Brian Tyree Henry has sharpened his lyrical skills playing rapper Paper Boi on Donald Glovers FX drama,Atlanta but his his classic video game skills could use some work. The FX shows breakout star fumbled his way through classic arcade game Paperboy for an exclusive Rolling Stone clip, discussing his hip-hop influences along the way.
I used to play this all the time, all the time, Henry says. And I clearly have not played it in a minute. I remember when Nintendos first came out I saw my father coming in and putting the game underneath the tree. I was like, This is clearly for me. This is my game. No ones gonna be allowed to play this game.'
The actor also reminisces about his first musical influence, Michael Jackson, whom he heard while exploring his dads record stash.
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My father had one of the biggest vinyl collections Ive ever seen, he says. When I was three years old, one of the first albums I ever heard was Michael Jacksons Off the Wall. I thought it was amazing because you flip it open and his socks were lit up. The album starts with [mimes drum beat of Dont Stop Til You Get Enough], and I was like, Ive gotta do this. Ive gotta get into this. And I was sold.
Henry fell in love with hip-hop in the Eighties, which he declares the best time for rap.
It was still clean there wasnt lots of cursing going on, he says. Hip-hop was really trying to talk about something. [Then] when Biggie came around, I lost it. Here was this dude who was so young from Brooklyn who could do this lyricism unlike anything Ive ever heard in my life.
Despite his passion for raps past, Henry is still excited about modern-day hip-hop including trap-rap, a more party-oriented music thats shifted inspiration from selling drugs to doing drugs.
I love trap-rap because its very clear at this point in time its all about getting turnt, he says. I love that. I love that you can just walk into the club and hear Young Jeezy or hear Fetty, and its on.
Atlantas season finale airs tonight on FX.