There's a lot to love in the 'Hair Love'-inspired TV series 'Young Love'
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Issa Rae voices Angela, Brooke Monroe Conaway plays Zuri and Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi is Stephen in Max's Young Love.Max -
Issa Rae is Angela and Brooke Monroe Conaway is Zuri on Young Love.Max
Zuri is a precocious 7-year-old who keeps her parents on their toes.
One moment, she's about to shave her face using her dad's shaving cream and razor (mom and dad, in a burst of parental intuition, jump into the bathroom to stop that, just in the nick). In another, she's trying to be nice as her mom tugs her hair into a frazzle of braids that her dad has to secretly undo and redo.
Zuri's mom Angela is off her game for a good reason: she's stepping back into the world after recovering from cancer treatments. And that wonderful combination of cute kid and struggling parents is what distinguishes Young Love, which is a new series on Max spun out of an Oscar-winning short film.
Issa Rae provides the voice of Angela, a hair stylist who is nervous enough about returning to her old salon that she circles Zuri's school several times in the morning, delaying the drop-off to avoid going back to work.
Music fans will recognize rap star and actor Scott Mescudi – aka, Kid Cudi – as Zuri's dad Stephen, an aspiring hip hop producer who learned to microwave frozen pancakes for breakfast and used zip ties to corral his daughter's hair while Angela was in the hospital.
"I'm going to act like I didn't hear any of that," Angela says, after learning about Stephen's shortcuts.
Rae and Mescudi are joined by veteran character actors Harry Lennix and Loretta Devine, who play Angela's old-school parents, and Brooke Monroe Conaway shines as Zuri, who sounds super cute and innocent, even when she's cutting up.
Family life that is both universal and specific
This is the bustling, beautiful Black family at the heart of Young Love, which continues the story of characters from the Oscar-winning short film, Hair Love. That six-minute movie, released in 2019 and funded by a Kickstarter campaign, told the story of a Black father taking on a fearsome challenge – fixing his daughter's hair, coached along by an online video.
The kicker at the film's end: The woman coaching in the video was Angela, who was waiting for Zuri and Stephen to pick her up from the hospital. As Zuri hugs her, we see the treatments have taken Angela's hair away.
Young Love's creator Matthew A. Cherry also wrote and co-directed Hair Love, crafting both projects to celebrate and normalize Black hair and Black families.
In Young Love, we see moments when they're like any other family — Millennial parents struggling to balance work, home and an unexpected health scare. But they're also steeped in Black culture, with a mom who works in a Black hair salon and a kid who dreams of sporting the coolest Afro puffs in town.
The TV series also has a different storytelling style than the film, which relied a lot on creative imagery and striking visuals to tell its story. Young Love has slightly more sophisticated animation and a lot more dialogue, with a playful cleverness that centers the family in a caring community, even as they occasionally toss knowing wisecracks at each other.
It's a simple yet entertaining and heartwarming formula. And at a time when so much TV is so cynical and depressing, it's a pleasure to sink into a series that is smart, culturally on point and optimistic about the power of family to overcome all obstacles.
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Transcript
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The story of a young Black family rebounding after an illness is the central story in "Young Love," a new animated series on the Max streaming service. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says the heartwarming show, which debuts today, is based on an Oscar-winning short film.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Zuri is a precocious 7-year-old who keeps her parents on their toes, like when she decides to shave her face using dad's shaving cream and razor, at least until mom and dad burst into the bathroom and catch her in the nick of time.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "YOUNG LOVE")
KID CUDI: (As Stephen) Stop.
ISSA RAE: (As Angela) No.
BROOKE MONROE CONAWAY: (As Zuri) Why?
RAE: (As Angela) Because girls don't shave.
CUDI: (As Stephen) Because you're using up my shaving cream.
BROOKE: (As Zuri) What's the big deal?
CUDI: (As Stephen) That shaving cream is expensive.
RAE: (As Angela) Girls don't get facial hair.
BROOKE: (As Zuri) Grandma has hair on her...
ISSA RAE AND KID CUDI: (As Angela and Stephen) We don't talk about that.
DEGGANS: This is the bustling, beautiful Black family at the heart of "Young Love," an animated series based on characters from the Oscar-winning short film "Hair Love." That six-minute film released in 2019 and funded by a Kickstarter campaign told the story of a Black father taking on a fearsome challenge, fixing his daughter's hair, coached along by an online video.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HAIR LOVE")
RAE: (As Natural Hair Vlogger) Yay, you did it. That was so much fun. I knew you could do it.
DEGGANS: The kicker came when we saw he was prepping his daughter to see her mom, who was getting out of the hospital after cancer treatments took her hair away. "Young Love" picks up months after that moment. It expands on the short film's vision while holding onto the values expressed by creator Matthew A. Cherry, who also co-directed and wrote "Hair Love" to celebrate and normalize Black hair and Black families. Zuri's mom, Angela, played by Issa Rae, is that mom from "Hair Love." She's easing back into life after cancer treatments, learning that her husband and child adopted some new ways of doing things.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "YOUNG LOVE")
RAE: (As Angela) Since when did we start nuking our pancakes?
CUDI: (As Stephen) Since you were in the hospital, I had to implement some shortcuts.
BROOKE: (As Zuri) Like when we ran out of soap and you gave me a bath with the dishes, or when we were all out of rubber bands and you used zip ties on my hair?
CUDI: (As Stephen) Modern problems require modern solutions.
RAE: (As Angela) I'm going to act like I didn't hear any of that.
DEGGANS: Rap star, innovative record producer and actor Scott Mescudi - better known as Kid Cudi - is Zuri's dad, Stephen, an aspiring rap producer who is not impressing Angela's father.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "YOUNG LOVE")
HARRY LENNIX: (As Russell) What's your plan, Stephen?
CUDI: (As Stephen) Look, Mr. Young, I know you don't like that I'm a musician.
LENNIX: (As Russell) A musician? Banging on a box and calling yourself a musician?
CUDI: (As Stephen) Look, today I meet with this rap - I mean artist that could really change our lives. I'm about to get that bag, Mr. Young.
LENNIX: (As Russell) How about you get to bagging the job?
CUDI: (As Stephen) Taco Bell?
LENNIX: (As Russell) You've got to think outside the bun, boy.
DEGGANS: The TV series features more sophisticated animation and a lot more dialogue, with veteran character actors Harry Lennix and Loretta Devine playing Angela's old-school parents, who have a bit of a disagreement on the meaning of equality.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "YOUNG LOVE")
LENNIX: (As Russell) Equality does not mean women can do everything.
BROOKE: (As Zuri) Grandpa, you need to hang out with some more women.
LORETTA DEVINE: (As Gigi) I agree. Wait, no, he doesn't. Please tell me more about what women can't do.
BROOKE: (As Zuri) Yeah, because I can do what you do, Grandpa. Watch - I'm a mad grandpa, because I'm mad that I'm a mad grandpa, and I'm mad.
DEGGANS: Oh, yeah, Brooke Monroe Conaway shines as Zuri, who sounds super cute and innocent even when she's cutting up. "Young Love" presents a Black family like any other family - young millennial parents struggling to balance work, home and an unexpected health scare. But they're also steeped in Black culture, with a mom who works in a Black hair salon, a dad making a name in hip-hop, and a kid who dreams of sporting the coolest Afro puffs in town. When so much TV is so cynical, it's a pleasure to sink into a series that's smart, culturally on point and optimistic about the power of family to overcome all obstacles.
I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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