Mona Scott-Young Shuts Down Love & Hip Hop Naysayers, Shares The Gossip Game Details

Mona Scott-Young thinks that the argument made against how women of color are portrayed on her shows is a narrow-minded cop out. “When I handed Joseline [Hernandez, of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta] her first check, she cried,” she tells Hip-Hop Wired, “It was the first time she’d ever seen her name printed on a check. So don’t tell me I’m not doing anything for these women.”

As Scott-Young prepares for the second season of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta and her new show The Gossip Game, she recently sat down to a roundtable discussion in Atlanta where at least twenty bloggers and journalists prodded her to give details on the controversy surrounding her Love & Hip Hop (LHH) franchise as well as details on the new series on Bravo and other ventures like a moscato she is promoting. But the issue of how women are represented on her shows is one that hangs heavy in the balance.

“It’s about trying to present a total picture,” the producer shares, “I’m not here to judge them or to decide what aspects of their life should or should not make it onto television.”

 “It’s that cousin that you love at the family barbeque but you don’t wanna bring to the company picnic.”

The former music manager is very aware of what the world thinks of her affinity to put so-called “ratchet” behavior in the spotlight and the idea that she manipulates it all for ratings- it’s a notion that she shrugs off confidently, making one of the most profound statements heard on the subject all day. “This is Love and Hip Hop,” she says simply, “I have navigated this world for twenty years of my career so I am probably as qualified as most to talk about what happens in this world. I’ve witnessed it.”

“I’ve experienced it,” she continues, “There’s no one really of this world that can say with clear conscience that this stuff does not happen or exist. So what are we saying exactly? Not that this isn’t true, but that we should sweep it under the rug and act like it don’t exist. It’s that cousin that you love at the family barbeque but you don’t wanna bring to the company picnic. Stop it!”

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Photo: Monami

Regardless of the seemingly countless naysayers against the LHH franchise, it’s clear that a whole lot of people are still watching the VH1 series. It been said that LHH New York was a disappointment this season but Scott-Young maintains that it still managed to garner better numbers than last season and it remains the number one show on the cable network.

The upcoming second season of LHHATL should prove to be even bigger than it was last year according to the Monami Entertainment founder. “Atlanta was an anomaly. It was lightning in a bottle,” she shares, grinning. “Last season I was like, this is incredible, crazy, outrageous, over the top, what could they possibly do to top this? This season is better than last. It’s amazing.”

“Part of the popularity and the way the show resonates is that people don’t wanna admit that they see a little bit of themselves in the crazy and the ratchet,” she adds with a laugh. “I know sometimes I watch like, ‘Okay, I probably would’ve done the same thing.’”

“What happens when you’re on the tail end, as the subject of someone else’s story?”

Now that the LHH has taken off, Scott-Young is moving into new territory with her series The Gossip Game. She credits the concept to Tone Boots of District Media who took the idea to the network and just needed some assistance getting it up and running. “I kinda felt like the Fixer, a little Olivia Pope-ish,” she reveals, smiling. “They brought me in to help cast the show, develop the concept and bring it all to fruition.”

The series will showcase the lives of seven women in New York City, including Angela Yee of Power 105 and The Source’ s Editor-in-Chief Kim Osorio. The idea was built on highlighting how these women balance work and family and navigate their career through different mediums.

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The Gossip Game is sure to be a bit more grounded than what Scott-Young has become known for putting on camera. In fact, she said she’s had to pull Yee from her shell as the cameras followed her around. The producer seems most proud of the idea that the series will represent a whole other side of Hip-Hop. But what, if anything, will it do for Hip-Hop journalism?

“I think people will get a sense of what the relationship is,” she states, “To get the story first, a lot of times you have to rely on your relationship with the artist, you have to be able to get them on the phone and not relying on your editor to set up an interview. Sometimes you have to be able to hustle and maneuver, show up at the right club at the right time and you’ll get that story.”

“We start to get into that,” she adds, “But another interesting thing is that we came across was, what happens when you’re on the tail end, as the subject of someone else’s story?”

Scott-Young is all about telling stories as she divulges a few details surrounding her upcoming ventures. She’s working on a new series for Bravo entitled Taking Atlanta, then there’s the scripted series she’s developing as well as a film, The Promise Keeper. Her new Moscato, MYX, is on shelves in the Northeast and the producer is still looking forward to what’s next.
“I hopefully can make as much of an indelible mark as I did in music,” she says with a smile. “Because I’d like to think that I did a little something there. If I can do that same thing in television and continue to move into different areas, wherever my passion leads me to explore, then I’m building a legacy that my kids can look back on and say, ‘Yeah, Mommy did that.’”