Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” has just kicked off with a premier of the first episode on FX.
The hype built around the show is most definitely enough to feel an initial rush in success, but the wit, humor, and talent will easily pull fans over in droves. We were fortunate enough to sit down and chop things up with Brian Tyree Henry, who takes on the role of a rapper quickly climbing the ladder of fame. Here’s what he had to say.
I was looking through your catalog, and you’ve done a few theatre shows in the past (Book of Mormon, Romeo & Juliet, etc) how’s the transition been moving from that style to shows like Boardwalk Empire and Atlanta?
A fantastic one. I’ve been very fortunate to play characters that are incredibly misunderstood. If you could peg them one way, you would, but deep down there’s something blooming about their walk of life. I feel like that is something that I found in Alfred. It’s easy for you to put all these different things on Alfred, he’s got a button down polo and a gold chain, people automatically assume that he’s this way or he’s that way. I just love playing characters like that, where they appear to be one way, but there’s something more about them.
When I did Book of Mormon, I got to play a warlord that is terrorizing the town for his fear of god, but at the same time he’s one of the funniest characters. It’s so absurd that his character is running around and being this evil guy, but at the same time I wanted people to be like, “well okay, but he’s got a heart of gold in there somewhere. Even though he’s running around terrorizing the whole village he’s actually a cool dude.” I love playing characters like that because I sometimes feel like that. I can’t help but think about when I walk around how people perceive me. If people just took a minute to see there’s so many different layers to who I am, it would change your mind. That’s what I love about Albert is he’s so unapologetically who he is. He’s from Atlanta. Yeah he sells drugs, yeah he sells weed, but that’s his life. I like that about him, I like the honesty. I feel like there are parts of my life where I want to go out of my way and say things but then think nah, I can’t do that. But Alfred is real all the time. I appreciate that, and I love that Donald created a character like that. He is going to represent a different walk of life that’s representing on television. Most times, the character isn’t given a heart, they aren’t depicted in a way that’s relatable. With Alfred, that’s something that I want to do.
As far as I see, Alfred’s character is something that is done a lot on television, but it’s never given a full character treatment. It’s a flat character, labeled as a drug dealer and thug, then we move on. I also think Hip Hop is a great way to tell that story because it’s been telling that story for a long time, which is why I’m curious, what’s your relationship with Hip Hop?
Hip Hop is so awesome because it’s one of the few genres where what you did is what you did. It is what it is, you can be what you want to be in Hip Hop, it doesn’t care about how you look, it doesn’t care! You can be who you are, as long as you’re giving us a story that’s relatable and I can go and shake my ass to it. Hip Hop doesn’t always have to be conscious. It’s interesting how Hip Hop reaches different communities and most people who haven’t really walked that life, still feel like they can understand it. I love that. I love that it’s always evolving too and sometimes going back to where it started. We’ve reached certain evolutions in Hip Hop that I never thought we’d see. Hip Hop started as a voice for the community speaking out against injustice. It went from talking about selling drugs to, “oh now we’re selling drugs”. It’s had this constant kind of evolution that isn’t common and I love that. It is so black too, it’s such a part of our lives and as an actor it opens me to stories that people may have never been exposed to. I love that about Hip Hop.
It’s just something that changes with the people. When people change, Hip Hop changes. It always evolves, it’s crazy because in the 80’s you wouldn’t have a Desiigner walking around?
No Future, no 2 Chainz…and to me it’s because of art. It takes you out of those real life woes and it’s so incredibly creative. The lyricism and creativity of Hip Hop artists is something that I’ve never seen. Just listening to Lil Wayne flow is something I’ve never seen before. No two persons are ever the same. It’s just the most amazing platform for poetry in my mind. It’s interesting because like, you saw in episode 2 when the cop walked up to me trying to get a picture and was like, “oh yeah your boy? I locked that n*gga up”. Like you can relate to the life the music portrays while still being on the opposite side of it. I love how the genre can expose you to situations you may never have even thought of. It doesn’t date itself either. I can listen to every Tribe Called Quest album today.
