‘Atlanta’ Recap: Earn Tries to Stunt, Gets Hustled by Mike Vick

A white woman inadvertently helps Paper Boi’s newest single go gold.

The episode opens with an Instagram story from the handle @lilysmom_11. In the story, the woman, who’s white, spoke about her 10 year-old daughter. Her daughter knows the words to Paper Boi’s latest hit.

Disturbed by her daughter’s knowledge of the song, from being played on the Atlanta pop radio station, she decides to read the lyrics of the song on her story.

She advises, “There’s gonna be some cussing. But it’s not my words.”

“B****, I need reparations.

N****s tired of dancing like the Temptations.

Sell a dime bag or that new crack, fentanyl.

The same reason Prince killed.

My d*** is like a tree trunk.

Baby catch this tree sap.

Kicked u out the condo.

This ain’t the place you sleep at.

Baby, slide on the d***.

You can do it all night.

You can be my baby mama.

You can’t ever be my wife.”

Here’s where it gets crazy y’all.

Said no to college ‘cause it’s no fun.

Mo’ drugs and mo’ guns.

But I still might have to slap a trick.

Shout-out Colin Kaepernick.

After the Kaepernick line, the woman begins to cry.

After the clip posts to her account, it goes viral, giving Paper Boi free promotion. As a result, the song is a hit on the radio and streaming platforms. This results in a gold record and an apparent financial success for Paper Boi and Earn.

Paper Boi, Earn and Darius celebrate their new-found success.

They celebrate the record’s success with Darius at a bar.

“That white woman crying, that was the best thing that could’ve happened to us, man. Their tears are powerful.” – Darius

As they are drinking shots, their waiter brings another round to drink and they toast to “white tears.”

After the toast, the waiter tries to pitch a money scheme to Paper Boi. Earn tells them they’re “off the clock.”

The waiter angrily replies, “F*** you! I’m talking to Paper Boi.”

Earn tells the waiter “Okey-Dokey,” and the waiter continues his pitch. He asks Paper Boi to “put him on.”

Paper Boi doesn’t seem all that interested, but the dude is persistent. The waiter’s boss calls him away without a resolution. He walks away grumbling under his breath.

Afterwards, Paper Boi gets frustrated that the random pop ups from fans keeps happening.

Earn thinks this it’s a good thing but Paper Boi says it’s overrated.

However, Earn looks at it from a different perspective.

“I keep getting stunted on. I would love to be the person who can stunt on somebody.” – Earn

Paper Boi tells him, “All you need is some money.”

Earn tells them a story of how a homeless man threw away a McDonald’s meal he bought him. Later on, Paper Boi brings up the streaming check he’s expecting. Earn tells him it will arrive by Monday and, “It’s smaller than what you expected.”

“But It’s bigger than I thought…” – Earn

Earn decides it’s time for him and Van to stunt.

Later that night, Van walks into her apartment, and greets Earn who’s lounging on the bed. They are back in a good place. Van brings her his mail which includes his check.

Earn listens to Van talk about her friend buying an expensive VIP ticket for the upcoming Beyoncé concert. Van’s frustrated because she can’t afford the extra $350 to buy a VIP ticket, so she can’t sit with her friend.

Earn tells Van her friend “stunted” on her. He then shows her the check he got and tells her they are doing it big for the weekend.

“No more Mr. Nice Earn.; the stunters have become the stunted.” – Earn

Van, impressed by the check, tells Earn she’s cool with the stunt.

“You’re gonna get us robbed.” – Van

Clark County hosts Paper Boi and Darius during his studio session.

Paper Boi and Darius stop by the studio session for Clark County. He introduces them both to his homie and muscle Boogz. Darius points out the Harriet Tubman $20 bill, which Clark got from his mother.

Paper Boi offers a hit of his blunt and Darius offer his Hennessy. However, Clark County declines because he doesn’t drink or smoke.

“I got to keep my voice right.” – Clark County.

Afterwards, Clark heads into the booth to lay down a verse for an upcoming song. However, the engineer’s computer crashes, ending the take short. This frustrates Clark County because he didn’t write down the verse. He then tells the white engineer to get right so he doesn’t get hurt.

“Dude, don’t crash it again, dude. If it crashes again, I’m gonna crash my foot in your a**.” – Clark County

Boogz then glares at the Engineer to drive home Clark’s point.

Paper Boi and Darius then tell Clark County the verse was dope. He tells Paper Boi he freestyled and hoped the engineer recorded the verse.

Boogz walks over to the engineer and tells him, “You better stop playing, dawg.”

Clark County then says, “It’s all good bro.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you. I’d never put a hand on you. -Clark County

He issues another threat to drive home the point.

“Just don’t f*** up because I’m not the only one with hands in this world.” – Clark County

Paper Boi then shoots an uncomfortable glance.

Earn gets profiled at a movie theater.

Meanwhile, Earn and Van walk into a movie theater to see “Fast and Furious.” When they get to the ticket counter, Earn tries to pay for their two VIP tickets with a $100 bill. The white ticket taker tells Earn they can’t take his paper money.

He tries to pay for the tickets with his debit card. But she asks for his driver’s license and says she has to make a photo copy of both. This angers Earn who felt he was racially profiled. Van says it’s okay and she can pay, but Earn declines.

When they walk away, he notices a white man pay for his tickets with a $100 bill. Earn tries to confront them both about his profiling. Being in Georgia, the white guy opens up his blazer to show his concealed handgun.

Earn gets the hint and walks off.

Afterwards, Earn and Van are in an Über and Earn is frustrated over his profiling. Van tells him, “I told you not to use that $100 bill.”

