Atlanta
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It is a familiar scene of surveillance in a city entirely new to the characters.
On their walk, Earn lays out the stakes of their invitation.
How many billionaires do you know?
Earn asks Al rhetorically.
Al asks Fernando, but no, he just likes the peri-peri sauce and is wildly rich.
Shiiiiiit, he says as he leans into his seat feelin himself.
That spirit came to me, it chose me, it cleansed me, Fernando tells the men.
Al laughs it off, likening it to a sex dream, but remains noticeably uncomfortable.
In Fernandos dreams, Blackness trespasses and titillates.
After redirecting attention back to the game, Al wins a huge hand.
Without celebration, Fernando walks away, and the other men at the table saunter off without a word.
Al sits there confused.
Meanwhile, Will introduces Earn and Van to TJ, a young Black British artist he is financing.
TJ doesnt even look at them until he hears that they are affiliated with Paper Boi.
At this point, TJ introduces himself as a multi-hyphenate artist with fingers in all the pies, bro.
Despite the hype, TJs work leaves both Earn and Van at a loss for words.
If there is anything particularly sad about the work, it is its lack of imagination.
Earn doesnt think TJ is talented and worries that he might be taking advantage of Will.
Faced with an apparent moral quandary, Earn grows anxious.
After all, who, if not him, will protect that poor (but actually extremely wealthy!)
white man from his own gullibility?
I get hit on by Black men a lot, she tells Darius.
Black guys love Asian women.
(Its getting weird, MK!)
Despite Dariuss consistent rebuttal, the crowd feasts on Sockss version.
Al eventually finds Earn, and the two vent about their rough nights.
Earn tells Al that TJs art sucks and hes most likely taking advantage of Will.
in this zero-sum game, which means Black kids need to scammore.
Behind them, a Black man stands shackled in the shadows.
Suddenly, Earn realizes the error in his thinking: The Black scammer is no match for white plunder.
Will, of course, eats it up.
After Earn gets his piece of the pie, Al decides its time he got his.
Ransacking Fernandos home to make up for his debt, Al makes a show of robbing the billionaire.
Thanks for the Nandos, bitch, he shouts as they drive off.
The man corrects his assumption.
Racism and capitalism are hard to separate, innit, he says.
Somebody has been readingBlack Marxism!
What about Taco Bell?
The man is quiet and ponders for a few seconds.
They only do Pepsi, no racism, he declares.
Who can forget whenKendall Jennertried to show us the way!
Will responds and says, Thank God for mumble rap, really gave us a leg up.
He then begins to name some British rappers, including none other than London-born Atlanta rapper 21 Savage.
They fumble and float, but shes buoyant.