When you’re talking about the escape, it seems to me that Alfred uses Hip Hop as an escape, because while he’s rapping about a life he’s living he isn’t necessarily making the kind of money he’s talking about.
But isn’t that the best thing? Haha. Hip Hop gives you room to fantasize. You’ll have artists rap about Jordans for example, and like I may not be able to afford Jordans, but I still want them so I’ll talk about them. I love that fantastical aspect of Hip Hop, where we can talk about the stuff we don’t have or can’t afford but still want to attain some day.
Now, I’m wondering if you could talk about, and I have my personal speculations about it, what Paperboy means when he says he hates his song.
I think that he understands what the highs and lows of what fame can be. I always think about artists that pop off like Paperboy, and question their longevity. You also can’t escape that one song, no matter how much you tell people that it came from a different you, people are still going to want to hear it. He thought he was big sh*t because he was on the radio and the lady says, “so what b*tch?” So I think he foresaw that lack of longevity and it kinda defeats him. He realizes not everyone is going to feel him that way.
Yeah, a lot of times that one big single tends to be a red flag that someone’s career isn’t going to be that long.
Yeah Beyonce has got to be tired of singing Crazy in Love by now. I’m sure she’s like, “c’mon I really don’t want to sing ‘Bills, Bills, Bills’ but I guess that’s what I’m known for”. But that’s the class of Beyonce. She’ll always surprise people with new stuff while she’s performing the old music they wanted.
Then there are the actors that people walk up to and bring up one role and they’re like, “I mean I have twenty other roles but okay”
I’ve had to come to the realization that if people come up to me and say, “Paperboy! Paperboy!” then I did my duty. It means they were able to relate to and care about the character. I was walking around midtown that’s got a lot of tourists, a lot of foreigners…then this one guy, I was just trying to buy food, was like, “Hey, you’re butt f*cker right? You’re butt f*cker.” I was like, “Wait is this a hate crime? Like, what?” And I was like, “Oh yeah that right, that’s just what he relates to”. I love how even though I play this evil crazy ass villain, he still recognized and would relate to me. I like that. I love that. It’s something that will take positivity to bring about, but that’s what you want. You want the character you’re personally playing to come out as large as they can. I also want to make sure the people who want to be reflected are reflected in the show.
Of course, and you’re from Atlanta, right?
No, I went to college here, but it’s definitely the place where I grew up. I wasn’t born here, but Atlanta is definitely where I grew up. This is a city where I fostered some of the best friendships of my life. This city like got me through. I have so much respect for Atlanta. It will always be home. I love this city, I love it. I’m sitting on the porch right now in East Atlanta chilling. I’m sitting next to I-20 right now watching the traffic going by, having a cup of coffee, and I’m completely fine. I love that about Atlanta. It’s just got a place in my heart, it’s home.
I asked it at the premiere, but I guess you didn’t get to speak on it too much. What’s your opinion of the way Atlanta’s and people from Atlanta are perceived in the media? Because people love to play stereotypes of people from Atlanta, and they never actually flip those stereotypes over to see what’s deeper.
Henry: Well Atlanta to me is one of the most resilient cities in the world, and it doesn’t give a f*ck about general views or what you think about it. It does not care at all how you feel about it. It’s a place that will welcome anybody to the table, you know what I mean? You can come here from any walk of life and find a place to call home. You can find your group of people and discover another group that you didn’t even know you were a part of. I really believe this city is a living breathing thing of itself because it’s just always evolving but always replaying. I was here in 2004, left for 12 years and came back and it was like nothing changed. I knew exactly where my corners were, exactly where I wanted to be. It’s that kind of place. It’s just great. Like, we’re shooting on location for the show, and I was like, “Oh my god, we’re shooting right next to where you can buy my weed.” It’s that place, man. I’m really excited that we’re going to be able to show all the different vibes of the city, all the different walks of life on the planet, because they’re all valuable. The city’s also black all in one. It’s the spot of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Morehouse College is here, right next to Georgia Tech. It’s that kind of place that will always survive, it will blend in, but at the same time still have this old kind of soul, and I love that.
Does it feel special to be representing the city in your role?
