‘Atlanta:’ How Japanese Breakfast and Gil Scott-Heron Were Woven Into Show’s Rap-Centric World

variety.com:

EJ Panaligan editor A show about a down-on-his-luck college dropout and his rapper cousin navigating the music industry as the latter’s star rises; created by a multi-hyphenate who, at one point, was a full-time rapper himself; set in what many might argue was the rap capital of the United States for most of the past decade… You’d think Donald Glover’s FX series “Atlanta” would be a cakewalk for song placements — license a few Migos, Young Thug and Gucci Mane tracks and call it a day — but music supervisors Jen Malone and Fam Udeorji are anything but paint-by-numbers.

While musically, the series pays ample homage to its titular hometown, the pair has worked closely with Glover and the rest of the show’s writers room throughout its four-season run — coming to an end in November — to establish a musical palette that simultaneously reflects Atlanta while also expanding far beyond the city limits. “With the show being rooted in music, there’s one side of that with the writers, Donald and their Atlanta sensibilities, but also being mindful to not lean too heavy on what people’s ideas of what Atlanta is,” Udeorji tells Variety. “We’ve developed this sort of spectrum that has since become streamlined, so you can have everything from Kodak Black to Beach House and have it work seamlessly.” Curation goes hand-in-hand with character, Udeorji and Malone explain.

For instance, in an early season-one scene, Glover’s Earn lays on a couch, staring down the barrel of a revolver pistol while indie darlings Beach House’s “Space Song” blares through his headphones.

His character’s sensibility and fondness for indie music carries over into the show’s final season, when viewers hear about five seconds of Japanese Breakfast’s “Kokomo, IN”