The Voice of Kent sits down with one of the writers of Netflix’s Top Boy Trailer

Tolani Shoneye was part of the team that wrote and pitched the teaser trailer for the long awaited Netflix series Top Boy. After previously being cancelled in 2013 the new trailer served as a reintroduction to the highly anticipated show.

The 30-year-old podcaster and digital content creator was thrilled to have the trailer premier in front of 20,000 people earlier this year during Drake’s assassination tour.

The cast announcement trailer narrated by Little Simz (Simbi Ajikawo) who plays Shelley in the series reintroduced fans to the fictional Hackney estate Summerhouse where the series takes place. Viewers got a look at characters DuShane, played by Ashley Walters, and Sully played by Kane “Kano” Robinson, as well as Mercury Prize award winning rapper Dave (David Omoregie) in his role as Modie.

Shoneye was pleased about Drake premiering the show’s trailer during one of his UK concerts after announcing in 2017 that he would be an executive producer on the show. She posted a video of Drake displaying the trailer to her Twitter page showing her shaking and screaming with joy.

“I wrote this! Like I can’t believe it, I’ve loved Top Boy from day and I wrote and pitched the trailer, and then it premiered at a Drake concert. DRAAAAKKKEEE! I’ve not been this happy in a long time, and I’ve doubted myself for so long. I’ll never forget this moment!” the caption read. The video has since gone viral on social media, with 450,000 views and over 4,000 retweets.

https://twitter.com/tolly_t/status/1113007713146097664?lang=en-gb

I wrote this! Like I can’t believe it, I’ve loved Top Boy from day and I wrote and pitched the trailer, and then it premiered at a Drake concert. DRAAAAKKKEEE!

I’ve not been this happy in a long time, and I’ve doubted myself for so long.

I’ll never forget this moment! pic.twitter.com/bZsVK15J2v

— Tolly (@tolly_t) 2 April 2019

Explaining how much of a big moment it was for her Shoneye said “Anybody who knows anything about me knows that I’m a massive Drake stan. Drake as an artist means a lot to me so having it there and then seeing other people see it for the first time was honestly like unmatched, like probably one of the nicest experiences of my life.”

Despite having at least a million views per episode Top Boy was cancelled by Channel 4 back in 2013 and fans accepted that the show was sadly over.

The show was mainly shot in East London as well as some areas of Kent including Ramsgate and Margate. All three seasons of the show were put on Netflix in September opening it up not only to its core British fanbase, but also internationally.

Although infamous for being a show about drug dealing gangsters in London the series proved to be about more than just crime. During its short-lived initial two seasons the show explored a wide range of issues such as mental health, single parenthood, poverty and gentrification. It has continued this exploration in its third season through topics like immigration, racism, xenophobia and grief.

Top Boy was the first professional script Tolani ever worked on. While freelancing for a creative agency she became aware of an opportunity to be part of the team working on the next season’s trailer.

“It was just a right fit, so we pitched for it,” she said. “It meant a lot to me because it’s Top Boy and I’ve loved Top Boy for years. It was really weird someone liked a tweet from 2012 of me talking about how watching Top Boy made me want to get behind the camera again because I was still at uni doing some camera work. So this was a thing that I was really aspiring to be a part of for so long without even knowing.”

The series begins with Ashley Walter’s character in Jamaica trying to escape his past and Kano Robinson’s character in prison. Due to their absence a new hierarchy has been established in Summerhouse. The old friends manage to reunite and begin drug dealing again. The season focuses on Dushane and Sully’s journey of attempting to reclaim their spot at the top.

Shoneye is now looking ahead to her next challenge “I feel like I’ve still got a lot of work to do and that’s not even me being hard on myself. There’s so much more I want to accomplish; I want to write a TV show one day and I also want to write a book,” she said.