It’s a calm Sunday morning at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, the location of Donald Glover’s Pharos music event, only two days before the premiere of FX’s Atlanta, Glover’s new TV series about the city’s burgeoning hip-hop scene. The Pharos event staff around the resort and campground prepare hastily for the fifth and final performance of Childish Gambino’s new album. A steady buzz has been building throughout the morning as one event milestone prepares to conclude while another looks to begin.

A self-described United Nations Security Council of artistic careers and viewpoints has helped contribute to the career of Glover over recent years, with the present festival, forthcoming album, and television show being no exception. But the delegation isn’t a one-way street. The FX show is a project Glover has aspired to since his ensemble team came together, and with all hands on deck, a freeway of ideas, albums, actions, and obstacles has paved the way for Atlanta to achieve its final form.

The byproducts of Atlanta’s behind-the-scenes narratives aren't just notes on a whiteboard. They’re studio albums, mixtapes, fashion shoots, tours, and ambitious independent solo careers.

Fam and Chad

Fam Udeorji, soft-spoken and unhurried, is one-half of the management company Wolf & Rothstein, the duo responsible for guiding the career trajectory of Childish Gambino as well as the small team of artists collectively known as Royalty. He uses Rothstein as a last name, taken from Frank Rosenthal’s Casino character, Ace Rothstein, whose special attention to detail resonates with Fam.

The former half of the pair is Chad Taylor, a.k.a. Wolf, an experienced tour manager who met Fam on the road during Childish Gambino’s Camp tour, where they founded a relationship as partners—and bed-sharing roommates when costs needed to be cut.

Fam walks through the entrance of a small resort cabin staged in the center of the festival area, one of a few similar structures surrounded by food trucks, a reflection pond, and various “illumination forest” installations decorating paths and lounge areas. Near the small cabin is an outdoor theater screening the first three episodes of Atlanta each day for festival-goers waiting to experience Gambino’s new album. The curious 60-foot-high white dome that is home to the performances protrudes above a line of trees at the back of the resort. The two events are the main course for fans adventuring into the desert to get the first look at the next step in the elusive career and character that is Donald Glover.

The former Community actor hasn’t done it alone, however. With his green wide-brim bucket hat blocking the sun like a safari guide's, Fam introduces his fellow collective that helped bring the festival and show to its current state of creativity and reality.

Alongside Gambino on the roster of Wolf & Rothstein are Kari Faux and Malik Flint, a.k.a. bLAck pARty—whose name capitalization refers to his and his musical accomplices’ roots in Little Rock, Arkansas, and their current residence of Los Angeles. The Royalty umbrella also extends to creatives and musicians brought together around Donald Glover in some fashion, including Ibra Ake, Steve Glover, and Swank. The group drew its name from Childish Gambino’s 2012 mixtape, around which time they first started to come together and mesh as a team.

Ibra is the first of the group to offer insight, with a mantra of stern fearlessness that begins to soften when conversation shifts into the realm of art. He’s known for his work as a portrait and fashion photographer and is often dubbed the “soundboard” for the group when it comes to visual framing and creative direction.

His role as a creative guide and resource spans across the collective’s different albums and projects, including Atlanta, where he helped to adapt the show’s tone to its marketing outreach. A series of reverse-motion clips, fast-cut previews, and peach-tasting images has headlined the show’s buildup on television, billboards, and the Internet. Atlanta’s first teaser came juxtaposed to the conclusion of FX’s The People v O.J. Simpson, with actor Keith Stanfield’s character, Darius, asking, “Is that why cops are mad?” upon finding out the nonfiction nature of the courtroom drama.

“We don’t want this to look like a Kevin Hart promo,” Ibra says with a laugh while looking back on the show’s marketing process.

“You’re not just going through one medium anymore. You have to have consistency throughout the style and creative vision on multiple platforms,” Ibra says. “Instagram is where everyone steals my best ideas.”

When asked about recent controversy over Atlanta’s all-black writers’ room, the group admits they could sense that something was different early on, but only because of how fashion-forward everyone was and the time taken to critique shoe choices—which they questioned to be standard in a “normal” TV writers’ room. This parallels the type of controversy and hypocrisy Atlanta brings to light in its early episodes, further blurring the lines between the show and the lives of the writers and integral Royalty influencers.

Steve Glover

Steve Glover, younger brother to Donald and also known as Steve G. Lover, brings a creative influence to the collective and show bathed in Atlanta’s sounds and culture. Steve is partnered with Swank, a charismatic jack-of-all-trades when it comes to tour management, artist relations, event planning, fashion, and most importantly, “setting the vibe.” The duo is confident and synergetic when recalling their meeting in college and navigation of Atlanta’s music scene as young, motivated artists. They acknowledge the pressure brought on by Atlanta carrying the city’s name as its title. The two, however, aren’t afraid to bring their Atlanta stories as the Royalty members who came of age in the city’s glowing but poignant environment.