El Paso author Ron Stallworth’s latest memoir is being developed as a streaming series on Hulu, the entertainment website Deadline reported Tuesday.
The rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is among those involved in the production of “Hip Hop Cop,” which is based on Stallworth’s 2024 book “The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country.”
In an interview with El Paso Matters, Stallworth said he was “excited, anxious. I know the hurdles that you have to overcome in order to get to the final product, having experienced it once already. But this is the first step. Once they commit to publicly announcing it, it’s a done deal in that regard.”
“The Gangs of Zion” detailed Stallworth’s police work in Utah in the 1990s as Los Angeles street gangs and crack cocaine made inroads into the Mormon-dominated state. As part of his effort to understand what was happening, Stallworth built expertise on the role gangsta rap played in spreading West Coast gang culture.
He ran into resistance from business and political leaders in Utah, who didn’t want to believe that gang culture was making inroads in their conservative communities, Stallworth wrote in his book.
Details of the “Hip Hop Cop” series – including premiere date, casting, number of episodes and storyline – are still in development, Stallworth said.
Executive producers are Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television and Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group, Deadline reported.
This is the second Stallworth memoir to be picked up by Hollywood. His first book, “Black Klansman,” became the inspiration for Spike Lee’s 2018 Academy Award-winning film “BlackKklansman.”
Kevin Willmott, one of the Oscar-winning screenwriters for “BlackKklansman,” will write “Hip Hop Cop.” Anthony Hemingway, best known for “American Crime Story,” will direct, according to Deadline.
Stallworth grew up in El Paso and graduated from Austin High School before moving to Colorado to begin his police career. He went on to work in law enforcement in Arizona, Wyoming and Utah before retiring. He and his wife, Patsy, also an Austin High graduate, moved back to El Paso in 2017.
The actor John David Washington played Ron Stallworth in “BlackKklansman.” Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, had intended to play him in the Hulu series, Stallworth said, but had to step back because of other commitments.
The author has some thoughts on some potential casting for “Hip Hop Cop.”
“First, I’d like to see John David Washington, and then Michael B. Jordan; O’Shea Jackson, Ice Cube’s son, who does a pretty good job acting,” Stallworth said.
He also mentioned Aldis Hodge, who starred in the TNT series “Leverage,” before dropping his big name – rapper Kendrick Lamar.
“I don’t know if Kendrick can act, but I figure nobody knew if any of these guys could act until they started doing it,” Stallworth said.
The post Ron Stallworth’s ‘Gangs of Zion’ being adapted as Hulu series appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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