In Episode 8 of Atlanta, Paper Boi’s Crew Gets Ratchet

On the latest episode of Atlanta, the setting is the city’s nightlife. There’s a lot of ratchet shit that goes on throughout its thirty minutes as people stunt and show out at “The Club.”

It kicks off with Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), Earn (Donald Glover), and Darius (Keith Stanfield) chilling at Primal. Paper Boi’s getting paid for a VIP appearance, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to be there. He’s mad about the sugary drinks, he’s annoyed with the male groupies reciting his lyrics, nobody’s dancing around his area, and the women are giving him the fingers. Darius is lit from people giving him free drinks because “he’s that guy.”

Meanwhile, a DJ tries to get the crowd hyped over the night’s VIP guests, Paper Boi and Marcus Miles. Not much is said about Marcus Miles or what he does, but this seems to be the only dude in the world who has an “invisible car” made by Google, and that’s only the tip of his stunting iceberg.

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Episode 7 Dives Atlanta’s Into the Trans Debate…Sort Of

We’re six weeks and seven episodes into Atlanta, and there’s nothing stopping the show’s stride as one of the best TV shows this fall.

The latest installment, “B.A.N. [Black America Network],” revolves around Paper Boi’s appearance on the talk show “Montague,” which poses as a black-ified version of Dateline or 60 Minutes. Its host, Franklin Montague (Alano Miller), declares that the show’s topic will revolve around “accepting sexuality and its effects on Black youth and culture.” The fake panel’s guests includes Deborah Holt (Mary Kraft), a representative from the Center for Trans-American Issues, and Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), who really doesn’t have a reason to be there other than for publicity’s sake. They bring up Paper Boi’s Twitter rant about Caitlyn Jenner, but he could give less of a fuck about what he said. He has said worse. (Sidenote: What is “Illuminati sex”?)

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Indie Heroes Mr. Lif & L’Orange Talk The Life and Death of Scenery

Mr. Lif & L’Orange isn’t your normal rapper/producer collaboration. There’s a certain form of novelty that comes with their sound. Mr. Lif can tell interesting stories through his unique style of rapping, while J Dilla’s soul lives in spirit through the sounds of L’Orange’s boom-bap beats. When you bring them together, The Life and Death of Scenery is born. With its unique blend of rap and dark instrumentals, the new project illustrates a dystopia where culture is lacking, and one man tries to show survivors how their past actions impacted their bleak present.

The Life and Death of Scenery serves as the first full-length project between Mr. Lif and L’Orange. Mr. Lif’s career dates back to the late 90s, includes stints on labels such as The Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal and El-P of Run the Jewels’ Definitive Jux, and is marked by indie-rap classics such as 2000’s Enters the Colossus and 2002’s I Phantom. This marks his second album in 2016 after Don’t Look Down, which was released in April to critical acclaim. Meanwhile, this is L’Orange’s follow-up to Time? Astonishing!, his imaginative sci-fi themed project with Kool Keith that also featured Mr. Lif as a guest.

With backing from Mello Music Group and Adult Swim, The Life and Death of Scenery is getting a lot of hype from fans. During an email interview, Mr. Lif and L’Orange talked about the new album’s concept and their creative process.

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Episode 6 of Atlanta Explores the Art of Peer Pressure

Last night, Atlanta focused on two sobering words: drug test. We’ve all been through it, whether it was because of that “career changing” job that we desperately needed, or even because we needed to maintain the good one that we have. However, what made this story interesting was that for the first time in the season, we watched an episode through the eyes of Van (Zazie Beetz), Earn’s (Donald Glover) baby momma.

The episode starts out by introducing viewers to Jayde (Aubin Wise), Van’s longtime friend who happens to be a first-class escort. The two ladies meet each other to catch up over dinner, but from the start of their conversation, they don’t seem to be on the best terms. It all starts with Jayde talking about Van’s hair, and from there, we see so much shade you might need a gallon of tea to wash everything down. Jayde’s super bougie, from the way she talks about her past ventures traveling the world on a private plane, to how she talks about having a kid. Things only get worst when she starts blabbing off to Van about having “value” for herself (because she dates NFL and NBA players), and then has the nerve to blindside her with a weak ass surprise date. Van ditches the three to head home, but Jayde catches her in the parking lot, and begs to hang out with her once close friend. This soon leads to Van sparking up in Jayde’s car. The following morning, she wakes up to a phone reminder that she has an upcoming drug test. What makes the scenario so human is that the situation was relatable. Some people may never have to panic about taking a drug test because they don’t smoke or do drugs. However, that’s not the case for everyone, especially when peer pressure is in the mix.

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Episode 5 of Atlanta Belongs to the Black Justin Bieber

“Let me give you a word of advice…play your part,” someone tells Paper Boi. It was a harsh statement that echoed throughout last night’s episode of Atlanta.

While this installment focused mainly on Paper Boi’s beef with a black Justin Bieber (played by actor Austin Crute) at a charity game, the episode didn’t hesitate to cover racial disparities, whether it was Darius’ argument at a gun range, or Earn’s mix up at the VIP room with an older woman. What made the prior statement critical is that if all three “played their part,” they wouldn’t be viewed in such a negative light by the white characters that appear throughout.

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In Episode 4 of Atlanta, Vloggers Gonna Hate

Once again, last Tuesday’s episode of Atlanta was incredible, and brought Twitter together for 30 minutes of a beautiful blend of ratchery and blackness.

While we were able to witness the beginning of Darius and Earn’s friendship, Paper Boi’s mini-rap beef took the shine this week. That’s because of a new character, the weird yet charismatic Zan (played by Freddie Kuguru). At the start of the episode, we see Zan taking pictures of a rather exhausted Paper Boi, who was just turning up at the club. The rapper was already annoyed with him for giving Darius a hat, only to pull off like a real fuckboi on a rolling hoverboard. Paper Boi finds out that Zan’s a YouTube vlogger, and Zan spews so much hate about him that it’s starting to affect Paper Boi’s life and business. It’s pretty obvious that Zan’s character represents a lot of vloggers who throw shade at rappers’ lives and covering them as “hot topics.”

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