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| Photo: Guy D'Alema/FX |
"This rap shit is all about appearances." Paper Boi spoke these sage words during last season's finale "The Jacket" after a night that involved Ja Rule and Nelly sing-a-longs, trashing an aquaintance's crib. Dude's garbage can may have been torched, but damn the consequences if it's in the name of stuntin'.
"Big Money Shawty," takes that idea and runs with it, as Earn tries and fails to take his cousin's advice and turn the stunters into the stunted on. Of course crushing random strangers' self-esteem with acts of ballerific grandiosity requires them coins, which come couresty of royalty checks for Paper Boi's online streams.
Things appear to be going good for Alfred, constantly being accosted by randos looking for a come up notwithstanding. His latest single has gone gold thanks to a surburban mom's tearful vlog about his lyrics. Of course white tears over what are otherwise standard issue rap lyrics (to paraphrase Titus Andromedon you can't fix 'Murica) can transform them into something seemingly dangerous and controversial, making it all the more appealing to white surburban kids.
The sight of those white tears pouring out while reciting lines like "bitch I need reparations" and "baby taste this tree sap" is indeed delicious, but her concern is justified; Paper Boi's lyrics are laced with misogyny, glorify guns and drugs over education and contain tone deaf couplets that rhyme slap a trick with Colin Kaepernick. Alfred's never pretended to have grand aspirations for his music, viewing it as a better hustle than selling street pharmaceuticals; but it's clear he's given even less thought as to how his music could be contributing (along with institutionalized racism, poverty and a flawed education system) to the mentality that creates the robbin' season he himself was a victim of last week, or to acts committed by the teens in the season premiere, who more than likely have him in their playlist right before or after Clark County.
Speaking of Clark County, Paper Boi and Darius stop the studio to sit in on one of his sessions. We quickly learn the Yoo hoo pitchman doesn't smoke or drink, and can summon strange, "what is this nigga on?!" worthy levels of passive aggressiveness when it comes to dealing with his studio crew. "I wouldn't hurt you...I'd never put a hand on you...just don't fuck up cause I'm not the only one with hands in this world," Clark says, as his friend/bodyguard/personal Suge Knight who goes by Boogz looms over a hapless engineer after the computer crashes during a take.
Paper Boi and Clark County are really two sides of the same coin. Clark doesn't smoke or drink but will name drop Hennesy and weed in a freestyle to make it look as though he does. And though Alfred actually sell drugs and has fired off a bullet or two, he's far the larger-than-life figure he portrays on wax. Rappers, like any other creatives, have the right to take some artistic license. However, when your persona is pure hustle with little concern for the real-world repercussions, was it really ever art to begin with? No shade but shade. *Steps off purist soapbox*
Clark's artistry may be suspect, but his commerce skills are not. Dude is successful, with endorsements and cushy soundtrack deals for Fast and the Furious to spare. Part of this is because his physical appearance would likely never scare anyone at an ATM the way Alfred's would, but it's also due to his manager Luke's business connects.
Unfortunately, Earn's not there to swat away the bug Clark put in his cousin's ear about new management because he's planned a night out with Van. Their date is reminiscent of last season's "Go For Broke," but if that first go around was less than ideal because of Earn's lack of coin, this night is ruined because of it. Strange "new" restaurant policies involving making copies of his debit card and driver license, fraud accusations from anti-African American Africans and white dudes quick to flash the heat in the holster dog Earn as he tries in vain to spend a $100 bill and commence the stunting. Even the strip club, where C-notes are standard currency, proves to be a money suck (but what else would it be? You can't make it rain with the kind of money that jingles. Just sayin').
"Money is an idea man," Alfred explains. "You need to start actin' like you better than other niggas. Then you'll be treated better than other niggas." Message! Earn has the money, but he's not carrying himself like the manager of a rising rap star, which is why he's getting sonned by waiters and clowned by omniscient strip club DJs. As Eric Murphy had to learn, just because you know you're the manager of a successful artist doesn't mean people automatically treat you like one. Which means Earn is gonna need to step his game up, and if it takes a wardrobe involving indoor aviator shades and saying "I'm Paper Boi's manager" before he tells someone what time it is, then so it be. Or Luke might be collecting that next round of streaming service checks.
The final indignity of the night involves Earn trying to race Michael Vick in the parking lot, which I absolutely believe would happen in real life. No seriously, I do. After all he's already ran six races, Earn's ran none and...well you can guess how that shit went. Keep taking those L's Earn.
--Other Thoughts:
--I fear for what became of Clark County's engineer after that second playback crash.
--From Katt Williams' to Michael Vick, the show has been doing a really great job of mixing in cameos without it feeling like "look, here's _______ just 'cause! We made it ya'll!"
--Van being mistaken for a white girl in the strip club made me think of Zazie Beetz's recent comments in The New Yorker about being cast in mostly white films due to her light skin, a subject Atlanta may be tackling in next week's episode.
--How much you wanna bet Surburban Mom named her daughter Destiny because "Bootylicious" was her favorite song back in high school?
--"The tears are powerful." They are Darius, they are.
--I wanna be on Van's side in the whole "Christina bought a VIP ticket to the Beyonce concert and fucked us over" rift, but alls fair in love and Bey girl.
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