‘Sisterhood of Hip Hop’ Season 1, Episode 5 Recap

One of the initial fears surrounding a show like 'Sisterhood of Hip Hop' is if the series was going to devolve into a soap opera-ish drama instead of an honest view of women in hip-hop. The show has been pretty mixed with that focus. Career goals are pretty much a MacGuffin in episode five, where off-screen damage drives the conflict.

This week's antagonistic caricature is Renaye -- again. She's said relationship trauma makes her possessive, but her behavior is borderline indefensible this time. Siya is shooting a television series called 'Sisterhood of Hip-Hop,' which revolves around a sisterhood of hip-hop. How unreasonable is it, then, that Renaye thinks the trip to Miami here is a couple's vacation? Plus, she still implicitly feels there is a thing going on between Nyemiah Supreme and Siya: "I don't know if going to a video shoot is work. But hey, Nyemiah is up to her tricks or something." Huh?

The more ridiculous Renaye moment comes when the couple is out eating. Siya asks where she's been while she was gone. Renaye says she was alone. Siya isn't convinced, and Renaye admits she was hanging out with some friends before going on a diatribe about how she has the right to -- never mind the fact she straight up lied. There's no resolution to their drama here since Renaye decides to say eff it and go back to New York. You hate to have to see Siya go through that sort of headache, though. She's essentially been the glue of the sisterhood, and you have to feel for her as she cries while telling the girls about her plans to cut things off with Renaye. There's only a few arguments about why she shouldn't, though.

The remaining plot lines revolve around Industry Rule #4080: Record company people are shady. Or people in general, rather. It's been known that Supreme isn't really a people person, which came out in her awkward date with Mack Wilds. Now it's a focus; Siya has a talk with her about it (her general response: that's just the way I am), Timbaland touches on it and the group addresses it late in the episode (which would understandably make someone defensive). That storyline doesn't really go anywhere, but you can credit it for retroactively giving Supreme and Diamond equal weight in their previous conflict instead of placing it almost squarely on the latter's ego.

If you've seen the episode preview for this one, you haven't missed much from the Diamond and Soulja Boy development. To sum it up: It may not be totally "New Diamond" after she gets too cozy with Soulja Boy. The tension is essentially summed up on Sevyn Streeter's 'NeXT.' Except it's Soulja Boy, so it's semi-hilarious.

Side Notes:

Brianna Perry's interview-edited miracle hair makes a return. "Diamond is communicating with her ex, Soulja Boy. Exes always feel sticky. I don't know how I feel about that," she says. Her hair changes from turquoise to fire red after that first sentence.

Bryan and Diamond's sister Sherica's continuous "Mm Mm. That boy up to no good" look when Soulja Boy appears at the party has to inspire some chuckles.

A truncated behind-the-scenes of Nyemiah Supreme's 'Downgrade' video and 'Don't Ask Me No Questions' featuring K Camp (who doesn't make an appearance) are in this episode.