“Why? It’s legal U.S. tender.” – Earn

She jokes with him, saying no one uses cash much anymore.

“Who are you? Gucci Mane? Come on.” – Van

Earn feels he should be able to use his money and what happened was racist. Van laughs it off.

Clark County reveals his mean streak and gives advice to Paper Boi.

Back at the studio, Paper Boi and Darius are impressed with Clark County’s Yoo-hoo commercial and tell him. Clark thanks them and tells them, “They need to get on it.”

Darius brings up the Rap Snacks endorsement for “Cocaine White Cheddar,” but Paper Boi said he turned it down.

Paper Boi wanted to be on the “Fast and Furious” soundtrack (but Clark County later got the spot), and Clark mentions how the industry keeps a quota on things like that for black artists.

“I mean, most of these majors’ stuff, they don’t… They don’t look out for black folks like that. There’s only one spot for n****s, and I gotta get it, so you know how that go.” – Clark County

Paper Boi asks how he gets the deals and Clark tells him that his manager Luke, who knows Earn, hooks up the deals.

“He has all the connections with all the major brands. He really does his job really well, man. If you want to talk to anybody, just holla at Luke.” – Clark County

At this point the engineer returns with water and other drinks. Clark County asks him to bring up “King of Diamonds,” a song in progress.

However, his program crashes again. Clark County frustrated, walks out of the studio “for a walk.” Boogz then asks Paper Boi and Darius to leave so he can “talk” to the engineer.

Paper Boi and Darius get the message and they leave.

Earn is profiled again at a hookah bar.

As they leave, Van and Earn head to a hookah bar. However, their time in the bar is short, because the black club owner doesn’t want to accept the $100 bill.

The owner feels the bill is fake.

Earn has the owner look over the bill. He asks the owner to use a bill marker to test it or compare it to another bill. But, the Owner says he doesn’t have any other $100 bills. So police officers escort Van and Earn out of the bar, although they tell Earn they know the bill is real.

“We all know the bill was real, but the owner was tripping. Sorry about that.” – Police Officer

At this point, Earn feels he’s being racially profiled, again. He decides to take Van, “…Somewhere where they know how to treat people with money.”

He calls Darius and Paper Boi, telling them to get ready for the strip club.

“Earn tryna to stunt tonight.” – Paper Boi

Tracy replies, “I’m always ready” to Paper Boi when he asked if he’s ready.

When they get outside, they see Earn and Van pull up in an expensive stretch limo.

Earn says, “We stunting tonight.”

Earn gets hustled at Onyx.

When they get to Onyx, DJ shouts them out. They head to their section and Earn is told that it comes with a bottle of liquor.

He gets tequila although Tracy first ordered Hennessy Black. It’s all good for Tracy because he’s happily gonna drink whatever Earn orders.

Earn learns there is change for his $100 bill at the bar. When he gets there, the bartender tells him its a $200 minimum and they keep 20 percent.

He’s annoyed by this but he takes it. The DJ then introduces Bankhead Barbie to the stage and prods Earn to tip Barbie. He tips a dollar but the DJ says it’s not enough.

Later, a stripper asks Earn if he wants a dance. He gives the dance instead to Van, but it doesn’t last long. As soon as she walks over to Van, she walks right back, asking for her $20.

This trips out Earn who angrily gives her the $20. Afterwards, their waitress walks over to check on them. Earn brings up the bottle of Tequila and the waitress tells him they have to pay for the bottle.

She tells them it comes with the table, which means they have to buy a bottle. So he reluctantly buys a $200 bottle of tequila.

Van then asks for dollar bills because she feels bad for the skinny dancer on stage.

When Van walks away, Paper Boi jokes about the stripper. He mentions that looking that way is her m-o.

“Man, that’s Minnie. Looking new her hook. She’s been looking new for about d*** 10 years man” – Paper Boi

He then tells Earn about what happened with the $100 bill. Paper Boi then schools him about what it really means to stunt.

“Look at you man. You don’t look like no damn dope boy. I’d think that s*** was fake, too.” – Paper Boi

He drops some more gems.

“Money is an idea, man. Look, there’s a reason that a white dude dressed just like you can walk into a bank and get a loan and you can’t even spend a $100 bill man. I mean, you better start acting like you better than other n****s, then they’ll start treating you better than other n****s.” – Paper Boii

Darius jumps in and adds, “‘Cause other wise, you’re just another n****.”

Paper Boi points out how Tracy been telling a stripper that he’s his manager.

Earn points out how he’s frustrated over being hustled.

They both point out to Earn how it’s supposed to be like this in a strip club. Frustrated, Earn gets up and leaves. Outside, Earn and Van come across Michael Vick winning bets over foot races in the parking lot.

Even Michael Vick hustles Earn.

Earn asks if he’s okay and a stranger points out that it’s a good hustle for him. Apparently, drunk people want to foot race Michael Vick. He won six races in about a 10-minute span.

Michael Vick challenges the crowd and Earn volunteers. Van asks what he’s doing.

“Sometimes, you just got to stunt on people.” – Earn

He figures he could win because Vick has raced six times in 10 minutes.

“I also haven’t run six races in 10 minutes. I should be good.” – Earn

Both men stare each other down at the starting line and it appears Earn had a chance to win.

However, the episode ends with Van and Earn sitting quietly in the limo.

Van breaks the silence, saying, “It’s Michael Vick!”

What are you thoughts on the episode?

Earn really thought he was about to beat Michael Vick ? #AtlantaFX pic.twitter.com/ykNSf69pTF

— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) March 16, 2018