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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[tape deck clicks]

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[car horns honking on video]

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[21 Savage] <i>I think the '90s just
resonate with us because</i>

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<i>they knew how to have fun.</i>

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<i>The world was more, like, pure.</i>

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[inaudible dialogue]

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<i>It was something organic
and just real and for the people.</i>

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It's damn near immortal.

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[♪ "Strub Tha Ground" by Quavo
and Yung Miami playing]

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Swoop, trappin' ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Ay, go ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Woo ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Scrub the ground ♪
- ♪ Ay ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Pop it, don't stop it, shake that... ♪</i>

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Hey, man, Freaknik's always a vibe.

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[speaker 1]
<i>And most of us, we were born in the '90s.</i>

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[speaker 2]
<i>I love all of the '90s aesthetics</i>

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and so I wanted to give
a little sparkle, a little shine,

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<i>a little body, you know?</i>

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[speaker 3]
<i>Just the culture of Atlanta and Freaknik</i>

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is very important to that.
You know, hip-hop, all of that shit.

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Real Atlanta shit,
real Freaknik shit. Yeah.

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[speaker 4]
<i>We coming from the '90s</i>

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so we only bringing home
gold trophies, that's it.

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<i>♪ Scrub the ground ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Been a scrub, scrub ♪</i>

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<i>♪ But I make her scrub the ground... ♪</i>

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Them kids ain't know
nothin' about Freaknik.

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[♪ "Shake It" by MC Shy D playing]

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<i>♪ Come on, come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on, come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on, come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on, shake, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Come on ♪</i>

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[speaker 1]
<i>This wasn't an adult-sanctioned event.</i>

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This is something
that was driven by the youth.

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[speaker 2]
<i>People were coming from far</i>

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<i>to experience Freaknik,
purely by word of mouth.</i>

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["Uncle Luke" Campbell]
<i>It wasn't no social media,</i>

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barely had internet.

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[Dr. Maurice Hobson]
<i>If you were a true baller,</i>

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you would have the big camcorder
and put it on your shoulder.

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[indistinct chatter]

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[speaker 3]
<i>People was outside they cars,</i>

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<i>people was on top of they cars.</i>

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[speaker 4]
<i>There wasn't even a word called twerking.</i>

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<i>It was just called booty shaking.</i>

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- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [crowd shouting]

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[speaker 5]
<i>The streets, the people, the girls.</i>

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The debauchery. [laughs]

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[Jalen Rose]
<i>I don't know what heaven looks like,</i>

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but this seems like a version of it.

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<i>♪ Let me see you shake it, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Shake it, shake it ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Shorty, swing my way ♪</i>

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[speaker 6] <i>Freaknik was
much bigger than just a party.</i>

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<i>It was fashion, it was culture,</i>

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<i>it was food, it was music.</i>

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And it was just Black, Black,
Black, Black, Black everywhere.

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Black love, Black excellence.
Black enterprise.

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Freaknik was the greatest
Black gathering in America.

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[Kenny Burns] <i>They didn't know
to bring order to it 'cause it was kids.</i>

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<i>Any revolution ever
in the history of the world,</i>

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when it's youth, they're not
even speaking the same language,

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so how can you understand the value?

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This is when we began to see
this is not gonna last forever.

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Freaknik no longer is about
college students having a good time.

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<i>It's about a breakdown in law and order.</i>

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I think that's the mayor's fault.

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[speaker 1] <i>People wasn't out here
looking for no problems.</i>

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They was lookin' out here to have fun.

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<i>Every time somebody ran,
they ran from the police.</i>

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[speaker 2]
<i>Yeah, you just knew it wasn't right.</i>

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<i>It turned into something a little dark,
a little dangerous.</i>

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[static hissing]

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[♪ "Scarred" by Uncle Luke
feat. Trick Daddy playing]

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<i>- ♪ Cap D comin', Cap D comin' ♪
- ♪ Ride, ride ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Cap D comin', Cap D comin' ♪
- ♪ Ride, ride, ride, ride ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ Cap D comin', Cap D comin' ♪
- ♪ Ride, ride ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Let's go, give it up now ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Beat that fine move ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Fuck niggas rock too ♪</i>

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<i>♪ My niggas no good ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Ain't nothin' but her so good ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Trick Daddy in the house ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Disrespect, watch your mouth ♪</i>

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<i>♪ She eat all D ♪</i>

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<i>- ♪ And dog you to captain D ♪
- ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪</i>

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<i>♪ I like my hoes never home,
always in the street hoe-ing ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Three to the store with
their ass cheeks showing ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Lookin' fly with their hair and nails
done up been in that coupe ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Them the ones I like to run up in, unh ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Like the big booty hoes
with cute faces ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Let a nigga hit it
on the first-day basis ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Niggas fake but ya kick game straight ♪</i>

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<i>♪ X and O's down with
the diamond name plates, unh ♪</i>

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♪

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[Killer Mike] <i>So you gotta understand,
Atlanta didn't start with Freaknik.</i>

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<i>It didn't start with the proliferation</i>

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<i>of reality TV shows.</i>

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<i>It didn't start with the music industry.</i>

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<i>Atlanta has been the shit
for Black people.</i>

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<i>It was the shit
when Little Richard played here.</i>

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<i>It was the shit
when James Brown played here.</i>

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<i>It was the shit
when Muhammad Ali fought here.</i>

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<i>But what really makes it the shit
is every generation has a Freaknik moment</i>

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<i>where they come just to have some fun,</i>

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and they fuck around and find freedom.

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[♪ "Welcome To Atlanta Remix"
by Jermaine Dupri playing ♪]

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<i>♪ I got somethin' else to tell you
'bout the new Motown ♪</i>

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<i>♪ Where people don't visit,
they move out here ♪</i>

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<i>♪ And ain't no tellin' who you might see
up in Lenox Square ♪</i>

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<i>♪ I don't know about you,
but I miss the Freaknik ♪</i>

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<i>♪ 'Cause that's when my city
used to be real sick... ♪</i>

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[Jermaine Dupri]
<i>People were coming from other states,</i>

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Black people,

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and they saw the freedom.

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[21 Savage]
<i>The police gon' look like you,</i>

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<i>the club owners gon' look like you.</i>

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This like the mecca
for Black people in America.

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[Rasheeda]
<i>When you came to Atlanta,</i>

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<i>it made you feel like,
"I could be an entrepreneur,</i>

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I could do anything, because, look,
I see people who look like me."

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So people started looking at that like,

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"Yo, this is where I wanna
move to and raise my family."

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[Shanti Das]
<i>Growing up in the SWATS,</i>

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<i>it was like our own little Wakanda.</i>

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<i>All of my friends' parents were successful</i>

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and you didn't have that in a lot of,
you know, other metropolitan areas,

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like this real influx
of middle-class America.

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[indistinct crowd chatter]

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[Kasim Reed]
<i>When you look through the ranks</i>

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<i>of leadership in the city,</i>

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<i>there was a longstanding agreement</i>

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that Black people would have
political power in Atlanta

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and white people had economic power,

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<i>and we would meet in the city,
do business,</i>

146
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<i>and typically retreated
to segregated neighborhoods.</i>

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And so that was an understanding
that allowed the city to flourish

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<i>in an uninterrupted way for decades.</i>

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[Marc Lamont Hill] <i>'Cause Atlanta,
in many ways, for Black people</i>

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<i>represents possibility.</i>

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Cultural possibility, economic possibility

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and educational possibility.

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[indistinct yelling]

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<i>There is a history in this country
of the establishment</i>

155
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<i>not wanting Black people to have
access to education,</i>

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and so we had to build our own.

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[♪ upbeat funk music playing]

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♪

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[Dr. Maurice Hobson]
<i>What Atlanta already has built into it</i>

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<i>is that it has multiple
historically Black colleges.</i>

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<i>So you have the young people
who are coming to college</i>

162
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<i>and saying,
"Well, hey, I like Atlanta, I'm staying."</i>

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And you begin to see
this kind of influx of people.

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[♪ upbeat funk music continues]

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♪

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The HBCU all around the country
was a vibrant site

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<i>of Black life and Black culture
for over a century.</i>

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[Stacy Lloyd]
<i>The draw for going to an HBCU</i>

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and coming to Atlanta
specifically was the AUC:

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<i>Spelman, Morehouse,
Morris Brown, Clark Atlanta.</i>

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<i>It's literally like
walking inside of the classroom</i>

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<i>and your cousins and your sisters
and your brothers are there</i>

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<i>and you're just looking
right back at yourself.</i>

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[Kathleen Bertrand] <i>I remember
saying, "This is like a utopia here</i>

175
00:07:03,715 --> 00:07:07,469
in the AU Center,"
because you see Black people

176
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<i>in positions of power
and prominence all the time.</i>

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<i>It was nothing to have
Angela Davis visit the campus</i>

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<i>or to have Jesse Jackson,</i>

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because that was
just the environment we were in.

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The Atlanta University Center

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is the reason Atlanta
became the Black mecca.

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You just will not find
that experience anywhere else.

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<i>As a Black woman, as a woman,</i>

184
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<i>it was really the only time
that I was part of the majority,</i>

185
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<i>and everything's just for us and about us.</i>

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<i>Well, hi, everybody,
from Daytona Beach, in Florida,</i>

187
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<i>where right now, it is spring break time</i>

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<i>and it is a mecca for the
college-age crowd. How many? Well--</i>

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[newscaster on TV] <i>It was a group
of Washington D.C. students</i>

190
00:07:50,053 --> 00:07:52,306
<i>attending college here who
kicked off what was then</i>

191
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<i>a very different kind of event,</i>

192
00:07:54,308 --> 00:07:56,560
<i>attended by not thousands
or even hundreds,</i>

193
00:07:56,643 --> 00:07:58,103
<i>but 50 young people.</i>

194
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<i>Sharon Toomer showed me
the group that started</i>

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00:08:00,814 --> 00:08:03,942
<i>what the city now calls
Black College Spring Break.</i>

196
00:08:04,026 --> 00:08:08,405
[♪ "No Words Required" by Ryan Prewett
feat. Chris Swartwood playing]

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[Sharon Toomer] When was the last time
you saw Tony, Monique, Emma?

198
00:08:13,577 --> 00:08:15,871
Probably, phew, 40 years.

199
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[chuckles] Since graduation.

200
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It's been too long.

201
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[birds chirping]

202
00:08:25,839 --> 00:08:27,799
[group exclaim]

203
00:08:27,883 --> 00:08:29,676
Oh, my goodness, look who it is.

204
00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,803
Oh, my goodness, Amadi!

205
00:08:31,887 --> 00:08:34,348
- [indistinct chatter]
- [laughter]

206
00:08:34,431 --> 00:08:36,016
Oh, my goodness.

207
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Y'all still look the same,

208
00:08:37,809 --> 00:08:39,603
except Emma's hair has turned blue.

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[laughter]

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We were just bringing a little piece
of Chocolate City to Atlanta.

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That's exac--
That's a good way to put it.

212
00:08:46,902 --> 00:08:48,278
That's a good way to put it, Tony.

213
00:08:48,362 --> 00:08:50,739
But the thing is, is that
the way we started it

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00:08:50,822 --> 00:08:52,366
- is not how it ended.
- [Amadi/Sharon] Right.

215
00:08:52,449 --> 00:08:54,952
And that's, I think,
people don't know that.

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00:08:55,035 --> 00:08:57,871
I think when people
hear the word "Freaknik,"

217
00:08:57,955 --> 00:09:00,082
- they think of the '90s.
- Right.

218
00:09:00,165 --> 00:09:03,168
- But people did not know about the '80s.
- Yeah.

219
00:09:03,252 --> 00:09:05,087
They didn't know how we started it.

220
00:09:05,170 --> 00:09:06,755
They don't know where the name came from.

221
00:09:06,839 --> 00:09:08,423
We had no money.

222
00:09:08,507 --> 00:09:11,677
We were, we, we were getting
support from left and right

223
00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:13,095
and we made it happen.

224
00:09:13,178 --> 00:09:14,346
And I'm telling you,

225
00:09:14,429 --> 00:09:16,890
- we had no inclination...
- [Amadi Boon] Right.

226
00:09:16,974 --> 00:09:20,394
...to the depth of-of a legacy
we were creating.

227
00:09:28,151 --> 00:09:29,778
[record scratching]

228
00:09:29,862 --> 00:09:32,698
[♪ upbeat hip-hop music playing]

229
00:09:37,035 --> 00:09:38,996
[Emma Horton]
<i>Once you got to the AU campus,</i>

230
00:09:39,079 --> 00:09:41,290
just about every state had a club.

231
00:09:41,373 --> 00:09:44,501
That was the opportunity
to develop your first comradery.

232
00:09:45,544 --> 00:09:47,129
[Monique Tolliver]
<i>The state clubs,</i>

233
00:09:47,212 --> 00:09:51,049
I think today it would be
what social media is.

234
00:09:51,133 --> 00:09:54,928
<i>The state clubs is what
drew people closer together.</i>

235
00:09:55,387 --> 00:09:58,265
[Amadi] <i>There was a Michigan Club,
we had a California Club.</i>

236
00:09:58,348 --> 00:10:00,184
<i>There was a tri-state club, a Philly club,</i>

237
00:10:00,267 --> 00:10:02,186
<i>I guess it was for Pennsylvania.</i>

238
00:10:02,269 --> 00:10:05,522
But of all of the state clubs,
all the state organizations,

239
00:10:05,606 --> 00:10:10,611
I'd say that the DC Metro Club,
we were the ones that had the reputation.

240
00:10:10,694 --> 00:10:13,530
[laughs] We were the ones
that threw the best parties.

241
00:10:13,614 --> 00:10:16,158
[♪ trombone music plays]

242
00:10:16,241 --> 00:10:18,452
We wanted to provide
events that would help

243
00:10:18,535 --> 00:10:21,622
to support our students
around things like the school breaks,

244
00:10:21,705 --> 00:10:24,833
<i>where we could party
and just celebrate being together.</i>

245
00:10:24,917 --> 00:10:28,504
[Sharon] <i>It came time
for our spring break activity.</i>

246
00:10:28,587 --> 00:10:30,172
<i>Some people were going home,</i>

247
00:10:30,255 --> 00:10:32,132
<i>some people were going someplace else.</i>

248
00:10:32,216 --> 00:10:35,719
But a lot of us were staying in Atlanta
for the spring break.

249
00:10:35,802 --> 00:10:38,555
We're only talking about
like a, you know, a week time.

250
00:10:40,307 --> 00:10:42,726
[Monique]
<i>Many people couldn't afford to go home.</i>

251
00:10:42,809 --> 00:10:45,270
I was... [laughs] I was one of them.

252
00:10:45,354 --> 00:10:48,440
So we, you know, we decided,
"Well, hey, we're all here.

253
00:10:48,524 --> 00:10:51,652
<i>We need to get together.
We need to do something."</i>

254
00:10:52,194 --> 00:10:54,321
[Amadi]
<i>So we said, "Let's plan a picnic.</i>

255
00:10:54,404 --> 00:10:56,823
We're gonna have a picnic
during spring break."

256
00:10:56,907 --> 00:11:01,995
I said, you know, "We need to have
some kind of a theme for the year

257
00:11:02,079 --> 00:11:04,915
so we can plan all of our events
around a theme."

258
00:11:04,998 --> 00:11:06,917
<i>And I remember Tony said to me,</i>

259
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,669
<i>something to the effect that,</i>

260
00:11:08,752 --> 00:11:11,296
<i>"We should bring back the freak."</i>
[laughs]

261
00:11:11,380 --> 00:11:13,257
<i>And so from that point on,</i>

262
00:11:13,340 --> 00:11:16,218
each event that we had,
somehow or another,

263
00:11:16,301 --> 00:11:19,930
had the word "freak"
incorporated into the name of the event

264
00:11:20,013 --> 00:11:21,265
when we promoted it.

265
00:11:22,891 --> 00:11:27,104
[Maurice] <i>In 1978, Chic debuted this song,
Chic</i> Le Freak.

266
00:11:27,187 --> 00:11:28,230
Of course the song goes...

267
00:11:28,313 --> 00:11:29,815
♪ Ah, freak out ♪

268
00:11:30,482 --> 00:11:32,901
[Maurice] <i>And then there's
a dance that accompanies it.</i>

269
00:11:32,985 --> 00:11:34,069
<i>♪ Freak out ♪</i>

270
00:11:34,820 --> 00:11:38,282
[Monique]
<i>People think that the Freak is freaky,</i>

271
00:11:38,365 --> 00:11:40,701
but when we were doing the Freak,

272
00:11:40,784 --> 00:11:45,414
it wasn't scandalous, but it was fun.

273
00:11:45,497 --> 00:11:48,625
♪

274
00:11:48,709 --> 00:11:51,003
[Amadi] <i>We decided on a date
for the spring picnic,</i>

275
00:11:51,086 --> 00:11:53,213
<i>now we've gotta come up with a name</i>

276
00:11:53,297 --> 00:11:56,633
and something that's gonna
fit in with our theme.

