By now , you ’ve in all likelihood heard about the new showAtlanta . And even if you watchedthe two - episode series premiereon FX , you still might be marvel what it ’s all about . Maybe that ’s becauseAtlantais difficult to pin down as a singular experience . It also might be because you encounter the TV promo where the three master character take the air around backward , which I do n’t completely understand either . But you ’re emphatically going to want to check it and get together the conversation , because you probably did n’t ask it to be so indisputably dope up .

Atlantawas created by Donald Glover , a Stone Mountain native and NYU graduate . You ’ll cursorily recognize him as rapper Childish Gambino , or as supporter - nerd Troy Barnes from NBC’sCommunity . He ’s a musician , Isaac Merrit Singer , actor , comedian , former30 Rockwriter , and lest we forget , participant of a shirtless guy inMagic Mike XXL .

Though this sounds like a great way to spread yourself a little too thin ( literally in the case of the chest muscles he flexed inMagic Mike ) , he ’s done all these things well enough to win simultaneous success , national medium attention , Grammy award nomination , and compeer respect . All this has given him the chance to create , co - write , executive - produce , and star in a major TV political program name after his hometown – a liberal duty , by all mean . WithAtlanta , Glover is about to become a front - and - center grimace of the urban center , so people are expecting great thing and the stakes are high-pitched . Luckily , you ’re depart to love it .

atlanta donald glover thrillist

Guy D’Alema/FX

Atlantawill probably be unlike from what people expect when they first watch out it , get it on the button like the metropolis itself – if you were n’t born here . Unlike other shows named after city ( Dallas!Nashville!Deadwood!),Atlantais doing something novel . It wants to give you a look at the city through the animation and experiences of the mass you meet , and it wants you to research how Atlanta ’s racial demographic , economical world , and rich civilization number together to create something utterly unparalleled . It ’s a spectacular comedy that would n’t make sentience anywhere else ( Glover has predict it " Twin Peakswith rappers " ) , and there ’s by all odds a blend of streets - meet - strange in the floor . As soon as you see the deed graphic pop up on the screen over a wide shot of the city skyline juxtapose by trap medicine , you get the signified that this is not the same " Welcome to Atlanta " that we go 15 years ago from Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri . This intro reminds you that what you ’ve seen on Atlanta - base realness tv set is anything but genuine for many residents .

The struggle is material forAtlanta ’s character , just as it is for those in the real metropolis . Glover ’s graphic symbol Earn – a rucksack - rocking hood nerd with twisted hair trying to find a space in which he fits – is the pilot of many young , gifted black Man you may never fill . He seems exceptionally smart ( he seemingly attended and dropped out of an Ivy League schooling ) , and waxes philosophic with strangers on MARTA , his girlfriend Van , and others . He also struggles with responsibility , humanity , and his emotions . It ’s absolved he could use better fate , and though he ’s not instantly comfortable to realise , he ’s instantly likable , and for certain weird . Anybody familiar with fellow Eastsiders Andre 3000 and B.o . B. will find something conversant in Earn ’s behaviour . But in Atlanta , where there are mountain of different people who happen to be POCs , he ’s a normal guy folks distinguish as one of their own – a good kid in a mad urban center .

This is not the same " Welcome to Atlanta " that we obtain 15 eld ago from Ludacris and Jermaine Dupri .

donald glover atlanta thrillist

Matthias Clamer/FX

The medicine industry , of course , plays a lead theatrical role inAtlantaalso . As the show begins , Earn attempts to convince his cousin , a rapping drug dealer named Alfred " Paper Boi " Miles , to hire him as a manager . We do n’t know how much experience Earn has that measure up him for this job , but Earn quickly shows he get outcome that Alfred ca n’t get on his own . For their part , Alfred and his cloud - manoeuvre sidekick Darius survive somewhere between music - manufacture dreams and sens - son world , which , as banality as it ’s become , is still a tangible course many emcee take to pay for studio time , output , touring , and the like . And there ’s no abnegate that Atlanta hip joint - hop continues to set trends worldwide by pump out megastars like 2 Chainz , Future , Young Thug , Lil Yachty … and the list goes on and on .

