Jay Z and Will Smith are at it again -- this time, they are teaming up to executive produce a six-hour HBO miniseries about the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 that undoubtedly sparked the civil rights movement, with the help from Jay Brown, James Lassiter and Aaron Kaplan.
The Chicago native was only 14 years old, when he was brutally tortured and killed while visiting his family in Mississippi; the Tills then decided to have an open-casket funeral to show the cruel effects on him.
It was said that Till whistled to and flirted with Carolyn Bryant, a 21-year-old White woman, asking her out on a date.
Carolyn's husband Roy Bryant and half-brother J.W. Milam supposedly went to Till's great uncle's house to forcefully take the teen out of there and beat him before shooting him in the head and dumping his body into the Tallahatchie River.
Bryant and Milam initially were cleared of their merciless killing. However, they eventually admitted to the crime following their trial.
Soon after Till's death, a major catalyst in the civil rights movement occurred -- not too long after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a White passenger in Alabama.
In 2003, PBS produced a documentary, titled "The Murder of Emmett Till," that investigated the aformentioned case.
The two hip-hop icons have some production credits to abide from, contributing to last year's "Annie," as well as the Fela Kuti-inspired Broadway musical, "Fela!" Also, Jay Z's "On the Run" concert footage with wife Beyoncé aired on HBO last September.
Deadline reported that companies Roc Nation, Overbrook and Kapital Entertainment are tied to the production of the upcoming project, which is in "active development," and are currently searching for the writers.
The news of the forthcoming miniseries came just two days before what would have been Emmett Till's 74th birthday. The official premiere date has yet to be announced.
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