277
00:11:56,717 --> 00:11:59,595
And so our classmate said,

278
00:11:59,678 --> 00:12:01,388
"Let's call it 'Freaknik.'"

279
00:12:02,389 --> 00:12:06,101
<i>Merging of "picnic,"
which we shouldn't be using anymore,</i>

280
00:12:06,185 --> 00:12:08,812
now that we now
are educated on what picnic meant,

281
00:12:08,896 --> 00:12:10,272
<i>and "freak."</i>

282
00:12:10,355 --> 00:12:11,773
<i>I thought it was really clever.</i>

283
00:12:11,857 --> 00:12:13,066
<i>That's a beautiful thing.</i>

284
00:12:13,150 --> 00:12:15,694
I mean, we just come up
with stuff on the fly.

285
00:12:15,777 --> 00:12:19,072
[♪ "Bustin' Loose" by Chuck Brown
& The Soul Searchers playing]

286
00:12:19,948 --> 00:12:21,909
[Shanti]
<i>The title is absolutely misleading</i>

287
00:12:21,992 --> 00:12:23,535
'cause you would think
it was just somethin'

288
00:12:23,619 --> 00:12:26,330
where everybody's wildin'
and people strippin' on the streets

289
00:12:26,413 --> 00:12:28,582
and, you know, having sex everywhere.

290
00:12:28,665 --> 00:12:30,709
But Freaknik was just a--
it was just a party.

291
00:12:30,792 --> 00:12:33,003
It was just a-a southern cookout, right?

292
00:12:33,670 --> 00:12:36,048
[Amadi]
<i>We needed to promote it, advertise it.</i>

293
00:12:36,131 --> 00:12:38,509
<i>We had to buy food and we,
of course, we would sell the food.</i>

294
00:12:38,592 --> 00:12:41,178
Hot dogs and potato chips
and, you know, that kinda stuff.

295
00:12:41,261 --> 00:12:42,262
Sodas and beer.

296
00:12:43,347 --> 00:12:46,266
[Sharon]
<i>We selected the spot for the first one.</i>

297
00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,521
<i>This just nondescript
area of Piedmont Park</i>

298
00:12:50,604 --> 00:12:53,732
<i>on the corner of
10th Avenue and Monroe Drive,</i>

299
00:12:54,316 --> 00:12:56,235
<i>that at that time was really pretty barren</i>

300
00:12:56,318 --> 00:12:58,570
and just a good spot we could meet there.

301
00:13:00,447 --> 00:13:03,283
[Monique] <i>We did a lot of work
to bring that Freaknik</i>

302
00:13:03,367 --> 00:13:05,160
that we had at Piedmont Park.

303
00:13:05,244 --> 00:13:09,456
I can remember...
gosh, reaching out for donations,

304
00:13:09,540 --> 00:13:12,000
reaching out for so much help,

305
00:13:12,084 --> 00:13:15,254
and the community was so supportive of us

306
00:13:15,337 --> 00:13:17,506
<i>and it was a success.</i>

307
00:13:17,589 --> 00:13:19,383
[♪ "Bustin' Loose" continues playing]

308
00:13:21,218 --> 00:13:24,638
We were like,
"Wow, did I do that?" [laughs]

309
00:13:24,721 --> 00:13:26,932
You know? But it-it worked.

310
00:13:27,015 --> 00:13:31,103
[Amadi] <i>What started out
as a necessity for us</i>

311
00:13:31,186 --> 00:13:34,022
as a fill-in spring break event

312
00:13:34,106 --> 00:13:36,650
<i>definitely became
something that filled a void</i>

313
00:13:36,733 --> 00:13:39,361
<i>for other Black college students
in the area.</i>

314
00:13:39,444 --> 00:13:41,029
[Emma]
<i>From that point on,</i>

315
00:13:41,113 --> 00:13:43,407
<i>they began to be
our marketing and our promotion,</i>

316
00:13:43,490 --> 00:13:45,450
<i>because everybody was like,
"When is the next one?</i>

317
00:13:45,534 --> 00:13:46,869
<i>When is the next one?"</i>

318
00:13:46,952 --> 00:13:48,120
<i>♪ I feel like bustin' loose ♪</i>

319
00:13:48,203 --> 00:13:50,247
College students can't go home
and after a while,

320
00:13:50,330 --> 00:13:52,624
<i>college students don't wanna go home.</i>

321
00:13:52,708 --> 00:13:54,084
Whoo!

322
00:13:54,168 --> 00:13:56,044
Yeah, Freaknik! [laughs]

323
00:13:56,128 --> 00:13:58,088
I'll be back, though.
I'm looking forward to coming back.

324
00:13:58,172 --> 00:14:00,257
[♪ upbeat percussive music playing]

325
00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:02,092
[Sharon]
<i>There was a transition period</i>

326
00:14:02,176 --> 00:14:04,511
when it was truly a school event.

327
00:14:05,721 --> 00:14:10,225
<i>But clearly this had morphed
into something far greater</i>

328
00:14:10,309 --> 00:14:11,977
<i>than we could have ever imagined.</i>

329
00:14:12,060 --> 00:14:15,439
[♪ "Welcome to the Party"
by John Ross playing]

330
00:14:20,235 --> 00:14:22,487
♪

331
00:14:28,202 --> 00:14:29,203
[camera shutter clicks]

332
00:14:31,163 --> 00:14:33,081
[interviewer]
How did it get to be such a big deal?

333
00:14:33,165 --> 00:14:36,293
I don't know. Maybe because it's
a Black environment down here.

334
00:14:36,376 --> 00:14:38,378
You know, you have
all the Black colleges down here.

335
00:14:38,462 --> 00:14:40,214
Everyone gets together
and enjoy themselves.

336
00:14:40,297 --> 00:14:42,049
[interviewer] But how do--
how does word get around?

337
00:14:42,132 --> 00:14:43,425
- I mean, it wasn't...
- I don't know, man.

338
00:14:43,509 --> 00:14:44,968
...all that big a deal five years ago.

339
00:14:45,052 --> 00:14:46,803
- Word of mouth.
- Word of mouth.

340
00:14:46,887 --> 00:14:48,013
- It's word of mouth.
- Yeah.

341
00:14:48,096 --> 00:14:50,599
1980s and the early 1990s,

342
00:14:50,682 --> 00:14:53,477
you have a... a movie renaissance,

343
00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:55,270
<i>a Black movie renaissance
that's taking place.</i>

344
00:14:55,354 --> 00:14:57,064
<i>I mean, you know, you gotta
think about</i> School Daze,

345
00:14:57,147 --> 00:14:58,398
<i>filmed right here in Atlanta, Georgia.</i>

346
00:14:58,482 --> 00:14:59,858
<i>You know, Spike Lee, Morehouse man.</i>

347
00:14:59,942 --> 00:15:01,401
You recognize me?

348
00:15:01,485 --> 00:15:02,945
Yeah, I've seen you online.

349
00:15:03,028 --> 00:15:04,404
Aren't you number one?

350
00:15:04,488 --> 00:15:06,156
Yeah, that's me. Half-Pint.

351
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:07,407
Gammite number one.

352
00:15:07,783 --> 00:15:09,576
- Gamma Phi Gamma.
- [laughs]

353
00:15:09,660 --> 00:15:11,078
Pleased to meet you.

354
00:15:11,161 --> 00:15:12,287
Nice to meet you.

355
00:15:12,371 --> 00:15:15,457
The appetite for Black college culture,

356
00:15:15,541 --> 00:15:21,004
at least mainstream,
was really ignited with <i>School Daze.</i>

357
00:15:21,505 --> 00:15:24,424
Black filmmakers
were really getting their start.

358
00:15:24,508 --> 00:15:26,301
<i>Of course, Spike Lee.</i>

359
00:15:26,385 --> 00:15:28,887
<i>And, you know, for me it was exciting,</i>

360
00:15:28,971 --> 00:15:32,182
so I got energized
about what was possible for me.

361
00:15:32,266 --> 00:15:34,017
[♪ peppy music playing]

362
00:15:34,101 --> 00:15:35,352
[indistinct chatter]

363
00:15:37,855 --> 00:15:40,232
[speaker] <i>But I mean I believe
that</i> School Daze,

364
00:15:40,315 --> 00:15:41,859
<i>that energy and that feel,</i>

365
00:15:41,942 --> 00:15:43,735
<i>was heavily influenced by Freaknik.</i>

366
00:15:44,403 --> 00:15:46,655
<i>Uh, because initially, I mean, that was,</i>

367
00:15:46,738 --> 00:15:52,703
<i>it was a college fraternity,
sorority, community energy.</i>

368
00:15:52,786 --> 00:15:54,538
[Maurice]
A Different World <i>is on TV.</i>

369
00:15:54,621 --> 00:15:57,791
<i>You begin to see this
kinda movement of Black culture</i>

370
00:15:57,875 --> 00:15:59,668
<i>that's being spewed
and assessed critically.</i>

371
00:15:59,751 --> 00:16:01,795
Freaknik is going to be live!

372
00:16:01,879 --> 00:16:06,008
Bobby Brown, Heavy D,
two days of nonstop music, food...

373
00:16:06,884 --> 00:16:07,885
[both] Men.

374
00:16:09,219 --> 00:16:12,222
What? Did she just say
she's going to Freaknik? My event?

375
00:16:12,306 --> 00:16:15,392
[chuckles] You know, that me
and my friends created in school

376
00:16:15,475 --> 00:16:17,519
<i>is now big enough and popular enough</i>

377
00:16:17,603 --> 00:16:20,272
<i>that someone on TV
is actually talking about it.</i>

378
00:16:20,355 --> 00:16:21,773
So your parents don't mind?

379
00:16:21,857 --> 00:16:24,151
Well, Mom was cool
until I mentioned the word "Freaknik."

380
00:16:24,234 --> 00:16:26,486
Now that was your first mistake.
You should have told her

381
00:16:26,570 --> 00:16:28,238
- it was just an outdoor concert.
- I did.

382
00:16:28,322 --> 00:16:30,824
[Ronda Racha Penrice]
A Different World <i>absolutely boosted</i>

383
00:16:30,908 --> 00:16:32,910
<i>Black college attendance</i>

384
00:16:32,993 --> 00:16:38,373
by presenting a positive light
of an all-Black experience.

385
00:16:40,417 --> 00:16:43,212
As somebody that went
to a traditionally white institution,

386
00:16:43,295 --> 00:16:46,673
it was refreshing for me
to see my people in college,

387
00:16:46,757 --> 00:16:49,968
my age celebrating on a stage like this.

388
00:16:50,052 --> 00:16:53,013
HBCUs became the catalyst

389
00:16:53,847 --> 00:16:56,350
for Freaknik to actually take place.

390
00:16:58,101 --> 00:17:00,979
[Kasim]
<i>It was organic, and that's why I think</i>

391
00:17:01,063 --> 00:17:04,858
that it grew and took off,
uh, and became an event

392
00:17:04,942 --> 00:17:07,236
<i>that attracted
hundreds of thousands of people.</i>

393
00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:09,905
[horns honking]

394
00:17:12,741 --> 00:17:14,535
[Sharon]
<i>So we have Black students coming in</i>

395
00:17:14,618 --> 00:17:17,829
<i>every third weekend
in-in April for our gathering</i>

396
00:17:17,913 --> 00:17:19,957
that's for and about us.

397
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,918
Yo, what's up? This is Lez Moné
once again coming to you live

398
00:17:23,001 --> 00:17:25,587
from the AU Center with Freaknik.
And who we got here?

399
00:17:25,671 --> 00:17:27,840
My name is Wesley Parkman
from Morehouse College,

400
00:17:27,923 --> 00:17:29,842
originally from Waterbury, Connecticut.

401
00:17:29,925 --> 00:17:32,678
[Marc] <i>My brother
went to Morehouse in the '80s,</i>

402
00:17:32,761 --> 00:17:34,513
<i>so I had been hearing about Freaknik</i>

403
00:17:34,596 --> 00:17:36,265
<i>as long as I've been
hearing about Morehouse.</i>

404
00:17:36,348 --> 00:17:38,392
And when he talked about Freaknik,

405
00:17:38,475 --> 00:17:40,602
he talked about it
like it was a fun thing to do.

406
00:17:40,686 --> 00:17:43,063
He didn't talk about it like it was wild
or like it was crazy.

407
00:17:43,146 --> 00:17:45,440
He just said, "Yo, spring break,
that's where you need to be."

408
00:17:45,524 --> 00:17:48,277
<i>He said that spring break
was when you had--</i>

409
00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:50,237
<i>uh, girls were gonna be out there,</i>

410
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,739
<i>great music was gonna be out there,
and if you wanted to pledge,</i>

411
00:17:52,823 --> 00:17:55,117
<i>you better start knowing
who those brothers were</i>

412
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:56,577
<i>who were outside in these parks.</i>

413
00:17:56,660 --> 00:17:58,495
<i>'Cause those are the same brothers
that was gonna decide</i>

414
00:17:58,579 --> 00:17:59,663
<i>whether you made line or not.</i>

415
00:17:59,746 --> 00:18:02,749
So for me,
Freaknik was like an entry point

416
00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:04,501
into the Black cultural experience,

417
00:18:04,585 --> 00:18:06,086
into the Black Greek letter experience.

418
00:18:07,296 --> 00:18:10,465
[Emma] <i>I-I think initially,
when we first started it,</i>

419
00:18:10,549 --> 00:18:15,262
<i>our draw card was the fact
that this was a Black picnic.</i>

420
00:18:15,345 --> 00:18:17,764
You know, every--
we all knew about Daytona Beach,

421
00:18:17,848 --> 00:18:19,474
<i>we knew about some of the other things,</i>

422
00:18:19,558 --> 00:18:22,186
<i>but they were not put on by us</i>

423
00:18:22,269 --> 00:18:25,772
<i>or the people who you heard
attending look like us.</i>

424
00:18:25,856 --> 00:18:29,818
<i>So here we are
in a, uh, historical Black colleges</i>

425
00:18:29,902 --> 00:18:32,487
and we're saying,
"We gonna celebrate ourselves,

426
00:18:32,571 --> 00:18:34,156
"we gonna celebrate with ourselves.

427
00:18:34,239 --> 00:18:35,699
<i>"Now you welcome to come,</i>

428
00:18:35,782 --> 00:18:37,743
<i>but we're designing this for us."</i>

429
00:18:39,494 --> 00:18:45,250
[Shanti] <i>When I saw people flying in
from DC and New York and LA,</i>

430
00:18:45,334 --> 00:18:48,086
<i>I swear it was at least several
thousand people at Washington Park.</i>

431
00:18:48,170 --> 00:18:49,671
I had never seen anything like it.

432
00:18:49,755 --> 00:18:50,964
It was like a movie.

433
00:18:51,048 --> 00:18:53,634
And I was like, "Oh, okay,
this is bigger than Atlanta."

434
00:18:53,717 --> 00:18:56,428
[♪ "I Got Cha Opin' Remix"
by Black Moon playing]

435
00:18:57,346 --> 00:18:58,680
<i>♪ Yeah ♪</i>

436
00:18:59,556 --> 00:19:01,391
<i>♪ Original crooks ♪</i>

437
00:19:01,475 --> 00:19:05,020
I heard about Freaknik when I was young,

438
00:19:05,103 --> 00:19:06,897
and I had cousins that went to Morehouse.

439
00:19:07,981 --> 00:19:10,859
<i>It was like, "I can't wait
to get older so I can try to go."</i>

440
00:19:11,944 --> 00:19:14,196
<i>And so what ended up happening is</i>

441
00:19:14,279 --> 00:19:16,240
I shot dice a lot when I was in college.

442
00:19:16,323 --> 00:19:17,574
[dice clatters]

443
00:19:17,658 --> 00:19:19,993
<i>Rest in peace, Chris Wilson.</i>

444
00:19:20,077 --> 00:19:21,495
<i>His father Porterfield Wilson,</i>

445
00:19:21,578 --> 00:19:23,497
<i>he had a car dealership in Detroit,</i>

446
00:19:23,580 --> 00:19:25,874
<i>and they used to have some big dice games.</i>

447
00:19:25,958 --> 00:19:27,918
So I went to one of the dice games,

448
00:19:28,001 --> 00:19:29,461
and I won a down payment

449
00:19:29,545 --> 00:19:32,256
<i>to a 10th anniversary edition Honda.</i>

450
00:19:32,881 --> 00:19:36,927
<i>The next day,
Ray Jackson, Jimmy King and I</i>

451
00:19:37,010 --> 00:19:39,096
<i>got on the road and drove it to Freaknik.</i>

452
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,267
[♪ "Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz"
by Lost Boyz playing]

453
00:19:43,350 --> 00:19:45,769
[Too Short] <i>Everybody drove
to fuckin' Freaknik.</i>

454
00:19:45,853 --> 00:19:46,854
<i>Well, look at the map.</i>

455
00:19:46,937 --> 00:19:48,772
All the cities, heck,
you just jump the car.

