UPDATE 15/12/16: Snoop Dogg, RZA and Common have been confirmed as starring in the hour-long hip hop episode of The Simpsons.
ORIGINAL STORY: Beloved animated series The Simpsons is set to air its first-ever hour-long episode in January 2017, and it’s going to be a hip hop themed show which is said to be partly inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, the hour-long episode, which has the amazing title of ‘The Great Phatsby’, will centre around Mr. Burns’ friendship with a hip hop mogul named Jay G (like Jay Gatsby, get it?).
With Homer serving as narrator for much of the episode (much like Gatsby’s Nick Carroway), Jay G reportedly gets Mr Burns into the excesses of the hip hop lifestyle, and eventually takes over the nuclear power plant when Mr Burns winds up bankrupt.
The episode, which features guest voice acting from Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson and Key & Peele‘s Keegan-Michael Key, also supposedly sees Lisa hook up with a wealthy new boyfriend, while Henson’s character helps Homer, Mr Burns, Bart and an “all-star team” of rappers get revenge on Jay G. The episode will also feature original hip hop tracks created by Jim Beanz, who produces music for Empire.
The Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman says the episode wasn’t always going to be an hour long. “This was just going to be a regular episode, but the table read went so well, in a fit of passion and excitement and ambition and excess, we decided to supersize it,” he says.
“And we haven’t done a huge amount of stories in the world of hip-hop and rap culture, so we just went for it.”
“Part 1 of the show I would subtitle as ‘The Betrayal,’ and part 2 I would subtitle as ‘The Revenge. It’s kind of like a two-part rap album.
“It’s a tale of greed, excess, betrayal, revenge, and ruthlessness, and there’s a hilarious goose in it. The goose is really funny.”
The closest The Simpsons has previously come to a double-length episode was with the legendary two-part ‘Who Shot Mr Burns’ episodes in 1995.
Relive Cypress Hill’s surprise collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra on The Simpsons below, as we wait for January to hurry up and arrive.
Watch: Cypress Hill On ‘The Simpsons’
