According to The Hollywood Reporter, Empire writers Carlito Rodriguez and Malcolm Spellman have been hired by Warner Bros. to write a movie based on the life of Sugar Hill Records co-founder Sylvia Robinson, a.k.a. “The Mother Of Hip-Hop.” THR says Warner Bros. picked up the project over the summer, just as Straight Outta Compton-fever was sweeping the nation. However, this movie will apparently be “more American Hustle than music biopic,” and will revolve around Sugar Hill’s mission to put out the first record of rap music. We assume that means it’ll be more about telling a story than presenting a life story, which is a weirdly original take for a movie like this. Robinson was instrumental in making Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” into a mainstream hit, and THR notes that she was “a strong female in a largely male world,” which seems like something that the people who work on Empire should be able to make into a compelling story.
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