>He wants to be real and have fans who are real. But it seems
>like those "real" fans (i.e. hood folks) just want something
>from him. All the people telling him to put them on. The
>supplier that robbed him. The kids who robbed him in this
>episode.
>They all talk about how much they love Paperboi, then
>immediately ask for or take something from him
>Al trying to be real isn't working out for him.
>
>But the fans he doesn't really want (suburban white teenagers)
>are the ones who don't want anything extra from him. When he
>ran into the white kid at the convenience store, the kid
>didn't even want an picture. He was just struck that Paperboi
>was there.
>
>I think Al is going to start embracing that and starting
>playing to it by following his girlfriend's strategy.
>
>Or I could be interpreting the convenience store scene wrong.
>And getting a picture all bloodied up was to show the public
>how real he is.