It seems as though rapper/singer/actor/producer (whew!) Queen Latifah has been signing deals left and right these days to bring new content to a TV near you. After recently performing in The Wiz (as The Wiz) and inking a deal with Lee Daniels for a new musical drama, her latest venture has her teaming up with former Brownstone singer and R&B Divas creator Nicci Gilbert for a brand-new reality show focusing on "the redemption of six different women who, at one point or another, were caught in the midst of scandal," according to Wetpaint.
Now for the specifics:
"Gilbert's show will follow the lives of Christina Beatty, Kimberly Smedley, Stacii Jae Johnson, Chrystale Wilson, and Sara Stokes. Beatty was at the center of the scandals with Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and served jail time and probation for her crimes. Smedley was jailed for administering botched silicone buttocks injections. Johnson, an ex-event coordinator to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, was arrested in 2012 on DUI charges. Wilson, also known as Ronnie from The Players Club, has struggled to excel in her career beyond the 1998 film. Stokes, singer from Sean "P Diddy" Combs' Making The Band 2, was arrested and charged with domestic violence in July 2014."
Don't automatically think that it's going to be all about the drama, though, as Gilbert isn't about the negativity when it comes to what she calls the most honest project she's ever worked on. "I spent a lot of time communicating with my cast members and my partners about the importance of the integrity of the story," she said. "We had to understand that we are all on the same page about the beginning, middle and end. And we spent a lot of time in development. The most important thing for me is that I have the creative influence. When you tell a story about black women, you must have black women involved. All of the ladies aren't coming together for the sake of drama. They're all coming together to tell their story."
Not to say Gilbert's life has been short on drama recently. The singer pursued litigation against TV One and R&B Divas Atlanta's production company, Think Factory Media, earlier this year. The back-and-forth drama between her and members of the cast and production team are well documented, so hopefully she'll fare better this time around.
Watch the trailer for the new show, titled From the Bottom Up, before it premieres Jan. 16 at 10 p.m. on Centric.
