Jay-Z has voiced his approval of a new Netflix sci-fi series that is set to debut on the streaming platform later this week.
The rapper, 54, was given early access to episodes of Rapman’s long anticipated show Supacell starring Tosin Cole (Doctor Who, Till) and Adelayo Adedayo (The Responder, Some Girls), which follows a group of South Londoners after they unexpectedly develop super powers.
After watching the South London based show, the “Empire State of Mind” hitmaker told the Blue Story director he thought the show was “crazy”.
Speaking to Metro, Rapman revealed how happy he had been to hear Jay-Z voicing his approval of Supacell when the pair bumped into each other in the US.
“It’s cool that Jay-Z saw the first few episodes maybe three, four months ago – early on,” he said.
“I saw him in LA a couple of months back and he was just telling me, ‘This storytelling is crazy, the way you intertwine the characters.’ He was proper bigging it up so it was just nice to see the support,” he added.
Supacell sees a group of South Londoners develop powers and begin to use their newfound superhuman skills for power and protection.
The six-part drama came into being after Rapman announced plans for the show online in 2020 and Netflix saw the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction to a sci-fi series with a predominantly Black cast.
Discussions with the streaming platform were partly orchestrated by Jay-Z’s entertainment management company, Roc Nation, which Rapman signed to in 2018.
“Jay-Z is an influential person and I appreciate all the support from Roc Nation and from everyone,” he said. “I don’t like to go into a room and be the biggest person because I feel like you can’t learn much.
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“So, I like going into a room and seeing [Jay-Z and business partners] as it just makes me want to work harder, to become more of a peer than under because I’m the type of person who wants to be equal.”
He added: “Obviously, Jay-Z is a billionaire, one of the richest men in the world and one of the most successful so it lets me know that I’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Cole stars in Supacell four years after leaving Doctor Who, where he previously played the part of the Doctor’s companion, Ryan Sinclair.
Jodie Whittaker admitted she was “devastated” by Cole’s exit and joked she had to be “carried” to her trailer after they had filmed their last scene together because she was so emotional.
“I haven’t cried like that for such a long time,” she admitted. “Tosin was like, ‘I really can’t cope with you getting so upset.’ That sums up how I felt, there wasn’t a sense of relief in any way.”