Recently, celebrities and tastemakers in Atlanta showed up to a private exclusive screening of “Growing up Hip Hop Atlanta,” executive produced by Datari Turner. The guest list included supporting cast members Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, and Deb Antney; fellow WEtv stars Towanda and Trina Braxton, Mama June, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson; Cynthia Bailey and Kenya More (“Real Housewives of Atlanta”); Gocha Hawkins (“LA Hair”); Brad James (Syfi Network’s “Superstitious”); Angela Stanton (“From the Bottom Up,” BET/HER); Alexis Branch (VH1’s “Leave it to Stevie”); indie artists Micah Blu; Trevon Marcel and a host of others.
After the screening, there was a Q&A discussion led by Dish Nation host Gary with da Tea and he had quite a hard time pulling answers out of castmates. They were very careful not to release any information about the upcoming episodes. Bow Wow did state on the red carpet, “This year, I have learned to mind my business and worry about my own affairs and let everyone else work out their own problems. I am staying out of other people’s business.” DJ Hurricane’s daughter didn’t want to comment on the audience’s view of her as a violent person.
The elephant in the room in question from last season was the verdict on the current status of the beef between Reginae Carter and Deb Antney’s son Brandon Barnes. At the end of the Q&A, Brandon asked a girl group he had been working with to stand and sing for the audience and they had an amazing sound. Well, Reginae stood and kind of Kanye West’d Brandon and said, “I asked the question before which was who is Brandon Barnes?” Then she turned to Brandon and said, “Is that proof of your work? Is that what you did?” She complimented him on their sound and told the audience, “Now that’s who Brandon Barnes is.” This was a great peace offering and this broke the ice and tension between the two of them and if I’m not mistaken, Brandon was blushing at this pleasant surprise.
Stay tuned to We TV on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. so you can see all the drama of how these “Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta” kids are really talented and there is more to each and everyone of them besides just carrying the last name of their parents. They all have a common goal to make their own industry name in the business, whether it’s done under the tutelage of their parents or not. The cast members are Shad Moss (Bow Wow), Zonnique Pullins, Reginae Carter, Shaniah Mauldin, Brandon Barnes and Ayana Fite.
