Will Issa Rae, Donald Glover Drop Their Shows’ Hip-Hop Anthems in Real Life?

Golden Globes-nominated “Insecure” and “Atlanta” stars weave catchy songs into their series plots

issa rae donald glover insecure atlanta fx hbo golden globes
(HBO/FX)

HBO’s “Insecure” and FX’s “Atlanta” have more in common than the fact that they’re both now Golden Globes-nominated, groundbreaking comedies centered on the lives of thirty-something African Americans.

Issa Rae and Donald Glover are the stars and creators of their respective series — both of which feature a catchy hip-hop songs that are artfully woven into the shows’ plots.

Rae’s “Broken Pu–y” is a freestyle rap that her character performs in the first episode during an open mic night. It later becomes a YouTube sensation, threatening her credibility with her students in her day job.

The newly-nominated actress and show creator told TheWrap that “Broken Pu–y” will also show up in the show’s soundtrack being released “this month I hope.”

Glover plays the would-be agent of his cousin, the drug dealer and rising Atlanta rapper Paper Boi (played by Brian Tyree Henry), who has an eponymously-named anthem that’s blowing up on the local radio. Like the rhymes that push the story along in “Insecure,” “Paper Boi” is a huge plot device around which the series is anchored.

“Paper Boi” also is a potential real world single. The song, which appears on the show in an abbreviated form, was written and performed by Stephen Glover, Donald’s brother, who is also a writer on the show.

And there are reports he’s toying with the idea of expanding it into a full-on radio-ready track. (As of now, you can listen to a fan-compiled Spotify playlist of the show’s soundtrack — which features songs from an array of artists, from OutKast to Funkadelic to indie band Beach House — or simply listen to bootlegged versions of “Paper Boi” on YouTube.)

When I spoke with Glover on Monday, I mentioned that I couldn’t get the song out of my head. “I wonder why?” the 33-year-old actor said, cheekily.

So, is Rae going back to the studio to do a more polished version of “Broken Pu–y”? “Oh no, I’m not a rapper,” she told TheWrap on Monday. “I don’t have the musical talent that Donald and his brother have. ‘Broken Pu–y’ will definitely be on the soundtrack. It’ll be what you saw on the show — it’s what we live-recorded at the studio [for the show]. We have a couple of other original tracks on there, too.”

As for “Paper Boi,” don’t look for it on iTunes anytime soon. TheWrap learned there are no current plans to put out an official single, nor are there plans to release a show soundtrack.

“I think me and Issa — I get very happy that we’re on at the same time [in history],” Glover said of their dueling Golden Globes nominations, Glover garnering two for “Atlanta” (one for performance and another for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy). “It allows people to see different perspectives. I don’t feel pressure from it. I just want to make sh– that’s cool to me. In watching her show, it looks like she doesn’t feel the pressure of it either. It’s cool and really an honor. But I try not to over-think it.”

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