456
00:19:48,856 --> 00:19:50,732
<i>"Man, we going to Atlanta.
I ain't got no flight.</i>

457
00:19:50,816 --> 00:19:54,152
<i>Don't need a flight.
Let's get into one car and go. Let's go."</i>

458
00:19:54,236 --> 00:19:55,988
<i>♪ Ain't nuttin' wrong with
puffin' on lai ♪</i>

459
00:19:56,071 --> 00:19:58,574
<i>♪ And if you're with me
let me hear you say "right" ♪</i>

460
00:19:58,657 --> 00:20:00,701
<i>- ♪ Right, ri-right ♪
- ♪ Now a-- now-- now a dayz ♪</i>

461
00:20:00,784 --> 00:20:02,744
<i>- ♪ Niggaz frontin' like they ill ♪
- ♪ Like they ill ♪</i>

462
00:20:02,828 --> 00:20:04,288
<i>♪ Now bustin' caps and
got a muthafkin'-- ♪</i>

463
00:20:04,371 --> 00:20:06,623
[Jermaine]
<i>It was almost like a car show, too.</i>

464
00:20:06,707 --> 00:20:09,585
<i>The Suzuki Samurais was big
at that particular point in time.</i>

465
00:20:09,668 --> 00:20:11,795
<i>Had the Suzuki Samurai crew.</i>

466
00:20:11,879 --> 00:20:13,964
<i>Whatever cars was goin',</i>

467
00:20:14,047 --> 00:20:17,301
they came to the city to show off.

468
00:20:17,384 --> 00:20:20,512
So everybody knew the assignment.

469
00:20:20,596 --> 00:20:23,098
Everybody was riding around like,

470
00:20:23,182 --> 00:20:27,060
you know, "I just got these wheels
on my car, you need to see this."

471
00:20:27,144 --> 00:20:28,979
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

472
00:20:29,062 --> 00:20:30,063
[tires screeching]

473
00:20:32,858 --> 00:20:34,401
[engines revving]

474
00:20:34,484 --> 00:20:36,570
♪

475
00:20:40,282 --> 00:20:41,575
[horn honking]

476
00:20:42,284 --> 00:20:44,161
Rims were poppin' back then.

477
00:20:44,244 --> 00:20:46,997
You know that whole system, you know,

478
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,416
gettin' your car done inside
with the wood grain

479
00:20:49,499 --> 00:20:50,792
and the piping seats, the whole nine,

480
00:20:50,876 --> 00:20:52,669
so it was a big, crazy culture.

481
00:20:52,753 --> 00:20:55,380
<i>So getting rims was a necessity.</i>

482
00:20:55,464 --> 00:20:57,174
<i>It was like getting
a new pair of sneakers.</i>

483
00:20:59,092 --> 00:21:00,928
<i>When I got to the Rim Shop was I met Greg</i>

484
00:21:01,011 --> 00:21:04,056
<i>when I first came here in '91
and me and him got cool.</i>

485
00:21:04,139 --> 00:21:07,059
So he was like, "Yo, um, I saw this spot

486
00:21:07,142 --> 00:21:09,478
"in Peachtree and Ralph McGill downtown.

487
00:21:09,561 --> 00:21:11,772
<i>You know, we should put
the shop over there."</i>

488
00:21:13,649 --> 00:21:15,108
That was gonna be the whole thing.

489
00:21:15,192 --> 00:21:17,361
<i>Rim shop upstairs, studio downstairs.</i>

490
00:21:18,237 --> 00:21:19,404
<i>Talking about the Freaknik,</i>

491
00:21:19,488 --> 00:21:22,157
the Rim Shop was a place
where you came to.

492
00:21:22,241 --> 00:21:23,325
When you landed in Atlanta,

493
00:21:23,408 --> 00:21:24,952
you wanted to see
where the Rim Shop was at.

494
00:21:25,035 --> 00:21:27,162
It was a landmark, you know,
people wanted to see it.

495
00:21:27,829 --> 00:21:29,915
There's mad flavor out here.
We just been chillin'.

496
00:21:29,998 --> 00:21:31,542
We went to
Erick Sermon's house last night.

497
00:21:31,625 --> 00:21:33,418
He had a nice little bash goin' on.

498
00:21:33,502 --> 00:21:37,589
The Rim Shop was a rim shop
that didn't sell rims.

499
00:21:37,673 --> 00:21:39,049
[snickers] You know what I mean?

500
00:21:39,132 --> 00:21:42,678
It was really a meeting hole
for Black Hollywood, you know?

501
00:21:42,761 --> 00:21:43,971
You would take your car there,

502
00:21:44,054 --> 00:21:46,098
and it'd take you three months to get rims

503
00:21:46,181 --> 00:21:47,808
and you might see your car at a party.

504
00:21:47,891 --> 00:21:49,434
[laughs]

505
00:21:49,935 --> 00:21:52,729
[Erick Sermon]
<i>During Freaknik, stars start coming in.</i>

506
00:21:52,813 --> 00:21:55,899
<i>You would see Tupac
in the Rim Shop, David Justice.</i>

507
00:21:55,983 --> 00:22:00,195
But in the back of the Rim Shop,
you would also see T.I.

508
00:22:00,279 --> 00:22:04,658
<i>You would see, uh, Goodie Mob or OutKast.
Usher Raymond.</i>

509
00:22:04,741 --> 00:22:06,743
These are all people
before they got famous

510
00:22:06,827 --> 00:22:08,662
was at the Rim Shop, in the back of it.

511
00:22:08,745 --> 00:22:11,582
♪

512
00:22:11,665 --> 00:22:13,292
[Jalen]
<i>So I, basically, during Freaknik,</i>

513
00:22:13,375 --> 00:22:16,003
either stayed at the Rim Shop
and slept on the floor

514
00:22:16,545 --> 00:22:18,797
or slept at my cousin's apartment
on the floor.

515
00:22:18,881 --> 00:22:21,300
We ain't had no hotel rooms.
It was all in the parking lot.

516
00:22:22,634 --> 00:22:24,386
<i>So when you talk about
parking lot pimpin',</i>

517
00:22:24,469 --> 00:22:25,679
<i>you gotta think about it this way.</i>

518
00:22:25,762 --> 00:22:29,725
There are people who would
go in on like a U-Haul,

519
00:22:29,808 --> 00:22:31,476
stay in the U-Haul,

520
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,855
and then if you find
a girl or a guy that had a room,

521
00:22:34,938 --> 00:22:37,107
then you hoped to end up in their room.

522
00:22:37,191 --> 00:22:38,817
- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]

523
00:22:38,901 --> 00:22:42,237
[newscaster] <i>Black College Spring Break
is thumping once again.</i>

524
00:22:42,321 --> 00:22:45,657
<i>Thousands have come
by the carloads with cameras.</i>

525
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,369
<i>Cory Lewis and nine of his friends
from Dover, Delaware</i>

526
00:22:49,453 --> 00:22:52,539
<i>chipped in to rent an RV
for the rolling party.</i>

527
00:22:52,623 --> 00:22:54,917
We had more than this,
they just backed out on us.

528
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,711
[speaker 1] So you get about 20,
you know 10 of 'em gonna leave.

529
00:22:57,794 --> 00:23:01,131
Yeah, we had about 20,
so 10 of 'em backed out.

530
00:23:01,465 --> 00:23:03,133
It cost us $125 a piece,

531
00:23:04,009 --> 00:23:07,304
um, and plannin' on spending enough
to make us have fun.

532
00:23:10,891 --> 00:23:13,227
[interviewer] You drove how many miles?
You drove what, a thousand?

533
00:23:13,310 --> 00:23:15,145
- 583 miles exactly.
- [speaker 2] Seven hours.

534
00:23:15,229 --> 00:23:16,813
- [interviewer] Is it--
- Eight hours.

535
00:23:16,897 --> 00:23:18,524
[interviewer]
Is it worth it driving all this way

536
00:23:18,607 --> 00:23:20,776
just for a couple days and then you
gotta turn around and go back?

537
00:23:20,859 --> 00:23:22,819
[speaker 2]
Look around, look around, look around.

538
00:23:22,903 --> 00:23:23,904
It's worth it.

539
00:23:25,239 --> 00:23:27,449
[♪ upbeat music playing]

540
00:23:30,619 --> 00:23:32,704
Okay, right here,
my friend, we have Tiffany.

541
00:23:32,788 --> 00:23:33,997
She's from Milwaukee.

542
00:23:34,665 --> 00:23:36,875
Don't she look good?
She got the nice haircut.

543
00:23:36,959 --> 00:23:39,711
- [Tiffany chuckles]
- She looks gorgeous, baby, look.

544
00:23:39,795 --> 00:23:43,507
Honestly speaking, Freaknik really started

545
00:23:43,590 --> 00:23:46,218
the evolution of Atlanta

546
00:23:46,301 --> 00:23:49,471
being this hub of fashion, of music,

547
00:23:49,555 --> 00:23:53,392
<i>of this culture of beautiful Blackness.</i>

548
00:23:54,059 --> 00:23:58,438
If you look at a Freaknik photo album
from the '80s through the '90s,

549
00:23:58,522 --> 00:24:00,607
you will literally get the kind of, like,

550
00:24:00,691 --> 00:24:04,528
<i>chronology of Black fashion
and Black hair during that time.</i>

551
00:24:05,195 --> 00:24:06,488
<i>You saw brothers with waves,</i>

552
00:24:06,572 --> 00:24:09,241
<i>high-top fades, baldies like Onyx.</i>

553
00:24:09,324 --> 00:24:10,993
It was all the things
you would expect to see,

554
00:24:11,076 --> 00:24:12,286
and sisters, the same thing.

555
00:24:12,369 --> 00:24:13,662
- Hey.
- Hi.

556
00:24:13,745 --> 00:24:16,039
[Sharon] <i>We're either
pressing our hair, blow drying our hair,</i>

557
00:24:16,123 --> 00:24:17,875
<i>curling irons.</i>

558
00:24:17,958 --> 00:24:19,501
We were really into feathered.

559
00:24:19,585 --> 00:24:20,961
Look at that hairstyle.

560
00:24:21,044 --> 00:24:22,254
[laughter]

561
00:24:22,337 --> 00:24:25,757
[Adamma McKinnon] <i>At the time,
everybody was on the-the finger waves,</i>

562
00:24:25,841 --> 00:24:27,092
<i>the updo.</i>

563
00:24:27,176 --> 00:24:30,304
<i>The bigger the hair,
the harder the hair.</i>

564
00:24:30,387 --> 00:24:33,849
I mean, literally everybody carried
around a bottle of Pump It Up

565
00:24:33,932 --> 00:24:36,143
to make sure that
the hair stayed in place.

566
00:24:36,226 --> 00:24:38,145
And you wasn't ashamed
of it at all, either.

567
00:24:39,313 --> 00:24:40,939
[Rasheeda]
<i>We ain't play about our hair then</i>

568
00:24:41,023 --> 00:24:42,441
<i>and we don't play about that shit now,</i>

569
00:24:42,524 --> 00:24:45,611
so it's always been
to the forefront of keeping it laid.

570
00:24:46,987 --> 00:24:48,322
[Adamma]
<i>And as far as the jewelry,</i>

571
00:24:48,405 --> 00:24:51,450
<i>the bigger, the bolder,
herringbone chain.</i>

572
00:24:51,533 --> 00:24:53,785
And if you really wanted to stand out,

573
00:24:53,869 --> 00:24:55,871
not only did you have the chain,
you had the set.

574
00:24:55,954 --> 00:24:58,540
<i>The bracelet, the anklet, and the chain.</i>

575
00:24:59,249 --> 00:25:01,793
[Rasheeda] <i>I worked at Greenbriar Mall
at Merry Go Round.</i>

576
00:25:01,877 --> 00:25:03,921
So we had all the drip,

577
00:25:04,004 --> 00:25:06,215
from the Maurice Malone to Jarbo.

578
00:25:06,298 --> 00:25:08,258
<i>Damaged suits, used suits.</i>

579
00:25:08,342 --> 00:25:11,011
<i>Karl Kani, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo,</i>

580
00:25:11,094 --> 00:25:12,554
two-button with the collar,

581
00:25:12,638 --> 00:25:14,097
booty shorts with the Air Max.

582
00:25:14,306 --> 00:25:16,225
You was lit, okay? [laughs]

583
00:25:17,017 --> 00:25:19,811
[Kawan "KP" Prather]
<i>Js were always 1,000% up.</i>

584
00:25:19,895 --> 00:25:22,689
<i>Cross Colours, it was still
coming out of the prep stage.</i>

585
00:25:22,773 --> 00:25:25,609
So you'd be like Tritons
and tennis sweaters,

586
00:25:25,692 --> 00:25:27,569
big shorts and Benetton bags.

587
00:25:28,070 --> 00:25:30,781
[Ronda] <i>You know,
the dress wasn't as provocative.</i>

588
00:25:30,864 --> 00:25:32,950
<i>Like, I had on some short-shorts,</i>

589
00:25:33,033 --> 00:25:35,911
which for Freaknik I was overdressed.

590
00:25:35,994 --> 00:25:38,664
But, like, for my family,

591
00:25:38,747 --> 00:25:41,124
"Uh-uh, no.
Please go put some clothes on."

592
00:25:41,208 --> 00:25:43,919
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

593
00:25:44,002 --> 00:25:45,921
[indistinct chatter]

594
00:25:46,004 --> 00:25:48,173
You know, as young kids
we were driving around Atlanta

595
00:25:48,257 --> 00:25:49,550
trying to find out what was happening.

596
00:25:50,300 --> 00:25:51,635
[Jermaine]
<i>Music was goin'.</i>

597
00:25:51,718 --> 00:25:53,720
It was music coming
from every different direction.

598
00:25:53,804 --> 00:25:56,181
[♪ pop song playing]

599
00:25:56,265 --> 00:25:58,517
[♪ hip-pop song playing]

600
00:25:58,976 --> 00:26:00,435
[indistinct chatter]

601
00:26:01,937 --> 00:26:03,355
- Kent State in the house.
- [horn honks]

602
00:26:03,438 --> 00:26:05,107
[DJ Nabs]
<i>Piedmont Park was a hot spot.</i>

603
00:26:05,190 --> 00:26:06,817
V-103 was the station here.

604
00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:09,236
[radio host]
<i>Atlanta, everybody's station, V-103...</i>

605
00:26:09,945 --> 00:26:13,907
V-103 was like the dominant
heritage station in the market

606
00:26:13,991 --> 00:26:16,952
from back in the disco days
all the way up through the R&B days.

607
00:26:18,453 --> 00:26:20,622
[Shanti] <i>There was definitely
a time where V-103</i>

608
00:26:20,706 --> 00:26:22,082
would not play hip-hop.

609
00:26:22,165 --> 00:26:23,876
They only played R&B music.

610
00:26:23,959 --> 00:26:25,961
[Greg Street]
<i>It was just like on the weekends.</i>

611
00:26:26,044 --> 00:26:27,963
<i>They had a rap show
on the weekends on Friday nights,</i>

612
00:26:28,046 --> 00:26:30,465
<i>I think with, with Darren Fierce called</i>
The Fresh Party.

613
00:26:30,549 --> 00:26:32,426
<i>The Fresh Party,</i> Fox 36.

614
00:26:32,509 --> 00:26:34,011
Jerry "Smokin'" B having a great time.

615
00:26:34,094 --> 00:26:35,179
Come on and join us.

616
00:26:35,262 --> 00:26:37,139
And that's when they would
play like the Kilos,

617
00:26:37,222 --> 00:26:39,641
<i>and the Raheems,
and the Success-n-Effects,</i>

618
00:26:39,725 --> 00:26:42,603
<i>and the Eric B.'s and the,
the Big Daddy Kanes,</i>

619
00:26:42,686 --> 00:26:45,606
<i>and LL Cool Js, and all the records
that was poppin' back then.</i>

620
00:26:46,315 --> 00:26:48,317
New York Mix, New York records.

621
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,821
It was no such thing as a Atlanta artist
being played on the, on the radio.

622
00:26:52,905 --> 00:26:55,490
It wasn't even Atlanta DJs on the radio.

623
00:26:55,574 --> 00:26:57,659
And a lot of folks here,
we had issues with that.

624
00:26:57,743 --> 00:26:59,870
They wasn't even really fuckin' with us.

625
00:26:59,953 --> 00:27:01,079
[horns honking]

626
00:27:01,163 --> 00:27:03,165
<i>But Freaknik helped loosen that up.</i>

627
00:27:03,248 --> 00:27:05,000
[record scratches]

628
00:27:05,083 --> 00:27:06,126
<i>♪ Jump, jump ♪</i>

629
00:27:06,210 --> 00:27:08,587
<i>♪ You should know, you should
know that, ah, Kris Kross... ♪</i>

630
00:27:08,670 --> 00:27:10,297
When Kris Kross broke in '92,

631
00:27:10,380 --> 00:27:12,382
that opened the door
for So So Def the label.

632
00:27:12,466 --> 00:27:17,429
So by '93, So So Def
now had Da Brat and Xscape.