But when it come to the drug - dealing activity of Alfred and Darius , we see past any semblance of thug personification and humanize them now , project them as individual with unique complexness . Alfred talks about how remunerative the drug line is , yet he and Darius seem to be doing just well enough to hold up somewhere between the slum and the suburbia . Their apartment , with its arched bulwark and generic furniture , makes them wait more than poor but less than rich , forthright existing in a topographic point with temporary comfortableness but no guarantees . These scenes prompt us that Atlanta is a place where anything can happen , even under the perceive guise of safety and solace .

The show also make a point to shine a spotlight on racial demographic . you could not , render as you may , live in Atlanta and deny that you ’re in a sinister city . The2010 US Censusput the City of Atlanta ’s black population at 54 % . The next big grouping is snowy , at 38 % . Atlanta makes no attempt to cower from or apologize for black , and accordingly , it refuses to pretend this is n’t Atlanta ’s realness . Because of this , the show feel relatable and real . It render the viewer ( and ATL resident likewise ) a chance to stare into Atlanta ’s dominant demographic through an strange lense that many people often do n’t get the chance to see . The show also illustrate that , while Atlanta has a solid black halfway division , there ’s still a problem with wealth inequality . Sure , you ’ll find oneself enough successful black citizenry here to make a case for the metropolis being a center for racial progress , which it certainly is , although the accuracy is much more real than what we see and find out in a lot of music , movies , and television today . And though the sheer volume of ignominious people amplifies the notion of progressive wealth dispersion , whimsey are n’t always lawful .

atlanta donald glover

Guy D’Alema/FX

A key matter to understand aboutAtlantais that it is n’t content to simply force blackness upon viewers . Instead , it bakes stories and place with oecumenical appeal into the secret plan themes , and make them unapologetically fateful . In a very radical way , the show storm people to think about Atlanta as being a majority - black metropolis , and the culture is portrayed in a manner that is simplistic yet abstractionist , the very definition of what our city is .

Director Hiro Murai , who ’s directed music video recording for Childish Gambino as well as other fecund artists , captures Atlanta ’s brumous blue funk and ATLien vibe with laser precision . That is to say , the city does n’t count particularly sparkly or " Hollywood " from the photographic camera ’s perspective . There are n’t tropes that resort to threadbare gimmickry – like the fiber onSwamp Peopleeating alligator for every single meal – or the immensurable barrage of heavy - handed jazz metaphor that have make the cornerstone ofTreme . There ’s uniform humidity and density that ’s honorable to the environment , which for most of the year is hot , muggy , groggy , and damp . Swamp - ass - inducing weather away , we even see some of our most darling restaurants , likeZestoandJ.R. Crickets , and we palpate Earn ’s pain when he have his gentlewoman to an unnamed upscale eatery with high price and a peculiarly aggressive server – a nod to the overpriced contemporary dining shot that some say threaten to put Atlanta ’s best neighborhood eateries out of business .

The show functions as a thwartwise - ethnic commutation of sorts . It could indeed be the catalyst for more invitation to people – specifically those who are not disgraceful Atlantans – to come into our neighborhoods and venture out of consolation zone . To those who hold on tightly to outdated stereotype , It could perhaps illustrate that the human experience is something we all share , disregarding of race . Or hey , maybe it ’ll simply be a show you ’ll stuff watch one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .

And sure , there will be those spectator who require punchier jokes and more intense moment of action to keep them entertain , but it will be those viewing audience who bemoanedThe Wireafter Season 2 … or did n’t even giveGrounded for Lifea prospect ( just banter , just jolly ! ) . So where isAtlantagoing to go ? I ’m not indisputable . But this sweaty , vulgar , funky story appears to have the start of a neat series . Hopefully Glover and company stay bright lawful to what the city ’s really all about . It ’s something Atlanta take now more than ever .

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