Yeah, it feels a little nerve wracking at times. If Atlanta is not feeling me they will let me know. But I don’t really worry about that. Every city has an Alfred, but there’s only one Alfred from Atlanta. There’s a certain kind of life and mode that Alfred from Atlanta gives. I feel like he can reflect those live. We all have an Alfred somewhere in our lives, much like how we all have a Darius, how we all have an Ern, and I love that. There’s these people that are all different and yet they still have this bond in this life that they walk through. There’s obviously commonalities like at the end of the day, they’re still three black men in the South trying to make it. I think what this show has done is we’ve created a universe that is unapologetic. It’s brand new, it’s fresh, and it gives us an opportunity to expose that part of life that’s been left alone and I love that about the show. I’m just so fortunate to be a part of it.
from the point that you’re saying it’s all plausible and at the end of the day it’s three black men trying to make it,you’re not bending to what people want and expect you to do. It’s like you’re just forging your own path. You’re saying, “We’re not what you expect, we’re not what you want us to be, we’re going to do what we want and live our lives.”
Yeah, and why not? That’s what life is. That’s what life in Atlanta does for me. I think it’s way overdue. A lot of people want to fit it into a category. Will the white market get it? Will the black market get it? But it’s a human show. It’s just a show that always tells the true story of people living in Atlanta. I’m really glad that we get to explore that, and explore the humor of it and the absurdity of it and what it’s like to just walk in that life. There aren’t a lot of other shows that show that. I think it’s necessary that we all feel represented. TV usually shows the same kind of concept, and the same kind of stories that are going on. I love that people love Friends, but I don’t know that friend. I don’t know that story. I think that Donald knows that this show is a way to show that life. It’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea but that’s the excitement of the show.
I mean, I can say that I relate to it, and I love the first two episodes. Hip hop and that kind of life is what I grew up with, so I’ve always navigated to these kinds of shows and there’s so few of them. I never related to Friends. I could never get along with that, but I can name these kinds of shows on one hand. I guess people don’t want to pick them up because marketing and a bunch of business behind it, but then when you guys go ahead and do it, it just comes out really natural, and I think it’s going to be a great show. I love the first two episodes. All of you guys are great. It was really good.
Thanks man. I appreciate that so much.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed too, but a lot of shows that try and approach that side of life and throw hip hop into the mix, sometimes they might not get as organic as it could be. I’ve heard a lot of my friends talk about The Get Down, and it seems a little like it’s been funneled through business meetings and all of this, and it doesn’t really seem like it’s approaching hood life or anything like that in a natural way.
I think that’s what’s so good about the show is that fear is something we as a community know so well and it has never stopped us from doing everyday things. Which is sometimes just hard enough, and we do want to make sure that we made a show about regular days in our lives. Hip Hop is just one little nugget of what the show is. There’s so many things that we want to challenge people with and expose people to. We want views to go, “Oh wait a minute, I didn’t know I was supposed to know about that, but okay let’s do that. Let’s go over here and play with that. It’s possible. The possibilities are what is so great about Atlanta because it is a city of possibilities, it’s also a city that is old, and it’s also a city that’s new, and it’s also a city that’s constantly evolving, and I think that we really want to show that. That’s what this show’s about so Hip Hop is definitely a little nugget of that. Yeah, I’m a rapper, I play a rapper but that’s not what the show’s about.Yeah Ern is trying to be my manager but that’s not what the show’s about. Hip hop is automatically a label that’s put on when Black people are in a show, but I also love that, because once you turn it on you realize, “Oh wait, damn, oh wait, hold up, wait, what did I just say?”
But to me, that makes it even more hip hop, is when it kind of subverts my expectations, when it’s just so unapologetically real, like it’s not going to fill in those points that usually come with a show that has hip hop in it. That, to me, makes it more real.
That’s why I said it’s a human show. To me, it’s definitely a human show.
Are you working on anything else, or are you just spending your time with Atlanta?
I’m also on Vice Principals on HBO at the moment which was great, working with Danny McBride (talk about unapologetic). It was a great time, so yeah you know I’m out there.
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