633
00:27:17,513 --> 00:27:19,848
[♪ "Just Kickin' It" by Xscape playing]

634
00:27:19,932 --> 00:27:22,893
[♪ vocalizing]

635
00:27:22,976 --> 00:27:26,480
[DJ Nabs] <i>So this is all kinda during
the same time as Freaknik is rising</i>

636
00:27:26,563 --> 00:27:28,524
along with
the radio stations coming in now

637
00:27:28,607 --> 00:27:32,110
where the city is having
just more of a voice totally.

638
00:27:32,194 --> 00:27:34,613
Records being produced,
a station to play it,

639
00:27:34,696 --> 00:27:38,784
DJs in the club supported by the radio
that's promoting the clubs.

640
00:27:38,867 --> 00:27:40,744
Prior to, you didn't have that.

641
00:27:41,578 --> 00:27:44,081
<i>Like, the structure
around Atlanta was building</i>

642
00:27:44,164 --> 00:27:45,624
<i>is what it felt like.</i>

643
00:27:45,707 --> 00:27:48,710
[♪ "It's Going Down" by SOURWAH
feat. Maya Miko playing]

644
00:27:51,839 --> 00:27:54,758
[Uncle Luke] <i>Coming to Atlanta,
it wasn't no music scene,</i>

645
00:27:54,842 --> 00:27:57,761
it was a underground cult going on

646
00:27:57,845 --> 00:28:00,681
of guys doing bass music,
and then, you know,

647
00:28:00,764 --> 00:28:04,434
JD then came and start--
JD started doing music.

648
00:28:04,518 --> 00:28:07,020
[♪ "It's Going Down" continues playing]

649
00:28:09,356 --> 00:28:13,151
[KP] J <i>ermaine started getting
popular earlier than all of us.</i>

650
00:28:13,235 --> 00:28:15,612
He'd been on the road
with, like, the Fresh Fest.

651
00:28:15,696 --> 00:28:18,365
He was kinda like
the most professional artist in Atlanta.

652
00:28:18,448 --> 00:28:19,992
♪

653
00:28:20,075 --> 00:28:23,161
[Lil Jon] <i>He's always,
and still to this day, about uplifting</i>

654
00:28:23,245 --> 00:28:24,496
the Atlanta culture

655
00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:26,164
and preserving the Atlanta culture

656
00:28:26,623 --> 00:28:29,543
and showcasing Atlanta to the world.

657
00:28:30,669 --> 00:28:32,254
[Marc]
<i>As Freaknik is getting bigger,</i>

658
00:28:32,337 --> 00:28:35,132
<i>you saw people like Jermaine Dupri
use it as an opportunity</i>

659
00:28:35,215 --> 00:28:39,136
to kind of introduce
more of the world to Southern hip-hop.

660
00:28:40,846 --> 00:28:43,599
Jermaine Dupri's
like the Dr. Dre of Atlanta,

661
00:28:43,682 --> 00:28:45,809
like the Diddy of Atlanta, for real.

662
00:28:45,893 --> 00:28:49,438
[Killer Mike] <i>Jermaine Dupri's one of the
most powerful human beings I've ever met.</i>

663
00:28:49,521 --> 00:28:52,357
<i>And it's not because
he exerts power over other people,</i>

664
00:28:52,441 --> 00:28:54,818
he empowers other people.

665
00:28:54,902 --> 00:28:58,197
What he did for
two 12-year-old kids in Kris Kross,

666
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,240
<i>what he did for Da Brat,</i>

667
00:29:00,324 --> 00:29:03,035
<i>and what that did
for female MCs being taken seriously,</i>

668
00:29:03,118 --> 00:29:05,245
<i>what he did for Xscape and Jagged Edge.</i>

669
00:29:05,329 --> 00:29:07,831
You know, I think that Jermaine's story

670
00:29:07,915 --> 00:29:10,834
is linked to this city,
it's linked to music,

671
00:29:10,918 --> 00:29:12,836
but I think it's very much
linked to, you know,

672
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:14,505
you went to Freaknik,
you seeing that sign.

673
00:29:14,588 --> 00:29:18,050
♪

674
00:29:20,260 --> 00:29:22,221
[Jermaine]
<i>So, yeah, this-this block right here</i>

675
00:29:22,304 --> 00:29:25,015
was very, very instrumental in Freaknik,

676
00:29:25,098 --> 00:29:30,729
um, because this is the block
before you actually get to Piedmont Park.

677
00:29:31,855 --> 00:29:34,149
So all of this was poppin'.

678
00:29:34,566 --> 00:29:35,859
[shouting]

679
00:29:38,695 --> 00:29:40,531
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

680
00:29:41,823 --> 00:29:45,577
[Jermaine] <i>Every bit of this was,
like, just wall-to-wall people.</i>

681
00:29:45,911 --> 00:29:48,205
[indistinct chatter]

682
00:29:48,288 --> 00:29:49,665
[yells]

683
00:29:51,041 --> 00:29:53,669
This whole area was full.
Not like a pocket.

684
00:29:53,752 --> 00:29:56,755
<i>Like, every piece of ground out here</i>

685
00:29:57,214 --> 00:29:59,174
<i>was covered with Negroes.</i>

686
00:29:59,842 --> 00:30:00,843
[Jermaine laughs]

687
00:30:00,926 --> 00:30:02,761
[cheering]

688
00:30:03,762 --> 00:30:06,265
[Jermaine] <i>We had some
of the biggest artists of that time</i>

689
00:30:06,348 --> 00:30:08,141
<i>all performing right here
in Piedmont Park.</i>

690
00:30:08,225 --> 00:30:09,601
<i>Craig Mack, Biggie.</i>

691
00:30:09,685 --> 00:30:13,814
This is where the gumbo
of Freaknik was happening, right here.

692
00:30:13,897 --> 00:30:14,898
It was huge.

693
00:30:14,982 --> 00:30:17,067
- [crowd cheering]
- [host] Atlanta!

694
00:30:17,150 --> 00:30:19,236
[♪ "Dreams" by
The Notorious B.I.G. playing]

695
00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:21,613
[rapping]
<i>♪ Everybody move your body ♪</i>

696
00:30:21,697 --> 00:30:24,324
<i>♪ Whitney Houston boostin' from Bobby ♪</i>

697
00:30:24,408 --> 00:30:26,952
<i>♪ As I bust the cherry of
Monica and Terri ♪</i>

698
00:30:27,035 --> 00:30:29,621
<i>♪ Back shots to Chaka,
I know that pussy hairy ♪</i>

699
00:30:29,705 --> 00:30:31,874
<i>♪ Sade, ooh, I know that pussy tight ♪</i>

700
00:30:31,957 --> 00:30:33,292
<i>♪ Smacked Tina Turner... ♪</i>

701
00:30:33,375 --> 00:30:34,960
[♪ rapping, song fade out]

702
00:30:38,672 --> 00:30:41,550
[♪ scatting]

703
00:30:41,633 --> 00:30:43,468
- Yo!
- [Uncle Luke] My man, 50 grand.

704
00:30:43,552 --> 00:30:45,554
- What's up, my brother?
- [Jermaine] What's happenin'?

705
00:30:45,637 --> 00:30:46,638
Alright, man.

706
00:30:46,722 --> 00:30:48,390
This is the first time
I've been here, man.

707
00:30:48,473 --> 00:30:50,225
- Welcome. [laughs]
- Nice studio.

708
00:30:50,309 --> 00:30:53,061
The-the-the house that J built.

709
00:30:53,145 --> 00:30:54,563
Yeah, yeah, the house that I built.

710
00:30:54,646 --> 00:30:56,815
So-so, we talkin' about
this Freaknik thing, huh?

711
00:30:56,899 --> 00:30:58,400
- Mm-hmm.
- [Jermaine] You know, what's crazy?

712
00:30:58,483 --> 00:31:02,279
Was I... I wasn't old enough
to be a part of the actual...

713
00:31:02,738 --> 00:31:04,239
Festivities.

714
00:31:04,573 --> 00:31:07,659
[Jermaine] Yeah, the festivities,
the Luke festivities

715
00:31:07,743 --> 00:31:09,119
in the beginning.

716
00:31:09,203 --> 00:31:11,205
So what year was your first year?

717
00:31:11,288 --> 00:31:13,749
[Jermaine] It had to be like '93, '94.

718
00:31:14,166 --> 00:31:15,709
So you missed-- You--

719
00:31:15,792 --> 00:31:19,129
What you missed was the-the beginning
of it all, the transition.

720
00:31:19,213 --> 00:31:21,131
- Yeah. Yeah.
- You know when--

721
00:31:21,215 --> 00:31:25,135
When it was, "Okay,
the little Greek thing in the park,"

722
00:31:25,219 --> 00:31:27,804
and then, "Now we want
to elevate this thing,

723
00:31:27,888 --> 00:31:30,557
take it to another level
and bring the freaky part of it."

724
00:31:30,641 --> 00:31:31,642
[Jermaine] Hmm.

725
00:31:31,725 --> 00:31:33,685
[Uncle Luke] If you gon' have
a freak show party

726
00:31:33,769 --> 00:31:35,479
or a freak anything party,

727
00:31:35,562 --> 00:31:37,356
you know, you gotta have us.

728
00:31:37,439 --> 00:31:39,274
[♪ "Me So Horny"
by The 2 Live Crew playing]

729
00:31:39,358 --> 00:31:41,485
<i>♪ Me love you long time ♪</i>

730
00:31:41,568 --> 00:31:43,946
Atlanta embraced us from word "go"

731
00:31:44,029 --> 00:31:46,198
and that's why Freaknik was so great,

732
00:31:46,281 --> 00:31:50,577
because Atlanta is the,
is the Black Mecca of the South.

733
00:31:50,661 --> 00:31:55,290
Everything pretty much
starts and end in Atlanta.

734
00:31:55,374 --> 00:31:58,168
I truly believe that at some point,

735
00:31:58,252 --> 00:32:02,172
you know, the South will
control hip-hop, you know,

736
00:32:02,256 --> 00:32:04,466
and-and eventually
ended up having to make--

737
00:32:04,550 --> 00:32:06,301
- they made me look like a genius.
- Oh, yeah.

738
00:32:06,385 --> 00:32:09,054
- Y'all made me look like a genius.
- You are, you are a genius.

739
00:32:09,137 --> 00:32:11,306
[camera shutter clicking]

740
00:32:11,390 --> 00:32:13,934
- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]

741
00:32:17,020 --> 00:32:19,064
[speaker]
Freaknik, it's been growing every year.

742
00:32:19,147 --> 00:32:20,566
You know, I've been here for four years.

743
00:32:20,649 --> 00:32:22,568
As long as they just come out here
and have a nice time,

744
00:32:22,651 --> 00:32:25,153
enjoy themselves, mingle among the crowds,

745
00:32:25,237 --> 00:32:26,488
then everything should be alright.

746
00:32:26,572 --> 00:32:28,323
[laughter]

747
00:32:28,407 --> 00:32:30,909
[Uncle Luke]
<i>In '93, it was a nice, peaceful party.</i>

748
00:32:30,993 --> 00:32:32,578
People walking down the street,

749
00:32:32,661 --> 00:32:34,830
you know, and all this beautiful stuff.

750
00:32:34,913 --> 00:32:36,456
- [whoops]
- [indistinct chatter]

751
00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:38,584
[Uncle Luke]
<i>You got this little innocent Freaknik,</i>

752
00:32:38,667 --> 00:32:41,879
then you got this
crazy motherfucker in Miami, me...

753
00:32:41,962 --> 00:32:44,464
- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]

754
00:32:44,548 --> 00:32:48,802
[Uncle Luke] <i>...doing all these
sexually driven, wild-ass songs,</i>

755
00:32:48,886 --> 00:32:50,512
screamin', "We want some pussy"

756
00:32:50,596 --> 00:32:52,890
and "Shake that ass, bitch,"
"Let me see what you got,"

757
00:32:52,973 --> 00:32:55,058
"Pop that pussy," "Doo-doo brown."

758
00:32:55,142 --> 00:32:56,185
<i>♪ Pop that pussy ♪</i>

759
00:32:56,268 --> 00:32:58,604
<i>♪ Pop, pop that pussy, baby ♪</i>

760
00:32:59,104 --> 00:33:02,733
And then you got these sexually
charged-up college students.

761
00:33:02,816 --> 00:33:06,236
I mean, anybody, you know,
that goes to college,

762
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:08,447
you know, that's the first thing
you think about, is sex.

763
00:33:08,530 --> 00:33:10,949
♪

764
00:33:11,033 --> 00:33:15,871
<i>And so you add all that into this nice,
beautiful city called Atlanta</i>

765
00:33:15,954 --> 00:33:17,497
<i>where all these Black people</i>

766
00:33:18,290 --> 00:33:21,001
<i>and it became a perfect storm.</i>

767
00:33:21,084 --> 00:33:23,587
♪

768
00:33:23,670 --> 00:33:27,841
[KP] <i>Luke is basically a soundtrack
for what Freaknik feels like,</i>

769
00:33:27,925 --> 00:33:30,302
because where he came,
came the freak shit.

770
00:33:31,136 --> 00:33:32,679
So, you got Freaknik,

771
00:33:32,763 --> 00:33:34,765
why wouldn't you have
the king of freak shit there?

772
00:33:34,848 --> 00:33:38,227
♪

773
00:33:38,310 --> 00:33:39,520
Luke did a lot of chantin',

774
00:33:39,603 --> 00:33:41,355
which made you want to
just get up and be like,

775
00:33:41,438 --> 00:33:42,523
"Yeah, freak them girls!"

776
00:33:42,606 --> 00:33:43,941
The shit felt good.

777
00:33:44,024 --> 00:33:45,025
Just be honest.

778
00:33:45,108 --> 00:33:47,653
- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]

779
00:33:49,446 --> 00:33:51,198
Regardless of what was going on,

780
00:33:51,281 --> 00:33:54,535
it made you just feel
like having fuckin' fun.

781
00:33:55,577 --> 00:33:58,497
[Kenny] <i>All the things that were poppin'
in Atlanta was influenced</i>

782
00:33:58,580 --> 00:34:00,624
by 2 Live Crew
and what Luke was doing in Florida.

783
00:34:00,707 --> 00:34:03,377
♪

784
00:34:03,460 --> 00:34:06,547
[Uncle Luke] <i>I think I had a large
influence on more people coming</i>

785
00:34:06,630 --> 00:34:08,799
because it became word of mouth.

786
00:34:08,882 --> 00:34:10,217
You know, word of mouth is,

787
00:34:10,300 --> 00:34:12,845
"Man, they got this
wild, crazy, freaky party."

788
00:34:12,928 --> 00:34:14,805
Then now on top of it,

789
00:34:14,888 --> 00:34:17,808
you got me do a fuckin'
<i>Work It Out</i> video,

790
00:34:17,891 --> 00:34:20,394
and the <i>Work It Out</i> video
was shot at Freaknik.

791
00:34:20,477 --> 00:34:23,856
<i>♪ Ooh, aah, I want some fuckin' pie ♪</i>

792
00:34:23,939 --> 00:34:27,651
<i>And then now that song became big,
and before you know it,</i>

793
00:34:27,734 --> 00:34:30,404
people would then come back to Freaknik

794
00:34:30,487 --> 00:34:31,697
because you heard the stories.

795
00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:33,240
"Man, that shit was crazy."

796
00:34:33,323 --> 00:34:35,242
"Man, the girls was this and that."

797
00:34:35,325 --> 00:34:36,618
<i>"Man, the dudes was this."</i>

798
00:34:36,702 --> 00:34:40,289
<i>"Man we went-- we never slept a day
while we was at Freaknik.</i>

799
00:34:40,372 --> 00:34:42,124
<i>"We just all got a hotel room.</i>

800
00:34:42,207 --> 00:34:43,625
"We never even stayed in there.

801
00:34:43,709 --> 00:34:46,336
We was fuckin' having sex on the streets."

802
00:34:46,420 --> 00:34:48,964
<i>I mean, you name it, it was guys doin' it.</i>

803
00:34:49,047 --> 00:34:51,008
<i>I just brought the freak to Freaknik.</i>

804
00:34:51,550 --> 00:34:53,969
Shit, somebody had to do it.

805
00:34:55,053 --> 00:34:55,918
[laughs]

806
00:34:56,449 --> 00:34:59,183
[♪ "Dazzey Duks" by Duice playing]

807
00:34:59,266 --> 00:35:01,393
<i>♪ Look at them girls
with the Dazzey Duks on ♪</i>

808
00:35:01,476 --> 00:35:02,853
<i>♪ I want you to ♪</i>

809
00:35:02,936 --> 00:35:04,980
<i>♪ Look at them girls
with the Dazzey Duks on ♪</i>

810
00:35:05,063 --> 00:35:06,523
<i>♪ Everybody ♪</i>

811
00:35:06,607 --> 00:35:08,650
<i>♪ Look at them girls
with the Dazzey Duks on ♪</i>

812
00:35:08,734 --> 00:35:10,110
<i>♪ I want you to ♪</i>

813
00:35:10,194 --> 00:35:12,154
<i>♪ Look at them girls
with the Dazzey Duks on ♪</i>

814
00:35:13,989 --> 00:35:16,116
[Marc]
<i>In the '90s, places like Freaknik</i>

815
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,327
<i>were one of the few sites in public</i>

816
00:35:18,410 --> 00:35:20,913
<i>where you could let loose,
wear a little less.</i>

817
00:35:20,996 --> 00:35:23,248
And so it was a moment
where Black women and girls

818
00:35:23,332 --> 00:35:25,834
were able to see themselves
as not just people

819
00:35:25,918 --> 00:35:28,003
who responded to what men wanted,

820
00:35:28,086 --> 00:35:30,297
but who could express their own desires.

