Queen Latifah Teams with Jermaine Dupri on The Rap Game for Lifetime

LOS ANGELES: Queen Latifah and producer Jermaine Dupri are teaming up to find the next big hip-hop star with an all-new unscripted series titled The Rap Game.

Queen Latifah and her partner Shakim Compere will executive produce the series under the Flavor Unit umbrella, along with Dupri. The Rap Game will premiere on Lifetime on January 1 and will subsequently air on Fridays at 10 p.m. On the show, five emerging young hip-hop artists, aged 12 to 16, will have the opportunity to work with Dupri and special guests such as Usher, Ludacris, Da Brat, T.I. and Silentó.

Lifetime has ordered eight episodes of the series, which will feature aspiring artists from California, Massachusetts, Georgia and Texas. The show is produced by Intuitive Entertainment. In addition to Queen Latifah, Compere and Dupri, Mechelle Collins, Kevin Dill, showrunner Sean Rankine, Laura Fuest Silva, Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue and Mariana Flynn also serve as executive producers.

Dupri has worked with music stars like Bow Wow, Da Brat, Kris Kross and TLC. Meanwhile, Queen Latifah is known as the "First Lady of Hip Hop" and has received a Grammy and six nominations.