUNCH her now FASHION LINE. Like the world needs another celebrity child fashion line. She's not really relevant to espisode other than she looks a lot like Reginae Carter and I get them confused.

BACK TO BOW WOW MAKING SOME COINS 

So we get back to Bow Wow planning a mixtape release party where he invites the lovely Shaniah. She's not really interested in going, her pops Jermaine Dupri is definitely not interested in her going, but all for the stake of this reality show and giving Shaniah a bigger profile, he agrees after some convincing from Da Brat - that it wasn't going to be held in a gentleman's club. Hm.

Okay, so Bow Wow does some radio publicity and they get a club where all the stars of the show appear. All except Reginae who is underage at 17, and forced to spend a girl's night with her mother. Maybe that's why she got real pissed and did the social media response. After all she may have felt protective about her father, but also pissed she was missing out on a club night. Let me not digress on what I've covered.

So they (except Reginae) all go to this MADE UP mixtape release party. Soulja Boy couldn't be there - he was the collaboration on the mixtape tape. I suspect the show didn't meet his match his appearance fee. These dudes do nothing for free.

It's popping according to Bow Wow. It seems pretty boring to me. Brandon isn't impressed and embarrassed because his mother Deb Antney turns up, saying no one else's parents turned up. Please, Brandon, no one cares what you think.

GANG EX-ASSOCIATES COME TO THE MIX TAPE PARTY

So what's a party without uninvited dubious ex-friends appearing to make trouble? Well a few ex-associates that Bow Wow used to hang with on the street appear at the part. Apparently it seems there may be some trouble going down.

Bow Wow is fronting this is the reason he moved it LA, the streets of Atlanta are dangerous and he is not impressed his ex-associates or ex-friends have made an appearance. I guess everyone is free to enter a club but maybe not his thug-like ex associates.

So guess what happens?

1. Does Bow Wow say okay, had enough time to leave quietly?
2. Does Bow Wow ask if everyone is strapped and gunned up ready to battle?

Well, there is the common sense approach, and there is the staking your territory approach. Now I'm not sure how real this was, or maybe it happens so often in Atlanta it seems just a normal thing to do- but it's crazy because Bow Wow went with option 2, asking folks if they were strapped up. CRAZY! Only because he'd told Jermaine Dupri he'd take care of Shaniah, and wouldn't he just be like okay, Da Brat take Shaniah home in case trouble does down tonight.

Oh no. Not at all. Instead they prepare for war. Like if I seen an situation is about to escalate and I can't do anything to diffuse it, I leave it. Maybe that's not the Atlanta way.... 

I've forgotten what happens after that but it seems an interesting show overall

Thanks for reading.

Snuggies xxxx

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