Spotify’s first TV show RapCaviar Presents.
“The way that we present playlists is pretty much a collection of 50 songs, and that’s it. There’s no context. We’re not even able to articulate to the listeners why we picked those songs. So I’ve been working on building channels that serve as an extension of RapCaviar’s editorial voice.”
That’s a problem that perhaps only Carl Chery has. He’s the man in charge of RapCaviar, Spotify’s most popular and important genre-specific playlist. Millions of people subscribe to the weekly ranking of some of the hottest new tracks in hip-hop, and inclusion on it can turn an unknown into a viral star in no time.
But while RapCaviar has a near-unprecedented reach and level of respect in the hip-hop field, it’s not built for telling stories. It’s perfect for delivering future hits to eager consumers, but that isn’t enough for the former journalist and music aficionado.
In late March, Spotify and Hulu officially launched the music streamer’s first TV show, a docuseries titled RapCaviar Presents. The six-part miniseries is primarily made up of episodes that focus on rappers of note–Tyler, the Creator, City Girls, Roddy Ricch, Polo G and Coi Leray–using them and their fame to shine a light on issues facing the community, such as social media bullying, the body shaming of women, and the breaking of hyper-masculine ideals.
Chery began to conceive of what would become RapCaviar Presents more than four years ago with a team at Spotify shortly after he joined the streamer in 2018. While some companies would be hesitant to do almost anything with such a strong brand, he insists he was given near-free rein to expand its portfolio and try something new. During a call just before RapCaviar Presents premiered, Chery explained that when he approached Spotify’s Head of Music Jeremy Erlich with his bold idea, “It wasn’t even a pitch. It’s just basically like, I want to do this,” and that was enough.
From there, Chery teamed up with nonfiction production company IPC to reshape the premise and get it ready. After a few months of editing and reimagining, the show was pitched to several networks and streamers–a streaming company pitching other streaming companies, how modern–and Hulu snapped it up in 2019. From there, a pilot was shot…and then reshot, as the program was altered even further into what viewers can see now on their TV.
Eli Hoffman, IPC’s CEO, said that Chery brought him “an embarrassment of riches” when it came to talent, and he’s right. In addition to the artists who are the focus of each episode, fellow musicians like Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Jack Harlow and countless others provide commentary and insight into the fast-paced world of hip-hop. But it wasn’t star power that was the problem when it came to actually creating RapCaviar Presents.
“How do you make something that’s so inside, that’s so immediate that the purists and the experts will feel satisfied and not talked down to or like they’re getting yesterday’s news…but on the other hand, how do you please those purists without making something really inaccessible for a broader audience,” questioned Hoffman during a video interview about RapCaviar Presents. “That was always going to be the challenge.”
Somehow, Chery, Hoffman, and the entire team at both companies pulled it off. RapCaviar Presents works for anyone with an interest in hip-hop…and should anyone who doesn’t care for the genre give it a go, they’ll get something out of it as well. The show humanizes musicians who put on a tough facade, it educates even those who think they know everything about rap, and it shows so many sides to the industry that even those working within it might come away shocked.
The brilliance of the program really comes from the musicians themselves, who open up in ways they might not even dare to do in their own music. “It takes enormous confidence as an artist to allow your story to be told in that context, mid-career or early career,” Hoffman explained, adding, “We wish that every one of our stars had the sort of confidence to just let it all hang out there, but that’s extraordinarily rare.”
Chery underlined just how amazing it was to see artists at the top of their game bare their soul for the camera, as “in this day and age, everyone wants to curate their appearance.” He’s right, but in a way, these rappers and singers sharing their innermost demons and struggles might be exactly that–their way of owning their own stories, their own narratives. “We all have such a good barometer for what’s real and what’s canned now,” Hoffman opined, “so authenticity and sincerity really bond us to the artists we admire most.”
In less capable hands, RapCaviar Presents could have been just another run-of-the-mill informational docuseries, and it still would have achieved many of the goals that Chery set out to accomplish…but that wasn’t enough for them. “We wanted to be a little bit more ambitious than just some standard run of the mill bio format,” Hoffman shared. Thankfully, that’s exactly what they created–something special, and something not often seen coming out of the hip-hop space.
All six episodes of RapCaviar Presents premiered on Hulu on March 30, and while everyone involved has ideas for more, it’s a bit too early to tell if a second season will be produced. For now, the show can entertain and inform both “rap nerds and casual music lovers”–Chery’s words–as one of the best music docuseries to come along in some time.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2023/04/12/how-spotifys-rapcaviar-playlist-became-a-must-see-tv-series/