May 11, 2021 – Under the most hush-hush conditions, iconic rapper Eminem filmed a story arc for Season 1 of the upcoming Starz scripted television series Black Mafia Family last month in his hometown of Detroit, per sources on the set of the shoot. The role he has been cast in for the show is unconfirmed.
Eminem (born Marshall Mathers aka “Slim Shady”) hasn’t acted since he drew rave reviews for his performance in the 2002 semi-autobiographical film, 8 Mile, which made $245,000,000 at the box office and became an instant underdog movie classic. Eminem’s protege in the rap game, 50 Cent, is executive producing the highly-anticipated BMF series, chronicling the real-life rags to riches story of Detroiters Demetrious (Big Meech) Flenory and Terry (Southwest T) Flenory, who rose from humble beginnings in the Motor City to rule the nation’s cocaine trade in the first half of the 2000s.
The BMF series has been in production in Detroit and Atlanta the past two and a half months. Rap legend Snoop Dogg is also on board for the project, playing a fast-talking pastor with questionable motives. The queen of Detroit’s hip-hop scene, Kash Doll, will be making her acting debut as a law office employee engaged in a romantic affair with Big Meech. The Big Meech character is being played by Big Meech’s son, aspiring rapper Demetrius (Lil’ Meech) Flenory, Jr.
The Flenory brothers launched their “Black Mafia Family” in Detroit in 1990 and by the end of the decade had expanded throughout the country. At the time of the Flenorys arrest in 2005, BMF operated franchises in 23 different states, with Big Meech stationed in Atlanta and Southwest T living in L.A. and overseeing affairs in Michigan from afar. Their social strata included celebrities, actors, musicians of all kinds and their entire organization became famous for its lavish partying. Big Meech commissioned billboards put up along I-75, the expressway running from Detroit to Atlanta, advertising BMF as a brand and music l
Both Flenory brothers copped pleas and received 30-year federal prison terms for heading a drug trafficking conspiracy. Southwest T, 50, walked free last spring from a compassionate release relegating him to serving the remainder of his sentence under home confinement. Big Meech, 52, is serving his time in a Oregon correctional facility and isn’t scheduled for release until October 2031.
One of the true genius lyricists and provocateurs of his era, Eminem rose from near poverty in a trailer park neighborhood lining the North Detroit border to international superstardom in a matter of a year in the late 1990s. He’s sold more than 200,000,000 albums worldwide and counting in his 22-year career, transcending his genre of music and making a name for himself as the only white-colored all-time great in the rap game.
The film 8 Mile, described by critics as Rocky set in the world of hip-hop instead of prize fighting, was helmed by Curtis Hanson and co-starred Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Anthony Mackie and Michael Shannon. Eminem played Jimmy “Rabbit” Smith, a down-on-his-luck stamping plant employee
50 Cent found success in the scripted television space on Starz with his first show, Power, about a fictional New York drug lord. Detroiter Randy Huggins is the BMF series showrunner and wrote on Power before accepting the BMF show gig.