HBO to produce comedy series about Hasidic rapper Nissim Black

The show will tell the story of his days in a Seattle gang to a devout Orthodox family man — and hip hop star.

Jewish hip hop singer Nissim Black seen performing during the Chanukah festival in Pittsburgh, April 12, 2018. (Esther Wayne/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

By Caleb Guedes-Reed April 27, 2022

(JTA) – HBO Max is currently producing a new comedy series based on the life of former gang member-turned-Hasidic-rapper Nissim Black.

Black, who lives in Israel, announced the upcoming show on Twitter on Monday, writing that he hopes “this series brings Joy, and dispells [sic] a lot of the misinformation going on out there.”

He will co-produce the show with comedian and veteran TV writer Moshe Kasher, who frequently references his Jewish identity in his work. It’s unclear if Black will star as himself in the show, according to a Deadline report.

“Motherland Bounce,” the name of the series and the name of one of Black’s recently released singles, tells the story of how he went from selling drugs in Seattle by age 12 to finding a spiritual home in Orthodox Judaism and moving to Jerusalem. In the song, he grapples with his many different identities.

“There’s always these questions,” he told Hey Alma in 2020. “Like, ‘Well, are you still Black? How Black are you? How does that work? But you’re also Jewish? Jews are white?’ No they’re not!”

Deadline reported that the series will be directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield, an actress who has most recently directed episodes of the fantasy epic “The Wheel of Time” and the period drama “The Gilded Age.”

Catch up on our past coverage of the Jewish hip-hop pioneer below.

Hasidic rapper Nissim Black opens up about his creative process, spirituality and COVID recovery

Nissim Black and Kosha Dillz, Jewish hip-hop royalty, remix Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah song’ on the streets of New York

Orthodox rapper Nissim Black’s new single, ‘The Hava Song,’ remakes ‘Hava Nagila’ just in time for Hanukkah

Nissim Black releases new music video starring Amar’e Stoudemire

Opinion: Nissim Black’s ‘Mothaland Bounce’ is the most authentically Jewish song you’ll hear this year

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

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