Chris Rock actually grew up mostly in the 1970's instead of the 1980's. But Rock felt that 1970's culture has been parodied enough with shows like 70s show (1998) and moved the time period to the 1980's.
A running gag in the show had various characters mentioning to Chris that he was funny and should be a comedian ( even if he hadn't said anything meant to be funny).
Chris Rock's real family had mom, dad, six boys and one girl. He said that using six brothers and one sister would've been weird, so he thought it'd be better to use some of his siblings' personalities to make two siblings for the show.
The character 'Drew' is loosely based on Chris Rock's brother Tony Rock. Growing up, the real Chris Rock said that Tony was cooler than he was.