Melonie Diaz, Sinqua Walls And Ali Ahn Added To VH1’s The Breaks SeriesPosted by Wilson Morales
August 10, 2016
VH1 today announced the full cast for “The Breaks,” the network’s new scripted series based on its critically acclaimed hit film that aired earlier this year.
Melonie Diaz (“Fruitvale Station”), Sinqua Walls (“Power”) and Ali Ahn (“Billions”) are joining the movie’s original cast including Afton Willamson (HBO’s “The Night Of…”), Wood Harris (“The Wire”), Mack Wilds (“90210”), Antoine Harris (“Ballers”), David Call (“The Magicians”) and Evan Handler (“Sex and the City”).
Mann, Charnas, Strauss, Bill Flanagan and Darren Goldberg are executive producers on “The Breaks.” Maggie Malina, Chris McCarthy and Amy Doyle will serve as executive producers for VH1.
Inspired by the book by journalist Dan Charnas entitled The Big Payback, a narrative history of the hip-hop business, “The Breaks” is written, directed and executive produced by Seith Mann (“The Wire,” “The Walking Dead,” “Homeland”) with a story by Mann and Charnas. John J. Strauss (“Mozart in the Jungle”) is joining as Executive Producer for the series. The film followed three young friends fulfilling their hip hop dreams in New York City in 1990.
In the film that aired in January, “The Breaks” chronicled the journey of Nikki (Afton Williamson), David (David Call) and DeeVee (Mack Wilds), three friends united by their love of hip-hop, as they work to make their big mark in the music industry. The film traveled viewers back to the summer of 1990 in New York City where the music industry’s artists and hustlers intersected in the dance clubs and the street corners of the still crime-ridden city. Nikki Jones is a brilliant recent grad who abandoned a scholarship to law school to pursue her dream of becoming a record exec. Her boyfriend, David Aaron (Call), is the scrappy son of a legendary music producer (Evan Handler) who is unwilling to rest on his father’s laurels and notorious reputation. DeeVee is an aspiring producer on the hunt to find the next big rapper on the come-up.
Nikki fast talked her way into an internship at the premier hip-hop company, Fouray Entertainment and caught the eye of the label’s infamous founder, Barry Fouray (Wood Harris) while David struggled at the city’s top R&B radio station whose celebrity DJ refused to program real hip-hop. Meanwhile, DeeVee returned to his roots in the Fort Greene projects to scout for talent and ran into Ahm (Antoine Harris), a drug dealer with a lyrical gift whose talent brought them all to the next level. But they will soon discover lives can be broken as fast as legends can be born.
The series will continue to explore their triumph and heartbreak trying to make their mark in a new and complex hip hop culture.