821
00:35:30,380 --> 00:35:32,633
<i>That kinda stuff was radical at the time.</i>

822
00:35:32,716 --> 00:35:34,009
<i>♪ ...Dazzey Duks on ♪</i>

823
00:35:34,092 --> 00:35:35,344
<i>♪ I want you to ♪</i>

824
00:35:35,427 --> 00:35:39,014
You know, uh, Daisy Duke
from <i>The Dukes of Hazzard?</i>

825
00:35:39,431 --> 00:35:42,142
<i>Like, her shorts was short.</i>

826
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,437
<i>When they named the shorts after her,</i>

827
00:35:46,146 --> 00:35:48,148
they wasn't fittin' on her
like they fit on,

828
00:35:48,815 --> 00:35:49,816
on these girls.

829
00:35:49,900 --> 00:35:51,026
[indistinct chatter]

830
00:35:51,109 --> 00:35:52,736
[Rasheeda]
<i>So Daisy Dukes are, you know,</i>

831
00:35:52,819 --> 00:35:56,406
you might just maybe catch
a little bit of booty

832
00:35:56,490 --> 00:35:58,283
<i>underneath, but they short.</i>

833
00:35:58,367 --> 00:36:01,161
<i>But them coochie cutters,
you got camel toes, monkeys,</i>

834
00:36:01,245 --> 00:36:02,287
<i>booty crack,</i>

835
00:36:02,371 --> 00:36:04,790
you got the whole shit poppin' out.
[laughs]

836
00:36:04,873 --> 00:36:07,668
It's-it's showing it all.
You cuttin' in the coochie.

837
00:36:07,751 --> 00:36:09,294
<i>That's why they called coochie cutters.</i>

838
00:36:09,378 --> 00:36:10,963
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

839
00:36:11,630 --> 00:36:13,465
[Kenny]
<i>Like, thinking about booty shorts,</i>

840
00:36:13,549 --> 00:36:15,050
<i>like, in the best way possible, though.</i>

841
00:36:15,133 --> 00:36:16,635
Like, you had enough cheek,

842
00:36:16,718 --> 00:36:18,095
but not like the whole cheek.

843
00:36:18,595 --> 00:36:21,014
<i>And I think that left something
for mystique.</i>

844
00:36:21,098 --> 00:36:22,808
Mwah. <i>Magnifique.</i>

845
00:36:23,308 --> 00:36:24,601
<i>♪ Come on, baby ♪</i>

846
00:36:24,685 --> 00:36:26,562
<i>♪ Kick them Dazzeys ♪</i>

847
00:36:26,645 --> 00:36:28,981
But honestly speaking,

848
00:36:29,064 --> 00:36:33,068
that's the epitome
of the homegrown Southern woman.

849
00:36:33,151 --> 00:36:34,736
<i>Back then it wasn't no BBL.</i>

850
00:36:34,820 --> 00:36:36,780
<i>Bitches had real asses</i> [laughs]

851
00:36:36,864 --> 00:36:38,907
<i>and it was the real deal.</i>

852
00:36:38,991 --> 00:36:40,993
You know, you put shorts on
and you lookin' fine,

853
00:36:41,076 --> 00:36:42,286
and it ain't no enhancements,

854
00:36:42,369 --> 00:36:44,955
it's just all real Black beautifulness.

855
00:36:46,915 --> 00:36:50,335
[speaker 1] You know how
some people have some in-inhibition,

856
00:36:50,419 --> 00:36:52,462
you know, that they just
want to do somethin'

857
00:36:52,546 --> 00:36:54,715
that they just know they can't do at home

858
00:36:54,798 --> 00:36:56,550
because they know people
in their neighborhood,

859
00:36:56,633 --> 00:36:58,010
they know people at their schools,

860
00:36:58,093 --> 00:37:00,429
and their parents will somehow find out.

861
00:37:00,512 --> 00:37:02,472
I mean, you come out to another place

862
00:37:02,556 --> 00:37:05,475
<i>and then it's like
a whole bunch of people from other places</i>

863
00:37:05,559 --> 00:37:07,644
<i>who don't know you
and you kinda feel like, "Okay,</i>

864
00:37:07,728 --> 00:37:10,063
<i>well, maybe I can get away
with this here," you know?</i>

865
00:37:10,772 --> 00:37:12,983
Well, some people actually
like that at home,

866
00:37:13,066 --> 00:37:14,776
which we're not gonna talk about.

867
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:16,028
[laughs]

868
00:37:16,111 --> 00:37:18,322
[speaker 2] Baby, it's Freaknik.
It's Freaknik, baby.

869
00:37:18,405 --> 00:37:19,573
Do that, do that, baby.

870
00:37:20,616 --> 00:37:22,492
It's Freaknik baby. It's called Freaknik.

871
00:37:22,576 --> 00:37:25,787
[♪ "Freak Like Me"
by Adina Howard playing]

872
00:37:25,871 --> 00:37:27,748
♪

873
00:37:30,542 --> 00:37:32,920
[Rasheeda] <i>The joy for women
for Freaknik, I would say,</i>

874
00:37:33,003 --> 00:37:35,214
<i>was just the fact of just being outside</i>

875
00:37:35,297 --> 00:37:37,382
<i>and having fun and having
a really, really good time.</i>

876
00:37:37,466 --> 00:37:39,510
<i>It was just different levels of, you know,</i>

877
00:37:39,593 --> 00:37:42,262
what women did or wanted to do.

878
00:37:42,346 --> 00:37:44,389
[indistinct chatter]

879
00:37:49,937 --> 00:37:52,481
[Too Short] <i>The couple of Freakniks
that I just hold dear,</i>

880
00:37:52,564 --> 00:37:54,066
it was like art.

881
00:37:54,149 --> 00:37:55,859
<i>She'd just drop it in them shorts,</i>

882
00:37:55,943 --> 00:37:57,486
<i>respect the space.</i>

883
00:37:57,569 --> 00:38:00,072
<i>You got a video camera
or take a few pictures,</i>

884
00:38:00,155 --> 00:38:01,907
<i>and the girl keep on movin'
and, you know,</i>

885
00:38:01,990 --> 00:38:03,659
it was like her little hero moment

886
00:38:03,742 --> 00:38:06,745
or her-her showcase moment
of, like, "Check this out, boys."

887
00:38:07,246 --> 00:38:09,122
You know, some women automatically knew,

888
00:38:09,206 --> 00:38:12,042
you know, like, "Hey, this Freaknik,
I'm finna go crazy," you know?

889
00:38:12,125 --> 00:38:13,377
And other women was just like,

890
00:38:13,460 --> 00:38:15,170
"You know what?
This is the time to have fun.

891
00:38:15,254 --> 00:38:17,548
I might do a little extra,
but not too much."

892
00:38:17,631 --> 00:38:20,717
And some of us was just normal,
just like kickin' it, having fun,

893
00:38:20,801 --> 00:38:23,637
<i>and just being able to really just
be around everybody.</i>

894
00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:25,973
[cheering]

895
00:38:26,390 --> 00:38:29,393
[Anjanette Levert]
<i>Freaknik was a form of expression,</i>

896
00:38:29,476 --> 00:38:31,603
<i>but I would actually say liberation.</i>

897
00:38:33,021 --> 00:38:36,733
It was an opportunity
for them to express themself

898
00:38:36,817 --> 00:38:38,610
without the fear of backlash.

899
00:38:39,695 --> 00:38:43,949
You began to see women
articulating their sexual agency,

900
00:38:44,032 --> 00:38:46,702
their sexual freedom, differently.

901
00:38:47,911 --> 00:38:51,164
[Ronda] <i>What we're,
we're looking at is, you know,</i>

902
00:38:51,248 --> 00:38:55,669
<i>Black women kind of
flexing their sexuality.</i>

903
00:38:56,336 --> 00:38:58,714
You know, you have to understand,
TLC had come out.

904
00:38:58,797 --> 00:39:01,091
<i>♪ If I need it in the morning
or the middle of the night ♪</i>

905
00:39:01,175 --> 00:39:03,051
<i>♪ I ain't too proud to beg, no ♪</i>

906
00:39:03,135 --> 00:39:06,054
[Ronda] <i>And then, you know,
Left Eye was wearing the condom</i>

907
00:39:06,138 --> 00:39:07,222
<i>and so forth,</i>

908
00:39:07,306 --> 00:39:10,726
and it was just saying to girls
it's okay that--

909
00:39:10,809 --> 00:39:12,769
you know, if you wanna have sex,

910
00:39:12,853 --> 00:39:15,063
you know, on your own terms, it's okay.

911
00:39:16,148 --> 00:39:18,984
<i>I just think that as young women,</i>

912
00:39:19,067 --> 00:39:22,821
<i>it was becoming more acceptable
for you to be free</i>

913
00:39:22,905 --> 00:39:26,158
<i>and not necessarily for it to be</i>

914
00:39:26,241 --> 00:39:27,993
something that the guy wanted.

915
00:39:37,127 --> 00:39:39,505
[Maurice] <i>There were some young ladies
that were looking for young men.</i>

916
00:39:39,588 --> 00:39:41,882
<i>Of course there were some young men
that were looking for young ladies.</i>

917
00:39:41,965 --> 00:39:43,217
People were on the prowl.

918
00:39:45,802 --> 00:39:46,803
[laughter]

919
00:39:47,221 --> 00:39:48,847
- [speaker 1] What's your name?
- Michelle.

920
00:39:48,931 --> 00:39:50,641
- [speaker 1] Michelle what?
- [speaker 2] Michelle Sexy.

921
00:39:50,724 --> 00:39:53,018
- That's her name.
- [laughter]

922
00:39:53,101 --> 00:39:56,313
I wanna know is everybody
really having sex at Freaknik?

923
00:39:56,396 --> 00:39:57,856
Because, like, I'm not having sex,

924
00:39:57,940 --> 00:39:59,733
but everybody keeps asking me to have sex.

925
00:40:00,234 --> 00:40:02,110
If I tell you no then that means no,

926
00:40:02,194 --> 00:40:03,987
like, so why you keep
asking me to do it to you?

927
00:40:04,071 --> 00:40:06,323
I'm not doing to everybody
that ask me to do it to 'em.

928
00:40:06,406 --> 00:40:09,701
We decided we-- we were gonna
change the rules a little...

929
00:40:09,785 --> 00:40:11,119
[laughter]

930
00:40:11,203 --> 00:40:13,455
...and instead of the girls showing off,

931
00:40:13,539 --> 00:40:15,332
- all the guys--
- We wanna see, we wanna see

932
00:40:15,415 --> 00:40:17,292
- what they have to offer.
- Penis. Like, ass.

933
00:40:17,376 --> 00:40:19,211
Like, guys will come up and say,
"Can we see your tits?

934
00:40:19,294 --> 00:40:20,504
Can we take a picture of your tits?"

935
00:40:20,587 --> 00:40:22,756
We'll, turn around.
"Can take a picture of your dick?

936
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:23,966
- And some of 'em--
- And they run.

937
00:40:24,049 --> 00:40:25,342
Most of 'em are scared.

938
00:40:25,425 --> 00:40:27,261
- Most of 'em are.
- [overlapping chatter, laughter]

939
00:40:27,344 --> 00:40:28,595
Maybe we took some pictures.

940
00:40:28,679 --> 00:40:31,390
But another thing,
the guys gotta understand

941
00:40:31,473 --> 00:40:32,766
that we pick and choose

942
00:40:32,850 --> 00:40:34,810
- who we want at Freaknik this year.
- Right.

943
00:40:34,893 --> 00:40:37,437
[cheering, indistinct shouting]

944
00:40:40,232 --> 00:40:42,818
[Ronda] <i>I mean, people are young,
they're trying to hook up.</i>

945
00:40:42,901 --> 00:40:45,529
They're like, "Oh, you're cute.
You're cute," you know.

946
00:40:45,946 --> 00:40:48,031
I want y'all to introduce
y'all selves to my man.

947
00:40:48,115 --> 00:40:49,491
I'm Artelia.

948
00:40:49,992 --> 00:40:51,869
And that's Brandy over there.

949
00:40:51,952 --> 00:40:53,996
- What's your name?
- [speaker 1] Tory.

950
00:40:54,079 --> 00:40:55,789
- What's up, Tory?
- [Tory] What's happenin'?

951
00:40:56,582 --> 00:40:58,667
- Have fun, y'all. Be safe.
- [Tory] Alright, you too.

952
00:40:58,750 --> 00:41:00,961
- [speaker 2] Where y'all going?
- [Artelia] Why? Where is there to go?

953
00:41:01,044 --> 00:41:02,713
[speaker 2]
Luke just started his little concert.

954
00:41:02,796 --> 00:41:05,382
The Platinum House is bumpin',
Piedmont Park.

955
00:41:05,465 --> 00:41:08,302
[Clay Evans] <i>We in the streets,
you just pulling up on any car,</i>

956
00:41:08,385 --> 00:41:11,346
<i>talking to the women,
or you in the park.</i>

957
00:41:11,430 --> 00:41:14,474
You know that was a time
when you wrote phone numbers down.

958
00:41:14,558 --> 00:41:16,310
<i>So in your pocket you might have,</i>

959
00:41:16,393 --> 00:41:19,521
"Dark-skinned girl in the gray car."

960
00:41:21,231 --> 00:41:23,150
[speaker]
Dark and lovely, what's up?

961
00:41:24,651 --> 00:41:26,570
I'm alright. What's your claim to fame?

962
00:41:27,654 --> 00:41:29,615
[Clay] <i>You know,
you-you ain't know no names.</i>

963
00:41:29,698 --> 00:41:31,158
<i>You-You might get a few names,</i>

964
00:41:31,241 --> 00:41:33,452
<i>but, "Girl with the green dress on</i>

965
00:41:33,785 --> 00:41:35,537
in tennis shoes," you know.

966
00:41:36,747 --> 00:41:39,416
- Hey, where the party at?
- Where the party at?

967
00:41:39,499 --> 00:41:40,751
Where the bad boy party at?

968
00:41:40,834 --> 00:41:44,213
There was just so many girls,
it was like a candy store of-of girls

969
00:41:44,296 --> 00:41:46,715
<i>and I assume for girls
it was a candy store of guys.</i>

970
00:41:46,798 --> 00:41:48,467
<i>Like, at the end of the day it was like,</i>

971
00:41:48,550 --> 00:41:50,511
<i>just all these young Black people
from everywhere.</i>

972
00:41:50,594 --> 00:41:53,055
[♪ "Going Home" by Captain Qubz playing]

973
00:41:53,138 --> 00:41:54,681
<i>♪ Going home ♪</i>

974
00:41:54,765 --> 00:41:56,808
<i>♪ We're going home ♪</i>

975
00:41:58,310 --> 00:42:00,270
[speaker 1] So what's
the message you wanna send

976
00:42:00,354 --> 00:42:02,272
to the ladies in Atlanta during Freaknik?

977
00:42:02,356 --> 00:42:03,565
All you ladies of Atlanta,

978
00:42:03,649 --> 00:42:05,734
if you ain't freakin', I ain't speakin'.

979
00:42:05,817 --> 00:42:07,528
- [laughter]
- [speaker 1] Whatever.

980
00:42:07,611 --> 00:42:09,613
[all] Aah!

981
00:42:11,031 --> 00:42:14,868
It was like people
enjoying themselves, having fun,

982
00:42:14,952 --> 00:42:16,745
meetin' people, communicatin'.

983
00:42:16,828 --> 00:42:19,373
- Ohh! Oh, wait, you see that?
- What?

984
00:42:19,456 --> 00:42:21,250
[speaker 2] That shit's so sexy.

985
00:42:21,333 --> 00:42:23,293
- [speaker 3] Your navel ring.
- Ooh, man.

986
00:42:23,377 --> 00:42:24,628
- [laughter]
- [speaker 4] Let me see.

987
00:42:24,711 --> 00:42:26,421
I gotta get, wait, zoom in,
zoom in on that.

988
00:42:26,839 --> 00:42:29,424
[Rasheeda] <i>You know, nowadays everybody
be so worried about certain shit.</i>

989
00:42:29,508 --> 00:42:31,677
We wasn't worried about shit then.

990
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:33,929
All we wanted to do was have fun

991
00:42:34,012 --> 00:42:35,597
and that's exactly what we did.

992
00:42:38,100 --> 00:42:39,893
[Killer Mike]
<i>Well, '93 was a free-for-all.</i>

993
00:42:39,977 --> 00:42:41,979
<i>It was just a big traffic jam party.</i>

994
00:42:42,062 --> 00:42:44,731
[Shanti] <i>People were everywhere
'cause it wasn't contained</i>

995
00:42:44,815 --> 00:42:46,567
<i>in one particular area.</i>

996
00:42:46,650 --> 00:42:48,026
It was kinda taking over the city.

