Detroit Is Here: Getting To Know The Characters Of ‘BMF’ Season 2
Written by SOURCE on January 6, 2023
In the 1980s, the city of Detroit was recognised as the murder capital of America, a title it held since the mid-70s and routinely won throughout the next decade.
It was a city troubled by a history of racial differences, and led in statistics for poverty per capita, infant mortality, and mass unemployment, . Detroit also left behind the heroin epidemic of the ‘70s and was pushed into the latest in crack cocaine.
In the Southwest of Detroit, two brothers would take advantage of this new epidemic, heed game from the hood hustlers, and start what has now become a cultural revolution: BMF, aka the Black Mafia Family. Led by Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory, BMF was an organisation like no other, one that encouraged non-violence and an endeavour to work and make money together. It was an extension of the values Meech and Terry gathered from home, in brief—a tenacity to look after all that is considered family, as well as the duality of two brothers who are dissimilar men.
While Meech carried the swagger, intention and command, Terry was the more reserved business man with a master plan. Together, they created a drug dealing empire that upheld a philosophy entrenched in family, loyalty, respect and breaking bread with those invited to be at the table. It’s a legacy that goes beyond a simple drug empire the Flenory brothers built, infiltrating hip-hop over the last two decades, impacting the general culture it intertwined with, and making an impression on the law regarding such organised crime from Black communities. BMF’s legacy lives on through the culture it empowered, in places like Atlanta via the spread of strip clubs it helped finance and the artists in the music scene it supported, but that story is now continuing through the medium of television.
In 2019, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson started to develop BMF as a television series for Lionsgate+. Led by Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr, the actual son of Big Meech, as Meech, and Da’Vinchi” as Terry, the show offers a dramatised yet mostly true portrayal of the Flenory brothers coming up as young hustlers heading to the top of the drug trafficking and money laundering game by building towards and establishing the Black Mafia Family.
Its first season shows the trials and tribulations of their come-up, focusing on how they got into the drug-selling business and the ingenious methods they used to maintain a safe environment to operate from. It highlights the difficulties in ideology the brothers had together and how that would come into play with the opposing gangs set in their regressive ways. By its end, we see the brothers make a firm footing in the game as top dealers in Detroit and encourage a near-broken family to accept their newfound money and fame.
The second season, which is streaming now on Lionsgate+, sees Meech and Terry embark on taking their business nationwide with eyes for a global takeover, as well as giving birth to the name and entity BMF.
It’s another season that investigates the now ever-changing familial relationship between Meech, Terry and their parents, Charles (Russell Hornsby) and Lucille (Michole Briana White), who seek guidance from an extravagant Pastor Swift (Snoop Dogg) while trying to encourage Terry back to the straight and narrow. Meech and Terry step into new territory with a seasoned ideology and approach to trafficking that needs new spaces to maximise business. However, things could never be so easy with the approach they want to take. As they battle to dominate these new spaces, they get dragged into contention on unknown streets while the Family reassess the loyalty of some of their own members.
Here’s a brief breakdown of the lead characters to expect in the next season:
