With the recent success of music centered TV shows, comes another musically inclined television series called "Atlanta", starring actor, writer, comedian, musician and all around entertainer, Donald Glover. The new show depicts the lives of two cousins with very different views on art versus commerce, come together for their love of love hip-hop, and try to make their way into the Atlanta rap scene.
Donald Glover who stars in the lead role of "Atlanta", plays Earnest "Earn" Marks, manages the young career of his cousin who is slowly making a name for himself in Atlanta, Georgia's hip hop game. Glover, a former cast member of the award-winning television show "Community," is also an acclaimed rapper himself. Under the stage name "Childish Gambino," he has been nominated for two Grammy awards for Best Album and Best Rap Performance in 2015. Glover has released 2 independent albums which were met with critical success, and has another one currently in production.
In a report from Indie Wire, Glover talks about "Atlanta" and his vision for the show in the recent Television Critics Association press conference, saying "The tone is everything. Television shows are like novels now. You've just got to invest in them. So I feel like the tone of this is going to take time for people to understand what's going on, which I think is a good thing," adding "I just wanted to make 'Twin Peaks' with rappers." Glover not only stars in "Atlanta," but he also wrote the script for the show's pilot episode.
Joshua Rivera of GQ writes about "Atlanta" after seeing an earlier version of the pilot, giving it praise and calling "Atlanta" smart, gripping, hilarious and weird, and unlike anything there is on Television. Rivera also mentioned that there is little shown of the rap scene in mainstream TV, besides the likes of "Empire," which focuses on the music industry as a whole.
There is plenty of things to be excited about in "Atlanta," as it premieres on September 6 on FX.