997
00:42:48,110 --> 00:42:50,654
[speaker] People were
hanging outta cars and yelling.

998
00:42:50,737 --> 00:42:52,614
I said, "Oh, my goodness,
I don't know what to expect."

999
00:42:52,698 --> 00:42:54,491
And then someone told me
that it gets worse.

1000
00:42:54,575 --> 00:42:55,742
[newscaster]
<i>Atlanta, Georgia.</i>

1001
00:42:55,826 --> 00:42:58,161
<i>Thousands of
African-American college students</i>

1002
00:42:58,245 --> 00:43:00,163
<i>are flocking south for Freaknik.</i>

1003
00:43:00,247 --> 00:43:03,876
<i>About 150,000 students are expected
to converge on Hotlanta.</i>

1004
00:43:04,209 --> 00:43:06,879
<i>This weekend is expected
to ring in about $20 million.</i>

1005
00:43:06,962 --> 00:43:10,549
- [♪ upbeat music playing]
- [horns honking]

1006
00:43:11,008 --> 00:43:12,301
[Maurice]
<i>Spring 1994.</i>

1007
00:43:13,010 --> 00:43:14,636
Atlanta is on tilt.

1008
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:16,263
[cheering]

1009
00:43:16,346 --> 00:43:18,765
[Patrick "Pat" Morrison]
<i>'94 was the best. That was prime.</i>

1010
00:43:19,349 --> 00:43:22,519
My favorite Freaknik was '94.

1011
00:43:22,603 --> 00:43:25,606
That's when it really popped,
'cause the city wasn't ready for it.

1012
00:43:28,108 --> 00:43:29,985
[speaker]
I hope my wife ain't watching this,

1013
00:43:30,068 --> 00:43:33,071
but I met a lot of girls
and I'm having a ball out here.

1014
00:43:38,452 --> 00:43:40,454
[Pat]
<i>It was unbelievable.</i>

1015
00:43:40,537 --> 00:43:44,166
<i>I mean, every street, everywhere you went,</i>

1016
00:43:44,249 --> 00:43:48,504
<i>every gas station, hotel, Waffle House,</i>

1017
00:43:48,587 --> 00:43:51,924
whatever, just partied the whole time.

1018
00:43:53,008 --> 00:43:54,676
[speaker 1]
We just came on the plane.

1019
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:56,720
Don't have a room or nothin'. We just--

1020
00:43:56,803 --> 00:43:57,804
We just here.

1021
00:43:58,722 --> 00:44:01,099
Even some of the older people
kinda joined in on the fun.

1022
00:44:01,183 --> 00:44:03,727
<i>They was throwing barbecues
and hanging out with everybody.</i>

1023
00:44:03,810 --> 00:44:06,772
[speaker 2] I got big porterhouse steaks
on there, hamburgers.

1024
00:44:07,898 --> 00:44:10,943
You know, just tryin'
to make a vibe for the community

1025
00:44:11,026 --> 00:44:12,528
so everybody can have a good time.

1026
00:44:12,611 --> 00:44:14,363
[Uncle Luke]
<i>You know, it was our Woodstock.</i>

1027
00:44:15,572 --> 00:44:17,658
They had their Woodstock, it was ours.

1028
00:44:18,075 --> 00:44:19,493
We was just having a good fuckin' time.

1029
00:44:19,576 --> 00:44:22,663
[overlapping chatter]

1030
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:28,001
[laughs]

1031
00:44:28,877 --> 00:44:30,963
[horns honking]

1032
00:44:32,548 --> 00:44:36,426
[Lil Jon]
<i>It was just the ultimate street party.</i>

1033
00:44:36,510 --> 00:44:37,928
Not on one street,

1034
00:44:38,011 --> 00:44:41,932
but the entire city of Atlanta
was a street party.

1035
00:44:42,015 --> 00:44:43,684
[♪ electronic music playing]

1036
00:44:45,394 --> 00:44:46,937
[interviewer]
What brings you to Atlanta?

1037
00:44:47,020 --> 00:44:48,564
[speaker 1]
Following the crowd. [laughs]

1038
00:44:48,647 --> 00:44:50,357
[interviewer] You always
have a good time down here?

1039
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:51,733
I always have a good time.

1040
00:44:51,817 --> 00:44:53,694
Even if I can't get to
where I'm supposed to be going,

1041
00:44:53,777 --> 00:44:54,862
I still have a good time.

1042
00:44:55,654 --> 00:44:57,614
[Too Short]
<i>And it wasn't no traffic control.</i>

1043
00:44:57,698 --> 00:44:59,199
People like us, we just parked.

1044
00:44:59,283 --> 00:45:00,826
We don't know
where the fuck we left them cars,

1045
00:45:00,909 --> 00:45:03,161
just park and just jump in it.

1046
00:45:04,162 --> 00:45:06,373
Once you park the car, that's it.

1047
00:45:07,457 --> 00:45:12,629
<i>You walkin', you hitchhikin',
you jumpin' in with people.</i>

1048
00:45:12,713 --> 00:45:14,548
You-you're doing whatever
to get for point A to--

1049
00:45:14,631 --> 00:45:17,342
Ain't no drivin', it's too crowded.

1050
00:45:18,552 --> 00:45:20,554
[Lil Jon]
<i>The interstates,</i>

1051
00:45:20,929 --> 00:45:22,222
<i>the highway,</i>

1052
00:45:22,848 --> 00:45:24,725
nobody moving.

1053
00:45:24,808 --> 00:45:26,310
[horns honking]

1054
00:45:26,393 --> 00:45:28,228
[speaker]
Hey, yo, we should have walked, man.

1055
00:45:28,312 --> 00:45:30,105
What's really going on?

1056
00:45:30,689 --> 00:45:33,192
It was like the traffic was the Freaknik.

1057
00:45:33,275 --> 00:45:35,360
[♪ "Scrub da Ground" by Kidd Money
and Splack Pack playing]

1058
00:45:35,444 --> 00:45:36,778
<i>♪ Round and round you go ♪</i>

1059
00:45:37,196 --> 00:45:38,530
<i>♪ Round and round you go ♪</i>

1060
00:45:38,989 --> 00:45:40,157
<i>♪ Round and round you go ♪</i>

1061
00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:42,284
<i>♪ Let me hear you say,
"Scrub da ground" ♪</i>

1062
00:45:42,367 --> 00:45:43,535
<i>♪ Scrub da ground ♪</i>

1063
00:45:43,619 --> 00:45:45,621
<i>♪ Let me hear you say,
"Scrub da ground" ♪</i>

1064
00:45:45,704 --> 00:45:47,289
[Jermaine]
<i>The middle of Peachtree Street,</i>

1065
00:45:47,372 --> 00:45:49,208
<i>dancing, playing your music.</i>

1066
00:45:49,291 --> 00:45:51,793
<i>It was a club outside the club, as well.</i>

1067
00:45:51,877 --> 00:45:54,213
[people shouting]

1068
00:45:56,215 --> 00:45:59,760
People watching you,
people laughing, people filming you.

1069
00:45:59,843 --> 00:46:01,053
<i>Nobody's shootin'.</i>

1070
00:46:02,346 --> 00:46:06,225
<i>Then a girl from another car
runs up to your car</i>

1071
00:46:06,308 --> 00:46:07,559
<i>and you ain't trippin'.</i>

1072
00:46:07,643 --> 00:46:10,020
You let her stand
on top of your hood of your car,

1073
00:46:10,103 --> 00:46:11,438
and it's a moment.

1074
00:46:11,522 --> 00:46:13,190
[♪ "Scrub da Ground" continues playing]

1075
00:46:13,273 --> 00:46:14,525
[speaker] Freaknik!

1076
00:46:14,608 --> 00:46:15,817
[indistinct shouting]

1077
00:46:15,901 --> 00:46:17,277
<i>- ♪ Goddamn ♪
- ♪ Here we go, here we go ♪</i>

1078
00:46:17,361 --> 00:46:19,363
<i>♪ Head gotta get his money worth, hoe ♪</i>

1079
00:46:19,446 --> 00:46:22,032
It was so much fun, though.

1080
00:46:22,115 --> 00:46:24,701
[indistinct shouting]

1081
00:46:24,785 --> 00:46:26,954
[interviewer] You came all the way
from Nashville for this?

1082
00:46:27,037 --> 00:46:28,539
All the way from Nashville, Tennessee.

1083
00:46:28,622 --> 00:46:31,083
- [interviewer] Why?
- Why? 'Cause I heard about the Freaknik,

1084
00:46:31,166 --> 00:46:34,127
and I heard that it was at least
about 250,000 people that comes here.

1085
00:46:34,211 --> 00:46:35,712
[interviewer]
That means money in your pocket.

1086
00:46:35,796 --> 00:46:36,797
[speaker] A lot of money.

1087
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:39,258
[♪ "Where Dem Dollas At"
by Gangsta Boo playing]

1088
00:46:39,341 --> 00:46:41,385
<i>- ♪ Where the dollars at? ♪
- ♪ I'm chief in' heavy, understand me ♪</i>

1089
00:46:41,468 --> 00:46:43,095
<i>- ♪ Baby this Gangsta Boo ♪
- ♪ Where the dollars at? ♪</i>

1090
00:46:43,178 --> 00:46:45,681
<i>♪ Where the dollars at?
Where the dollars at? ♪</i>

1091
00:46:45,764 --> 00:46:47,808
<i>- ♪ Where the dollars at? ♪
- ♪ I'm chief in' heavy, understand me ♪</i>

1092
00:46:47,891 --> 00:46:49,643
<i>- ♪ Baby this Gangsta Boo ♪
- ♪ Where the dollars at? ♪</i>

1093
00:46:49,726 --> 00:46:52,354
[salesperson] You can rent this phone
for $8.99 a month.

1094
00:46:52,437 --> 00:46:54,147
- No down payment.
- [customer] Really?

1095
00:46:54,231 --> 00:46:56,316
- And then--
- So what if you got bad credit?

1096
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,361
Well, then you're out of,
out of getting a phone.

1097
00:46:59,444 --> 00:47:01,154
- Oh, really?
- You won't be able to get the phone

1098
00:47:01,238 --> 00:47:02,823
with bad credit. Sorry.

1099
00:47:02,906 --> 00:47:04,658
Atlanta's a "get money" city.

1100
00:47:04,741 --> 00:47:06,201
You know what I mean? Trust me.

1101
00:47:06,285 --> 00:47:08,829
<i>Because it's-it's got
that entrepreneurial,</i>

1102
00:47:08,912 --> 00:47:11,331
<i>that enterprising attitude.</i>

1103
00:47:11,415 --> 00:47:13,500
<i>I mean, you could come
set up your shop and get money.</i>

1104
00:47:13,584 --> 00:47:15,460
<i>♪ How many bustas gettin' the chance... ♪</i>

1105
00:47:15,544 --> 00:47:18,255
[Pat] <i>Well, Walter's is a very
important store in the history of Atlanta,</i>

1106
00:47:18,338 --> 00:47:20,048
<i>especially in the Black community.</i>

1107
00:47:20,132 --> 00:47:22,467
We sold so many Freaknik T-shirts,

1108
00:47:22,551 --> 00:47:24,136
<i>and we sold so much merchandise.</i>

1109
00:47:24,219 --> 00:47:25,721
<i>It was great.</i>

1110
00:47:25,804 --> 00:47:28,182
[speaker] I've never seen a crowd
with as much cash

1111
00:47:28,265 --> 00:47:29,683
and money as these kids had.

1112
00:47:29,766 --> 00:47:31,018
They had $100 bills.

1113
00:47:31,101 --> 00:47:33,979
They were ordering Dom Pérignon
in room service.

1114
00:47:36,023 --> 00:47:38,150
[Rico Wade] <i>People was getting
they money on or whatever,</i>

1115
00:47:38,233 --> 00:47:41,653
<i>so it became a economic tornado</i>

1116
00:47:42,571 --> 00:47:44,114
and I was just watching the city grow.

1117
00:47:44,198 --> 00:47:46,909
[♪ "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik"
by OutKast playing]

1118
00:47:46,992 --> 00:47:48,535
<i>♪ Rollin' straight Hammers and Vogues ♪</i>

1119
00:47:48,619 --> 00:47:50,204
<i>♪ In that old Southern slouch ♪</i>

1120
00:47:50,287 --> 00:47:52,998
[Rico]
<i>OutKast came out April 26th.</i>

1121
00:47:55,292 --> 00:47:57,669
<i>So, of course, you want
someone to buy your album,</i>

1122
00:47:57,753 --> 00:48:00,088
but the best way to get 'em
to buy your album

1123
00:48:00,172 --> 00:48:02,007
is to give them a sampler.

1124
00:48:03,175 --> 00:48:05,302
<i>It was a cassette tape where on one side</i>

1125
00:48:05,385 --> 00:48:07,137
<i>you might have</i> Player's Ball...

1126
00:48:07,221 --> 00:48:08,514
[inaudible]

1127
00:48:08,597 --> 00:48:10,974
...but on the other side
you got a minute's snippet

1128
00:48:11,058 --> 00:48:12,059
of <i>Git Up, Git Out</i>,

1129
00:48:12,142 --> 00:48:14,186
♪

1130
00:48:14,269 --> 00:48:16,438
a minute snippet of <i>Crumblin' Erb</i>,

1131
00:48:16,522 --> 00:48:19,441
a minute snippet of other songs
that's on the album.

1132
00:48:19,525 --> 00:48:21,944
[♪ "Crumblin’ Erb" by OutKast plays]

1133
00:48:22,027 --> 00:48:24,821
<i>OutKast's sampler spread like weeds.</i>

1134
00:48:24,905 --> 00:48:27,324
It just, it-it was like
you was hearin' in everybody car,

1135
00:48:27,407 --> 00:48:28,784
and it meant you was cool.

1136
00:48:28,867 --> 00:48:30,869
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

1137
00:48:30,953 --> 00:48:33,288
[Big Boi] <i>And we just here, I'm sayin',
trying to put Atlanta out there.</i>

1138
00:48:33,372 --> 00:48:35,541
You know what I'm sayin'?
To let people know Atlanta is here

1139
00:48:35,624 --> 00:48:38,085
and-and they got some real players
in this game down here.

1140
00:48:38,168 --> 00:48:39,503
You know what I'm saying?

1141
00:48:39,962 --> 00:48:42,172
[CeeLo Green]
<i>Well, around that time we were grinding,</i>

1142
00:48:42,256 --> 00:48:44,550
<i>living under one roof,
living at the Dungeon.</i>

1143
00:48:44,633 --> 00:48:47,928
It was about putting a focus
on André and Big Boi

1144
00:48:48,011 --> 00:48:51,515
and making sure that, you know,
they made it across the lines.

1145
00:48:52,266 --> 00:48:54,476
[KP] <i>I think the Dungeon family,
we owe Freaknik</i>

1146
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,646
as the first place that gave us virility,

1147
00:48:57,729 --> 00:49:00,482
<i>because that's where we dropped the tapes.</i>

1148
00:49:03,151 --> 00:49:06,238
<i>We didn't have a phone where
you could just send someone a link</i>

1149
00:49:06,321 --> 00:49:08,282
<i>and anybody in the world could get it.</i>

1150
00:49:08,365 --> 00:49:09,825
<i>So this was the only opportunity</i>

1151
00:49:09,908 --> 00:49:13,704
<i>to catch this many Black people
of our age in one place</i>

1152
00:49:13,787 --> 00:49:16,540
<i>in a captive situation,
'cause traffic was fucked up,</i>

1153
00:49:16,623 --> 00:49:19,501
so you give a person a tape, they put it
in their cassette player right then.

1154
00:49:19,585 --> 00:49:22,129
[Shanti]
<i>Freaknik was an opportunity for us</i>

1155
00:49:22,212 --> 00:49:24,464
to really do hand-to-hand distribution

1156
00:49:24,548 --> 00:49:27,467
and promote our artists in a way that
we had never been able to do it before.

1157
00:49:27,551 --> 00:49:30,179
And it was really dope. Like,
you could literally ride down the street

1158
00:49:30,262 --> 00:49:33,390
and every car was bumping our cassette
that we had passed out.

1159
00:49:33,473 --> 00:49:34,975
<i>It was a marketer's dream.</i>

1160
00:49:35,058 --> 00:49:36,476
<i>So we went balls-to-the-wall</i>

1161
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:39,062
<i>and spent all we needed
to spend on street promotions.</i>

1162
00:49:39,146 --> 00:49:41,565
I used to have to go
into strip clubs, you know,

1163
00:49:41,648 --> 00:49:43,192
to take the OutKast music.

1164
00:49:43,275 --> 00:49:46,486
I remember a gentleman's club
was poppin' during Freaknik.

1165
00:49:46,570 --> 00:49:48,238
It was, like, Monday nights

1166
00:49:48,322 --> 00:49:50,073
was, like, the hottest night
at the gentleman club.

