Wale is stepping into his hometown with Silk, a TV series that is notorious for the city’s deadliest years.
Grammy-nominated rappers and Washington, D.C. natives are behind cameras to create a crime drama centered on Perry’s violent domination from 1989 to 1993, a period when the country’s capital received a grim title as the “Capital of Murder” in the United States.
“Washington, D.C. is more than politics,” Were said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. “We have a rich black history that has inspired audiences around the world, and it’s time to tell more stories based on it.”
The series will track Perry’s fears for Harlem drug trafficker Alpo Martinez, who moved its cocaine operations to DC after the fall of the local Kingpin Rayful Edmond. Perry’s reputation for performing executions precisely and ruthlessly makes him one of the most feared men in the city’s underworld.
“This story is one of the last true stories in The Legend of Black Crime,” said Val’s manager Kazz Laidlaw. “People have seen clips from the movies in the movies and read the guesses online, but below the surface is a world that has never been seen before.”
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Perry, now known as Nkosi Shaka Zulu El, is serving five sentences at the federal Super Max prison in ADX Florence, Colorado. In 1994, he was convicted of a series of murders kidnapped with Martinez’s drug empire. After Martinez’s arrest and cooperation with federal prosecutors, his convictions included testimony that helped seal Perry’s fate.
Among the victims are drug dealers Garrett Terrell and Evelyn Carter, who are ready to testify.
Wale acquired a stake in Perry Industries, a DC company that holds Perry’s right to life. He will work with Laidlaw and C. Edwards of Perry Industries.
The show will be held in the context of Washington in the early 1990s and will be weaved in the city’s chaotic political climate, high crime rates, and the pulse of its carnival music community. The same year, the Washington Reds won the Super Bowl, with Mayor Marion Barry passing the 1994 Crime Act under the FBI investigation and Congress.
“The era of Washington, D.C. is internationally famous,” Val said. “The Reds won the Super Bowl, the mayor was prosecuted by the FBI, Joe Biden passed a crime bill, and Washington, D.C. has 482 homicides – the highest homicide in the country.”
Wale, who has previously played in Ambulances and American Deity, has been injecting his DC roots into his music. With silk, his goal is to unfilter the city that often becomes political headlines.
The project is still in early development and there is no additional network or streaming platform.
The series joins growing crime dramas such as Power, Snowfall, and Narcos to explore the drug chaos of the 1980s and 1990s.
