Shiro's Story | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rapman |
Written by | Rapman |
Produced by | |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Simon Stolland |
Edited by | Simon Stolland |
Music by |
|
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Link Up TV |
Release date |
|
Running time | 45 minutes (total) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Shiro's Story is a three-part YouTube series released in 2018, written, directed and narrated through the medium of rap by British rapper Rapman. It stars Joivan Wade as Shiro, Percelle Ascott as his best friend, Kyle, and has appearances from Konan, Deno, Ashley Walters, Headie One, Not3s and Cadet. Themes of betrayal, love and London gang rivalry play throughout, but there is no glamourisation of violence.
The series was shot guerrilla-style on a budget of £3,000 and had been seen 7.2 million times as of early November 2019. [1] The series as a whole has a run time of 45 minutes. Part 2 of the series won GRM Daily's Video of the Year award in 2018. [2]
Rapman subsequently signed a contract with Island Records and Jay-Z's ROC Nation, [3] and in late 2018, Paramount Pictures and BBC Films bought the rights for his feature film Blue Story . [4] [5] [6]
Episode | Production Companies | Released | Length | Views (as of 2024) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Aukes Media | Apr 8, 2018 | 10:15 | 10.5 Million | Self-financed and created by 'calling in favours' |
2 | Aukes Media | Jul 1, 2018 | 13:47 | 10.2 Million | Won GRM Daily Rated Awards - Video of the Year |
3 | Island Records, Aukes Media | Sep 16, 2018 | 21:42 | 13.6 Million | Received over a million views in five hours. Rapman signed to Jay-Z's ROC Nation soon after. |
Behind the scenes episode 1-4
Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. Born and raised in New York City, he was named the greatest rapper of all time by Billboard and Vibe in 2023. He served as the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007 before founding the entertainment company, Roc Nation the following year.
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. Carter issued his debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996) as the label's first release, in a joint venture with Priority Records. The label has signed and released albums for acts including Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Juelz Santana, Freeway, Jadakiss, Teairra Marí, State Property, and The Diplomats before its dissolution in 2013.
Idrissa Akuna Elba is an English actor, rapper, singer, and DJ. An alumnus of the National Youth Music Theatre in London, he is known for roles including Stringer Bell in the HBO series The Wire (2002–2004), DCI John Luther in the BBC One series Luther (2010–2019), and Nelson Mandela in the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013). For Luther, he received four nominations each for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, winning one of the former.
Roc Nation is an American entertainment company founded by Jay-Z in 2008. Headquartered in New York City, the company is a successor to his previous Roc-A-Fella Records label, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. It serves as a record label, talent agency, media production firm, and clothing line with educational and philanthropic programs.
Rita Sahatçiu Ora is a British singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Ora's debut studio album, Ora, released in August 2012, debuted at number one in the United Kingdom. The album contained the UK number-one singles, "R.I.P." and "How We Do (Party)". She had the most number-one songs on the UK Singles Chart in 2012, with three singles reaching number-one.
Kevin Georgiou, known professionally as K Koke, is an English-Irish-Cypriot rapper. His Fire in the Booth freestyle on Charlie Sloth's show on BBC Radio 1Xtra has over 20 million YouTube views.
"No Church in the Wild" is a song by American rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring American singers Frank Ocean and The-Dream, from the former two's first collaborative album Watch the Throne (2011). Opening the album, the song explores themes of religion and decadence. The track received highly positive reviews from music critics, who praised Ocean's vocal hooks, the depth of the verses, the cinematic production and the song's power as an opening track.
"A Star Is Born" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Jay-Z from his eleventh studio album The Blueprint 3 (2009). The song, produced by Kanye West, Kenoe and No I.D., features a verse from American rapper J. Cole, Jay-Z's protege and the first artist to be signed to his Roc Nation label. In the song, Jay-Z recognizes rappers who have risen to fame in the last decade, such as Wu-Tang Clan, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I., Eminem and 50 Cent. Notably, Jay-Z also gives shout-outs to Mobb Deep, Nas and two artists whom he had previously insulted on his 2001 song "Takeover".
Jamal Brendan Edwards was an English music entrepreneur, DJ and founder of the online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV.
Joivan Wade is an English actor known for playing Manyou in the BBC comedy television series Big School, Jordan Johnson on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and Victor Stone / Cyborg in the Max series Doom Patrol and Titans.
Julie Oluwatoyin Chidozie Adenuga is a British broadcaster, radio host and the creator of Don't Trust The Internet. She was one of the three lead DJs for Beats 1, Apple's 24/7 radio station as part of Apple Music.
Lukman Olanrewaju Odunaike, better known by his stage name Not3s, is a British singer and rapper from Hackney, London. His songs include "My Lover" and "Fine Line", both of which are collaborations with Mabel.
Blaine Cameron Johnson, known professionally as Cadet, was a British rapper. Blaine Johnson began pursuing a career as a rapper in 2011, releasing a number of freestyles through YouTube outlets such as OSM Vision and Link Up TV. His debut project, The Commitment, was released in 2016, followed by The Commitment 2 the following year. He is perhaps best known for his single "Advice" featuring Deno, which peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
Andrew Onwubolu, better known by his stage name Rapman, is a British rapper, record producer, screenwriter, and film director. He is known for his three-part YouTube series Shiro's Story (2018), his debut feature film Blue Story (2018), and the 2024 Netflix superhero series Supacell.
Blue Story is a 2019 British musical crime drama film written, directed, and narrated by Rapman through the medium of rap and starring Stephen Odubola and Micheal Ward, with Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Khali Best, Karla-Simone Spence, Richie Campbell, Jo Martin and Junior Afolabi Salokun in supporting roles. Serving as Rapman's feature directorial debut, the film is based on his 2014 YouTube series of the same name, which in turn is based on the real life gangs - the Peckham Boys and Ghetto Boys. The story follows best friends Marco (Ward) and Timmy (Odubola) who, from different areas of London, find themselves becoming enemies in a violent and insidious postcode war.
Deno Michael Mebrahtu, known mononymously as Deno, is a British singer, songwriter, rapper and actor from London. His parents are originally from Eritrea, and he was raised in South London. He came to the forefront of London's afro-wave music scene beginning in 2018 with a number of viral music videos and hit songs.
GRM Daily, formerly Grime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform. As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such as UK drill, afroswing, trap, and British hip hop. The platform also serves electronic genres such as UK garage and grime.
Rhys Angelo Emile Herbert, known professionally as Digga D, is a UK drill artist. He rose to fame in 2017 along with his UK drill collective CGM. His mixtapes Double Tap Diaries and Made In The Pyrex reached No. 11 and 3 on the UK Albums Chart, respectively. His third mixtape Noughty By Nature was released on 15 April 2022, debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart. His fourth mixtape Back To Square One was released in August 2023.
Jovanni Shemar Sterling known professionally as Graft, is a British rapper and former professional youth footballer, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Hodifa Abdalla Elshabli, known professionally as Geko, is a British rapper and singer from Manchester. He is best known for singles such as "6:30" and "New Money" which charted on the UK Singles Chart and were certified by the BPI.