1167
00:49:50,157 --> 00:49:51,783
[♪ "Nasty Dancer" by Kilo Ali playing]

1168
00:49:52,618 --> 00:49:54,161
<i>♪ Yeah, get money ♪</i>

1169
00:49:55,621 --> 00:49:57,080
<i>♪ Do what I want her to ♪</i>

1170
00:49:57,164 --> 00:49:58,582
Strip clubs run everything.

1171
00:49:58,665 --> 00:50:00,584
You want your music broke,
you gotta go to the strip club.

1172
00:50:00,667 --> 00:50:02,753
<i>You want to be that dude,
you wanna be seen,</i>

1173
00:50:02,836 --> 00:50:04,296
you gotta go to the strip club.

1174
00:50:04,379 --> 00:50:06,465
<i>And to get your name
up out here in the streets,</i>

1175
00:50:06,548 --> 00:50:07,883
<i>you gotta go to the strip club.</i>

1176
00:50:07,966 --> 00:50:09,218
<i>♪ ...get paid here the table though ♪</i>

1177
00:50:09,301 --> 00:50:10,761
<i>♪ Put a leg band on you a project ho ♪</i>

1178
00:50:10,844 --> 00:50:12,638
[Playa Poncho]
<i>Strip clubs in Atlanta, like we say,</i>

1179
00:50:12,721 --> 00:50:14,264
<i>"We ain't got no sand,
we ain't got no beaches,</i>

1180
00:50:14,348 --> 00:50:16,350
<i>all we got these Georgia peaches,"
you know what I'm saying?</i>

1181
00:50:16,433 --> 00:50:18,894
<i>♪ Not much butt but I wonder
what it shaped like ♪</i>

1182
00:50:18,977 --> 00:50:20,562
You want your music in the, in the club

1183
00:50:20,646 --> 00:50:22,731
and you don't wanna force it,
or you wanna find a person

1184
00:50:22,814 --> 00:50:24,775
that like it and make it
be a part of they set.

1185
00:50:24,858 --> 00:50:27,945
<i>So, it wasn't about just,
um, going to see naked women</i>

1186
00:50:28,028 --> 00:50:31,406
<i>as much as it was going to
get a post with the CD on.</i>

1187
00:50:31,490 --> 00:50:32,824
[horn honking]

1188
00:50:32,908 --> 00:50:34,743
<i>♪ Don't stop, get it, get it, don't stop ♪</i>

1189
00:50:34,826 --> 00:50:37,287
[Rico] <i>At that time,
college radio and community radio</i>

1190
00:50:37,371 --> 00:50:39,289
<i>is where you heard hip-hop.</i>

1191
00:50:39,373 --> 00:50:41,834
<i>It was changing from a Miami-based culture</i>

1192
00:50:41,917 --> 00:50:43,961
to its own identity
and we were the forefront of that.

1193
00:50:44,044 --> 00:50:45,087
We led the way.

1194
00:50:45,754 --> 00:50:47,631
[DJ Nabs]
<i>You move into '95,</i>

1195
00:50:47,714 --> 00:50:49,967
we got a rap station now
in Atlanta, 24 hours.

1196
00:50:50,050 --> 00:50:53,679
<i>Now we're playing OutKast's music,
all Rico Wade,</i>

1197
00:50:53,762 --> 00:50:55,764
<i>Goodie Mob, we're playing Cool Breeze.</i>

1198
00:50:55,848 --> 00:50:57,891
We're breaking records
and we're not even trying

1199
00:50:57,975 --> 00:50:59,810
<i>'cause it was so much rap
and it's from the South</i>

1200
00:50:59,893 --> 00:51:00,894
<i>and we can play it.</i>

1201
00:51:00,978 --> 00:51:02,229
<i>That changes everything.</i>

1202
00:51:02,312 --> 00:51:06,608
It was an opportunity
to realize how much talent

1203
00:51:06,692 --> 00:51:09,111
was right below the surface in Atlanta

1204
00:51:09,194 --> 00:51:11,530
that was about to bubble up
to the top and be extraordinary.

1205
00:51:12,072 --> 00:51:14,825
[cheering]

1206
00:51:17,327 --> 00:51:20,706
[Killer Mike] <i>I would argue
that Freaknik gave Atlanta</i>

1207
00:51:20,789 --> 00:51:23,876
a stage for the world to see Atlanta
in a different light.

1208
00:51:23,959 --> 00:51:25,919
And we weren't just
a small town masquerading

1209
00:51:26,003 --> 00:51:27,004
as a big city anymore.

1210
00:51:29,214 --> 00:51:31,341
[Juan Antonio Samaranch]
The International Olympic Committee

1211
00:51:32,467 --> 00:51:37,389
has awarded the 1996 Olympic Games

1212
00:51:38,098 --> 00:51:40,601
to the city of Atlanta.

1213
00:51:40,684 --> 00:51:42,394
[audience cheering]

1214
00:51:44,897 --> 00:51:46,940
- [♪ upbeat music playing]
- [cheering continues]

1215
00:51:49,359 --> 00:51:51,320
[newscaster 1] <i>There you have it.
The announcement is in.</i>

1216
00:51:51,403 --> 00:51:53,989
<i>Atlanta, Georgia will be the site</i>

1217
00:51:54,072 --> 00:51:56,825
<i>of the 1996 Summer Olympics.</i>

1218
00:51:56,909 --> 00:51:58,869
[newscaster 2] <i>And this city is now
an international city,</i>

1219
00:51:58,952 --> 00:52:00,204
<i>there's no two ways about it.</i>

1220
00:52:00,913 --> 00:52:03,207
[Kasim]
<i>Winning the Centennial Olympic Games</i>

1221
00:52:03,290 --> 00:52:05,042
<i>and beating Athens, Greece</i>

1222
00:52:05,125 --> 00:52:07,002
was transformational for Black people.

1223
00:52:07,085 --> 00:52:09,546
That was a critical moment where Atlanta

1224
00:52:09,630 --> 00:52:12,049
became the most important city
for Black culture

1225
00:52:12,132 --> 00:52:13,926
<i>in the United States of America.</i>

1226
00:52:14,009 --> 00:52:17,054
And it put Atlanta
on the global map forever.

1227
00:52:18,222 --> 00:52:21,058
[Marc] <i>It was very clear
that Atlanta was about to change</i>

1228
00:52:21,141 --> 00:52:23,018
<i>its fortune dramatically.</i>

1229
00:52:23,101 --> 00:52:24,895
You were gonna have billions of people
around the world

1230
00:52:24,978 --> 00:52:26,772
watching Atlanta, knowing Atlanta's name,

1231
00:52:26,855 --> 00:52:28,357
suddenly wanting to visit Atlanta,

1232
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:29,942
suddenly wanting to invest in Atlanta.

1233
00:52:30,025 --> 00:52:31,860
<i>Leading up to the Olympics, Atlanta was</i>

1234
00:52:31,944 --> 00:52:34,071
<i>one of the most exciting places
to be in the world.</i>

1235
00:52:34,696 --> 00:52:37,991
Have you ever heard
anybody go to the Olympics

1236
00:52:38,075 --> 00:52:40,744
and come back feeling like they lost?

1237
00:52:41,119 --> 00:52:44,498
Just the fact that we got here
makes us a winner.

1238
00:52:45,832 --> 00:52:48,669
[Legendary Jerry] <i>The Olympics
was great for the city of Atlanta.</i>

1239
00:52:49,419 --> 00:52:52,297
But the Olympics wasn't
really great for Freaknik.

1240
00:52:52,881 --> 00:52:56,134
- [camera shutter clicking]
- [sirens wailing]

1241
00:52:56,218 --> 00:52:59,429
[♪ "Whatz Up, Whatz Up A-Town Mix"
by L.A. Sno and Playa Poncho playing]

1242
00:52:59,513 --> 00:53:01,974
[crowd shouting]

1243
00:53:02,057 --> 00:53:03,225
[shouting, excited chatter]

1244
00:53:03,308 --> 00:53:04,643
<i>♪ Whatz up, whatz up ♪</i>

1245
00:53:04,726 --> 00:53:06,770
The Dirty South,
that's how we do it down here.

1246
00:53:06,854 --> 00:53:07,855
[shouting]

1247
00:53:07,938 --> 00:53:09,356
On the road, True and D.

1248
00:53:09,439 --> 00:53:11,149
We goin' down to Georgia right quick,

1249
00:53:11,233 --> 00:53:13,902
<i>checkin' out this Freaknik action
for the weekend.</i>

1250
00:53:13,986 --> 00:53:15,529
<i>♪ One time for the girls
with the big butts ♪</i>

1251
00:53:15,612 --> 00:53:17,531
<i>- ♪ Let's buck, whatz up, whatz up ♪
- ♪ Whatz up, whatz up? ♪</i>

1252
00:53:17,614 --> 00:53:18,782
<i>- ♪ Let's hit tha sets ♪
- ♪ Sets ♪</i>

1253
00:53:18,866 --> 00:53:19,867
<i>♪ 'Cause tons be jag... ♪</i>

1254
00:53:19,950 --> 00:53:22,452
[DJ Kizzy Rock]
<i>When Freaknik went from just</i>

1255
00:53:22,536 --> 00:53:24,246
the colleges knowing about it,

1256
00:53:24,329 --> 00:53:27,332
into the streets and the hood
started knowing about it,

1257
00:53:27,416 --> 00:53:29,877
it took on a whole 'nother shape and form.

1258
00:53:30,961 --> 00:53:33,422
[Rasheeda] <i>Just started to get
a lot more out control</i>

1259
00:53:33,505 --> 00:53:36,008
because people were coming by the masses.

1260
00:53:36,091 --> 00:53:39,428
[Kathleen] <i>You got 35-, 40-year-old men
coming to Freaknik.</i>

1261
00:53:40,179 --> 00:53:42,306
<i>Well, isn't this a college event?</i>

1262
00:53:42,389 --> 00:53:43,974
No, people were just coming.

1263
00:53:44,057 --> 00:53:46,393
They were drawn by "Freaknik."

1264
00:53:47,102 --> 00:53:50,439
And Freaknik became more about
the "freak" than the "nik."

1265
00:53:50,522 --> 00:53:52,316
- [♪ hip-hop music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]

1266
00:53:52,399 --> 00:53:53,483
[horn honks]

1267
00:53:53,567 --> 00:53:55,611
[people shouting]

1268
00:53:55,694 --> 00:53:57,196
♪

1269
00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:05,120
[Kathleen]
<i>There was a flatbed truck.</i>

1270
00:54:05,204 --> 00:54:06,705
<i>I'm sitting behind this truck,</i>

1271
00:54:06,788 --> 00:54:08,415
and there are women,

1272
00:54:08,498 --> 00:54:10,959
they're all sitting
with their legs wide open

1273
00:54:11,043 --> 00:54:12,503
and no underwear.

1274
00:54:13,253 --> 00:54:14,671
<i>It was insane.</i>

1275
00:54:14,755 --> 00:54:16,507
<i>The things that I saw,</i>

1276
00:54:16,590 --> 00:54:19,218
<i>I was just glad
that my kids weren't in my car.</i>

1277
00:54:20,260 --> 00:54:22,137
Everybody had their system bumpin'

1278
00:54:22,221 --> 00:54:24,473
and some people had the women
on top of the cars

1279
00:54:24,556 --> 00:54:26,475
<i>or they-- women had themselves
on top of the cars,</i>

1280
00:54:26,558 --> 00:54:27,768
<i>or hanging out the car.</i>

1281
00:54:27,851 --> 00:54:30,270
<i>One guy's charging, so you could see.</i>

1282
00:54:30,646 --> 00:54:32,064
<i>It's like a peep show.</i>

1283
00:54:32,147 --> 00:54:34,358
<i>That's probably
the best way to explain it.</i>

1284
00:54:35,108 --> 00:54:37,778
[Shanti] <i>People just kinda started
getting disrespectful.</i>

1285
00:54:37,861 --> 00:54:40,447
<i>Like, some of the guys
just started wildin' too much,</i>

1286
00:54:40,531 --> 00:54:43,450
and it didn't really
feel like the good time

1287
00:54:43,534 --> 00:54:45,202
and the fun that it used to be.

1288
00:54:45,285 --> 00:54:46,912
- [woman squeals]
- [speaker] Hey, there your man!

1289
00:54:46,995 --> 00:54:48,580
[interviewer]
Are you gonna come back next year?

1290
00:54:48,664 --> 00:54:50,165
No, I'm not coming back.

1291
00:54:50,249 --> 00:54:53,502
This year I'm getting out of Atlanta.
I'm leaving Friday morning,

1292
00:54:53,585 --> 00:54:55,587
and I won't be back until Sunday evening.

1293
00:54:55,671 --> 00:54:56,922
<i>It's no fun anymore.</i>

1294
00:54:57,005 --> 00:54:59,341
[Marc] <i>There are people
who didn't like Freaknik</i>

1295
00:54:59,424 --> 00:55:03,178
because they thought
that it was not a good representation

1296
00:55:03,262 --> 00:55:04,471
of Black people.

1297
00:55:04,555 --> 00:55:06,431
[Kathleen]
<i>If you're coming to hang body parts</i>

1298
00:55:06,515 --> 00:55:09,768
outside various parts of the car,
you're not welcome.

1299
00:55:09,852 --> 00:55:11,770
They ain't say that about Daytona.

1300
00:55:11,854 --> 00:55:14,356
<i>They ain't say that about Corpus Christi.</i>

1301
00:55:14,439 --> 00:55:15,774
<i>You know, I hate to be that guy,</i>

1302
00:55:15,858 --> 00:55:17,526
<i>but they don't say that about them places</i>

1303
00:55:17,609 --> 00:55:20,320
<i>that they doing
some of the same things or even worse.</i>

1304
00:55:20,737 --> 00:55:23,448
Why is it such an issue here
with the Freaknik,

1305
00:55:23,532 --> 00:55:25,200
but it's not at Fort Walton Beach,
you know?

1306
00:55:25,284 --> 00:55:27,494
<i>Everybody else down there
partying just as hard.</i>

1307
00:55:27,578 --> 00:55:30,205
[speaker 1] <i>Well, because
of the actual portrayal, I think,</i>

1308
00:55:30,289 --> 00:55:33,208
<i>that scene that it's just
a lewd gathering,</i>

1309
00:55:33,292 --> 00:55:36,670
and a lot of people I think sometimes
are afraid of that image.

1310
00:55:37,212 --> 00:55:39,381
Of course it was gon'
start coming with its problems,

1311
00:55:39,464 --> 00:55:41,758
because, shit, a lot of times
these white folks

1312
00:55:41,842 --> 00:55:43,385
don't wanna see
all these Black people out here

1313
00:55:43,468 --> 00:55:44,845
kickin' and havin' fun like they doin'.

1314
00:55:44,928 --> 00:55:46,138
They wanna stop that.

1315
00:55:46,221 --> 00:55:47,598
They were smoking marijuana,

1316
00:55:47,681 --> 00:55:50,184
they were drinking,
totally disrespectful, everybody.

1317
00:55:50,267 --> 00:55:52,144
They was urinating in people's yards.

1318
00:55:52,436 --> 00:55:53,645
This year was a disaster.

1319
00:55:53,729 --> 00:55:56,190
<i>Nothing good has ever come from Freaknik.</i>

1320
00:55:56,607 --> 00:55:59,026
[speaker 2] <i>You know, if it was
a calm event, I would have no problem,</i>

1321
00:55:59,109 --> 00:56:01,945
but from the past problems
we've had with Freaknik,

1322
00:56:02,029 --> 00:56:03,322
I'm totally against it.

1323
00:56:03,405 --> 00:56:05,532
[speaker 3] <i>And I'm gonna
keep at this till we sit down</i>

1324
00:56:05,616 --> 00:56:07,784
<i>with the mayor and discuss openly</i>

1325
00:56:07,868 --> 00:56:09,786
why we don't want Freaknik in Atlanta.

1326
00:56:09,870 --> 00:56:11,079
[indistinct chatter]

1327
00:56:11,163 --> 00:56:12,998
Memphis in the house, baby! Freaknik...

1328
00:56:13,081 --> 00:56:15,918
So, I mean, that was always a-a thread

1329
00:56:16,001 --> 00:56:17,586
in the nuance behind Freaknik

1330
00:56:17,669 --> 00:56:21,548
and most things that are
controversial within the city

1331
00:56:21,632 --> 00:56:24,676
is the dynamics between
the Black culture and the white culture.

1332
00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:27,471
[♪ tense music playing]

1333
00:56:30,349 --> 00:56:33,894
Galveston, white area,
Daytona Beach, white.

1334
00:56:34,520 --> 00:56:38,190
But when you looked at Atlanta,
this is our shit.

1335
00:56:38,273 --> 00:56:41,026
<i>This is a Black government, Black town.</i>

1336
00:56:41,109 --> 00:56:43,070
<i>So you would have expected</i>

1337
00:56:43,153 --> 00:56:46,657
<i>that they would've embraced Freaknik
in a better way.</i>

1338
00:56:47,324 --> 00:56:49,159
[Clay] <i>When the eye of the world
is on you,</i>

1339
00:56:49,243 --> 00:56:50,827
it's a different experience

1340
00:56:51,870 --> 00:56:55,207
<i>because you gotta make sure the foreigners
are comfortable when they come in here.</i>

1341
00:56:55,874 --> 00:56:57,876
<i>There's a certain way
you gotta present yourself.</i>

1342
00:56:58,377 --> 00:57:01,672
Atlanta's got its arms around it,
ready for it,

1343
00:57:02,297 --> 00:57:04,967
prepared to put on the best Olympics
the world's ever seen.

