Rapper Ja Rule and Irv Gotti are set to appear in WE tv’s “Growing Up Hip Hop NY,” a source confirmed to Variety.
The reality series “Growing Up Hip Hop” debut in 2016, and followed the lives of the children of hip-hop legends. It led to the spinoff “Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta,” which premiered in 2017. The series was created by Datari Turner and is executive produced by Datari Turner Productions and Entertainment One Studios.
Ja Rule was a fixture in hip hop during the late 1990s and early 2000s, and notched numerous top 20 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His hits included “Between Me and You” with Christina Milian,” “I’m Real (Murder Remix”) and “Ain’t It Funny” with Jennifer Lopez, and “Always on Time” with Ashanti. Two of his albums hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and he has earned four Grammy nominations, including best rap album for 2001’s “Pain Is Love.”
More recently, however, the Queens-bred rapper has been embroiled in scandal for his work as a co-producer of the disastrous Fyre Festival in 2017, which was the subject in dueling documentaries from Netflix and Hulu this January. Ja Rule has denied any wrongdoing.
Gotti is a record executive, DJ, and record producer, as well as the founder of Murder Inc. Records, the label that helped launch artists like Ja Rule and DMX. He also created the BET series “Tales,” a drama anthology series that premiered in 2017. Gotti faced charges of money laundering following a 2003 investigation, but was later acquitted.
The Jasmine Brand first reported the casting news, but details about additional casting and storylines for “Growing Up Hip Hop NY” have not been revealed.