The Trailer for Lena Waithe's Upcoming Drama 'The Chi' Gave Us Goosebumps

Showtime is gearing up to premiere, THE CHI, a coming-of-age story focusing on residents in Southside Chicago, produced by Emmy-Winners Lena Waithe and Common.

Fresh off her historic Emmy win, THE CHI is Waithe's first full-length television series with her at the helm, and it's already been described as "emotional, funny, tragic and relevant, all at once." 

Glimpses of tears, adolescence, family, police, and loss flash before our eyes in the two-minute clip. Chance the Rapper's 'All We Got' drives the trailer as we meet the show's beautifully detailed characters, including Moonlight's Alex Hibbert, Straight Outta Compton's Jason Mitchell, and Beautiful Creature's Tiffany Boone. Jacob Latimore, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Yolonda Ross, Armando Riesco and Common also star.

But is it queer? Alex Hibbert's character, Kevin, gets asked the same question by a girl on the street. 

"You sweet?"

"I'm not sweet," he replies.  

"Oh, so you a gangster?" 

Kevin shrugs. "I guess so.' 

We don't want to assume too much about the show's queer elements, but Waithe is very adamant about representing the community. "My LGBTQIA family," she began in her historic Emmy acceptance speech. "I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our superpowers — every day when you walk out the door and put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren’t in it."

Waithe tweeted the trailer earlier today, "We coming." 

THE CHI premieres Sunday, January 7 at 10pm ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Watch the trailer below: