Add Decider on Google Where to Stream: The Drop: A Snowfall Saga Powered by Reelgood More On: Asante Blackk ‘Euphoria Season 3 Cast Revealed: Trisha Paytas, Eli Roth, Natasha Lyonne, Zendaya ‘Snowfall’ Spin-off: Cast, Release Date, and Everything Else We Know ‘Story Ave’ Review: Luis Guzmán and Asante Blackk Form An Unlikely Friendship in this Emotional Drama Luis Guzmán Says All He Wanted Out Of ‘Miami Vice’ Role Was To Buy A Used Car: “Look At Where I Am Now!” In the new FX/Hulu series The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, the West Coast rap scene of the early 1990s, and the hope it gave talented people living in places like South Central Los Angeles, is examined. Two characters come over from Snowfall, the 2017-23 crime drama that this series is spun off from.
Opening Shot: A woman goes through a series of cassettes with rap demos on them. She throws almost all of them in the trash until she gets to one marked “Officer Blackman.”
The Gist: In 1990 Los Angeles, Wanda Bell (Gail Bean), who has been trying to put her life back together after she and her now-ex-husband, Leon Simmons (Isaiah John), detoxed from an addiction to crack, is the one listening to those tapes. She works in a used car lot, but also interns for Darryl “DG” Grant (Brandon Mychal Smith), a former D-boy who owns a hip hop record label. She’s trying to find a rapper to present to Darryl, and she thinks Artillery (Simmie Sims III) is her ticket.
She’s also encouraging her cousin, Lamar Kinsey (Asante Blackk), a DJ who is immensely talented at laying down tracks incorporating samples. However, Lamar’s grandparents, Gerty (Nicki Micheaux) and “Big Daddy” (Mykelti Williamson), have been trying their hardest to keep him in the church and away from gangs, with his older cousin James (Peyton Alex Smith) tasked with protecting him. Through the sheer force of her personality and persuasiveness, Wanda manages to get a showcase for the controversial Artillery, and her aim is for him to team up with Lamar to make the next big West Coast rap anthem.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, created by Malcolm Spellman, is a spinoff of Snowfall, with Wanda and Leon being the carryover characters from the original series.
Our Take: The Drop: A Snowfall Saga does a good job of showing the West Coast rap scene of the early ’90s and how it had the potential to dramatically change the circumstances of people who lived in South Central L.A. who had a talent for putting together poetry, beats and samples. For people like Wanda and Lamar, who both have talent and ambition that they hope will help them rise above their situation, there’s still a lot standing in their way, and Spellman and his writers show all of it.
One of the places where it comes together is a scene in which Lamar is chased through the neighborhood by what looks like members of multiple gangs, more than symbolizing what Lamar has to avoid in order to succeed. Wanda has already been through the rough times and come out the other side, and knows that the burgeoning West Coast rap scene is not just about artistic expression, but is a ticket to a better life for her and Lamar. We’re looking forward to seeing how the two of them, with the help of James, achieve the vision Wanda has for both her and Leon’s lives.
Performance Worth Watching: Gail Bean puts in an inspiring performance as Wanda, whose big personality can sell a used car — at least until someone recognizes her from her drug-filled past — and will definitely help Artillery and Lamar go far in the hip hop world.
Sex And Skin: Nothing in the first episode, but we’re thinking there might be some down the line.
Parting Shot: As Artillery raps over Lamar’s track at the house party for his fellow Bloods, James, Lamar and Wanda notice how everyone around him is rapping with him.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Drop: A Snowball Saga is a compelling look at the lives of people trying to make it work in the West Coast rap scene of the early ’90s, with excellent performances by Gai, Bean and Asante Blackk.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
