The 'Dope' teaser trailer is here and lives up to its name

One of the highest-profile deals made at this year’s prestigious Sundance Film Festival was Sony Pictures and Open Road Films’ acquisition of Rick Famuyiwa’s Dope. The film’s teaser trailer was finally released today and completely lives up to its name!

The trailer is a colorful mishmash of internet culture, Tumblr scrolling, and retro pixelated games. While giving very little away about the plot, it’s definitely (and authentically) targeting young people who effortlessly navigate social media.

The cast features a hip class of diverse young talent, ranging from rapper A$AP Rocky to Workaholics’ Blake Anderson to actress and LOLAWOLF singer Zoe Kravitz. Newcomer Shameik Moore leads the film in his role as Malcolm, a teen trying to survive life in a rough L.A. neighborhood while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. Everything changes when he receives an invitation to an underground party that leads him on an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.

With big-name producers like Sean Combs (P. Diddy), Pharrell Williams, Nina Yang Bongiovi (Fruitvale Station), Forest Whitaker, Mimi Valdes (Creative Director of Pharrell’s ‘i am Other‘ and former editor-and-chief of VIBE and Latina magazines), the film is primed to be a hit with diverse young audiences.

Dope comes to theaters June 19th and the soundtrack features new tracks from Pharrell! Check out the trailer below:

Akilah Hughes is a comedian, YouTuber, and staff writer and producer for Fusion’s culture section. You can almost always find her waxing poetic about memes and using too many emojis.