1344
00:57:05,050 --> 00:57:07,427
[Marc] <i>Atlanta understood
that this was prime time</i>

1345
00:57:07,511 --> 00:57:09,721
<i>and they did everything they could
to be ready for it.</i>

1346
00:57:09,805 --> 00:57:11,682
<i>And so for some people,</i>

1347
00:57:11,765 --> 00:57:13,392
as they're trying
to build that reputation,

1348
00:57:13,475 --> 00:57:15,602
as they're trying
to grow toward the Olympics,

1349
00:57:15,686 --> 00:57:19,773
Freaknik was an unnecessary distraction
and a problem.

1350
00:57:21,775 --> 00:57:23,861
[Kasim] <i>Mayor Campbell
had embraced Freaknik</i>

1351
00:57:23,944 --> 00:57:25,904
<i>when it was a more manageable event,</i>

1352
00:57:25,988 --> 00:57:27,030
as most people did.

1353
00:57:27,573 --> 00:57:31,201
Because we felt that we had
a sacred responsibility

1354
00:57:31,702 --> 00:57:34,454
for Black college students
from all across the United States.

1355
00:57:35,706 --> 00:57:38,500
<i>Uh, it changed into something else.</i>

1356
00:57:38,584 --> 00:57:41,962
The Olympics was the biggest event
in the history of the city

1357
00:57:42,045 --> 00:57:43,463
and we had to deliver it.

1358
00:57:43,547 --> 00:57:47,301
<i>And so I think that he had
to make some tough decisions.</i>

1359
00:57:47,718 --> 00:57:49,887
[Maurice]
<i>While Freaknik did attract</i>

1360
00:57:49,970 --> 00:57:54,558
<i>a million young college-aged Black folk
to descend upon the city,</i>

1361
00:57:54,641 --> 00:57:57,936
the Olympics attracted 10 million.

1362
00:57:59,229 --> 00:58:02,774
Freaknik may have brought
$15 million to the city coffers.

1363
00:58:03,734 --> 00:58:05,444
The Olympics brought two billion.

1364
00:58:06,862 --> 00:58:09,323
This is a business decision
that Bill Campbell is making.

1365
00:58:10,282 --> 00:58:14,036
People act outraged about the social
and the cultural and the moral stuff.

1366
00:58:14,119 --> 00:58:16,705
That's not what usually
drives change in this country.

1367
00:58:16,788 --> 00:58:18,707
The bottom line is money.

1368
00:58:18,790 --> 00:58:22,461
And there were a lot of business owners
who felt like when the city shut down

1369
00:58:22,544 --> 00:58:24,713
<i>that they couldn't run their businesses.</i>

1370
00:58:24,796 --> 00:58:27,049
<i>And so a lot of the complaints you saw,</i>

1371
00:58:27,132 --> 00:58:28,926
it wasn't that they were morally outraged.

1372
00:58:29,009 --> 00:58:31,386
If they could've got paid,
they'd have kept Freaknik going forever.

1373
00:58:31,470 --> 00:58:34,056
It was because they couldn't
make their money as usual.

1374
00:58:34,139 --> 00:58:37,267
♪

1375
00:58:37,351 --> 00:58:39,645
[speaker] <i>So this has been
Freaknik weekend.</i>

1376
00:58:39,728 --> 00:58:42,397
We've been here the whole weekend
actually since Thursday

1377
00:58:42,481 --> 00:58:45,817
at the National Paper Trade Association
at the Hyatt.

1378
00:58:45,901 --> 00:58:48,028
[George Hawthorne]
<i>At that point in time, Atlanta had</i>

1379
00:58:48,111 --> 00:58:51,114
<i>the largest convention center
in the country.</i>

1380
00:58:51,698 --> 00:58:55,744
And the difference
of 100,000 business people

1381
00:58:55,827 --> 00:58:58,247
that come into town for a convention,

1382
00:58:58,330 --> 00:59:00,999
staying at hotels, eating at restaurants,

1383
00:59:01,083 --> 00:59:05,546
<i>far outweighed the folks coming into town</i>

1384
00:59:05,629 --> 00:59:07,089
<i>for a Freaknik weekend.</i>

1385
00:59:07,548 --> 00:59:11,844
[Ronda] <i>When you have an environment
that is not conducive</i>

1386
00:59:11,927 --> 00:59:15,472
<i>and welcoming to the convention business,</i>

1387
00:59:15,556 --> 00:59:17,933
then that becomes a problem.

1388
00:59:18,392 --> 00:59:20,769
No one should have to
close their business.

1389
00:59:20,853 --> 00:59:23,647
No one should have to downsize their staff

1390
00:59:23,730 --> 00:59:25,983
because they know
that their staff can't get in.

1391
00:59:27,025 --> 00:59:29,319
[Killer Mike]
<i>There was a turning of the Black dollar,</i>

1392
00:59:29,403 --> 00:59:32,197
it just wasn't as traditional
as Atlanta was used to,

1393
00:59:32,281 --> 00:59:34,157
'cause this has always
been a convention city.

1394
00:59:34,616 --> 00:59:37,494
[Kathleen] <i>I mean, it was just
not a comfortable period</i>

1395
00:59:37,578 --> 00:59:39,413
<i>for that kind of business.</i>

1396
00:59:39,496 --> 00:59:42,666
And, yes, there are people
that brought, uh, money to the city,

1397
00:59:42,749 --> 00:59:45,502
but I'm not sure where they spent it,

1398
00:59:45,586 --> 00:59:48,422
um, because a lot of the places
you couldn't get to.

1399
00:59:49,548 --> 00:59:52,634
What I saw in '96 is,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, y'all can't do that.

1400
00:59:52,718 --> 00:59:54,928
"Y'all can't drive here,
these streets is barricaded.

1401
00:59:55,012 --> 00:59:56,930
"These hotels don't want us in the lobby.

1402
00:59:57,014 --> 01:00:00,142
"These rooms aren't sold,
but they're not selling them to us.

1403
01:00:00,225 --> 01:00:02,311
<i>"These restaurants aren't full,</i>

1404
01:00:02,394 --> 01:00:04,354
<i>but they don't necessarily
want us in 'em."</i>

1405
01:00:05,606 --> 01:00:08,275
[Killer Mike] <i>The city prepped
for the Olympics by...</i>

1406
01:00:08,859 --> 01:00:09,943
<i>cleaning up,</i>

1407
01:00:10,736 --> 01:00:12,196
<i>filling potholes,</i>

1408
01:00:12,654 --> 01:00:15,908
and unfortunately putting
poor, disenfranchised people out.

1409
01:00:17,367 --> 01:00:19,828
I mean, you know what?
I don't really think that it was personal.

1410
01:00:19,912 --> 01:00:22,789
I just think that it was a game
of "big bank take little bank."

1411
01:00:22,873 --> 01:00:25,000
[newscaster]
<i>Atlanta gets a small preview</i>

1412
01:00:25,083 --> 01:00:27,794
<i>of this Summer's Olympic crowds
this weekend.</i>

1413
01:00:27,878 --> 01:00:32,090
<i>Plans are underway to reroute traffic
for the city's annual Freaknik gathering.</i>

1414
01:00:32,174 --> 01:00:34,051
<i>Every year, tens of thousands of students</i>

1415
01:00:34,134 --> 01:00:36,303
<i>from historically Black
colleges and universities</i>

1416
01:00:36,386 --> 01:00:39,181
<i>converge on Atlanta for a weekend of fun.</i>

1417
01:00:39,264 --> 01:00:41,808
<i>In addition to concerns
about traffic and crowd control,</i>

1418
01:00:41,892 --> 01:00:43,644
<i>officials are worried
the crowds may hamper</i>

1419
01:00:43,727 --> 01:00:46,063
<i>around-the-clock Olympic preparations.</i>

1420
01:00:47,606 --> 01:00:49,983
[Marc]
<i>At that point, Freaknik was different.</i>

1421
01:00:50,067 --> 01:00:52,319
It wasn't what we
dreamed about in the '80s,

1422
01:00:52,402 --> 01:00:54,571
it wasn't what we
talked about in the '90s.

1423
01:00:54,655 --> 01:00:56,740
Now, suddenly, Freaknik was something

1424
01:00:56,823 --> 01:00:58,992
that the city was trying to control.

1425
01:01:00,953 --> 01:01:03,956
Bill wanted to move the name
even away from Freaknik.

1426
01:01:04,039 --> 01:01:06,416
[newscaster] <i>George Hawthorne
is chairman of the planning committee</i>

1427
01:01:06,500 --> 01:01:09,503
<i>for what they tried to call
Black College Spring Break.</i>

1428
01:01:10,003 --> 01:01:13,090
<i>Participants, many of them
who were not college students,</i>

1429
01:01:13,173 --> 01:01:14,216
<i>called it Freaknik.</i>

1430
01:01:15,676 --> 01:01:17,386
[George]
<i>The Spring Break Planning Committee</i>

1431
01:01:17,469 --> 01:01:20,639
<i>was put together as a way to try to see</i>

1432
01:01:20,722 --> 01:01:22,724
if this thing could be
organized in a fashion.

1433
01:01:22,808 --> 01:01:24,184
[inaudible]

1434
01:01:24,268 --> 01:01:26,186
<i>I went into it with the open attitude,</i>

1435
01:01:26,270 --> 01:01:28,480
let's see if we can make this work,

1436
01:01:28,564 --> 01:01:30,315
let's see what the real issues are,

1437
01:01:30,399 --> 01:01:31,567
and let's solve those issues

1438
01:01:31,650 --> 01:01:35,696
and see if this thing can be salvaged
as a cultural event for Atlanta.

1439
01:01:36,238 --> 01:01:38,031
<i>And when I took on this-this position,</i>

1440
01:01:38,115 --> 01:01:44,037
I said that if in fact that I cannot,
as a parent and as a civic-minded person,

1441
01:01:44,121 --> 01:01:47,624
deliver a safe and sane event
for the participants

1442
01:01:47,708 --> 01:01:49,585
and the people of Atlanta,

1443
01:01:49,668 --> 01:01:52,963
that I'll be the first to stand up
and say it's got to go.

1444
01:01:53,046 --> 01:01:55,340
[siren wailing]

1445
01:01:56,216 --> 01:01:59,136
[siren chirping]

1446
01:01:59,219 --> 01:02:02,014
[imitating siren wailing, chirping]

1447
01:02:02,097 --> 01:02:03,932
[DJ Kizzy Rock]
<i>But Bill Campbell had started</i>

1448
01:02:04,016 --> 01:02:07,853
<i>implementing a plan where
we gonna block all the exits off</i>

1449
01:02:07,936 --> 01:02:10,439
<i>and we're gonna make 'em go this route,</i>

1450
01:02:10,522 --> 01:02:14,902
like kind of take 'em
all the way out the loop of everything

1451
01:02:14,985 --> 01:02:17,362
<i>before they was lettin' 'em
get off the highway.</i>

1452
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:21,366
[newscaster] <i>To prevent potentially
hazardous backups onto the interstate,</i>

1453
01:02:21,450 --> 01:02:25,078
<i>all the Freaknik jam moved
from downtown into midtown.</i>

1454
01:02:25,162 --> 01:02:27,915
<i>With nightfall,
police blocked off most exits</i>

1455
01:02:27,998 --> 01:02:29,625
<i>from the downtown connector.</i>

1456
01:02:29,708 --> 01:02:32,044
[horns honking]

1457
01:02:33,462 --> 01:02:36,381
Just imagine every exit being blocked.

1458
01:02:37,132 --> 01:02:39,343
<i>They had the highway patrols
in front of every exit,</i>

1459
01:02:39,426 --> 01:02:41,053
<i>so if you're driving the expressway,</i>

1460
01:02:41,136 --> 01:02:43,514
you had, you had to just keep driving.

1461
01:02:44,056 --> 01:02:46,099
[DJ Kizzy Rock]
<i>Now if you from out of town,</i>

1462
01:02:46,183 --> 01:02:48,477
<i>then you don't really know where to go.</i>

1463
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:51,647
'cause, you know, we weren't using GPSs
and all that back then.

1464
01:02:51,730 --> 01:02:53,106
They don't know where to go.

1465
01:02:53,190 --> 01:02:55,567
<i>So that started breaking down the energy.</i>

1466
01:02:55,651 --> 01:02:56,693
[indistinct chatter]

1467
01:02:56,777 --> 01:02:58,445
[interviewer]
What do you think of all this traffic?

1468
01:02:58,529 --> 01:02:59,530
It's crazy.

1469
01:02:59,613 --> 01:03:00,906
[speaker] Y'all having fun?

1470
01:03:00,989 --> 01:03:02,241
- No.
- [speaker] No?

1471
01:03:02,324 --> 01:03:04,076
- You don't like this traffic, right?
- No.

1472
01:03:04,159 --> 01:03:05,661
[Shanti]
<i>It was fucked up.</i>

1473
01:03:05,744 --> 01:03:07,621
Can I say that? [chuckles]

1474
01:03:07,704 --> 01:03:09,206
The traffic was fucked up.

1475
01:03:09,289 --> 01:03:11,834
And what it did,
it actually paralyzed the city

1476
01:03:11,917 --> 01:03:13,210
for, like, the whole weekend.

1477
01:03:13,293 --> 01:03:14,837
When I got off work from Walter's,

1478
01:03:14,920 --> 01:03:16,755
it took me at least three hours

1479
01:03:16,839 --> 01:03:18,715
<i>just to make it
to the expressway to go home.</i>

1480
01:03:19,091 --> 01:03:21,134
[Kathleen]
<i>And it was not ordinary traffic.</i>

1481
01:03:21,218 --> 01:03:23,929
<i>You know, people talk about
Atlanta traffic all the time,</i>

1482
01:03:24,012 --> 01:03:25,013
<i>it's a thing,</i>

1483
01:03:25,097 --> 01:03:27,015
but this was not ordinary traffic.

1484
01:03:27,099 --> 01:03:29,101
[Pat]
<i>Ambulances couldn't get through.</i>

1485
01:03:29,184 --> 01:03:30,394
<i>People were having weddings</i>

1486
01:03:30,477 --> 01:03:32,646
<i>that they couldn't get
through to the weddings.</i>

1487
01:03:32,729 --> 01:03:35,190
You trying to drive around a certain time
on a certain street,

1488
01:03:35,274 --> 01:03:37,276
you might not get
from one corner to the next

1489
01:03:37,359 --> 01:03:38,402
in an hour or two.

1490
01:03:38,485 --> 01:03:40,404
[Shanti]
<i>If you lived in Atlanta,</i>

1491
01:03:40,487 --> 01:03:41,905
you didn't wanna leave your house.

1492
01:03:41,989 --> 01:03:42,990
You went the other way.

1493
01:03:43,073 --> 01:03:44,658
I knew people that actually took trips.

1494
01:03:44,741 --> 01:03:46,660
It was like, "Oh, okay.
Oh, Freaknik is this weekend?

1495
01:03:46,743 --> 01:03:48,328
Okay, bet, I'm going on vacation."

1496
01:03:48,412 --> 01:03:50,539
We basically stayed in the downtown area

1497
01:03:50,622 --> 01:03:52,207
because the traffic was very hectic

1498
01:03:52,291 --> 01:03:53,500
and we didn't wanna drive.

1499
01:03:53,584 --> 01:03:55,002
It's so much of a struggle,

1500
01:03:55,085 --> 01:03:57,337
so difficult trying
to figure out the reroutings,

1501
01:03:57,421 --> 01:03:58,922
it's not even worth going outside.

1502
01:03:59,006 --> 01:04:00,382
They could've just told us not to come.

1503
01:04:00,465 --> 01:04:01,800
He should've said, "We ain't havin' it."

1504
01:04:01,884 --> 01:04:03,594
A lot of people came from a long way,

1505
01:04:03,677 --> 01:04:04,887
and they don't have anything to do.

1506
01:04:04,970 --> 01:04:08,557
I mean, what is he gonna do? Stop
every Black, uh, college student he sees

1507
01:04:08,640 --> 01:04:11,018
coming into Atlanta and tell 'em
they cannot enter the city?

1508
01:04:11,101 --> 01:04:12,102
It's totally ludicrous.

1509
01:04:12,186 --> 01:04:13,437
This is where we have fun.

1510
01:04:13,520 --> 01:04:15,230
If you try to stop all the traffic,

1511
01:04:15,314 --> 01:04:16,773
you know, with us just gathering around,

1512
01:04:16,857 --> 01:04:18,734
you know, it might--
something bad might happen.

1513
01:04:18,817 --> 01:04:20,110
What's up, mayor?

1514
01:04:20,194 --> 01:04:21,778
- [police shout]
<i>- I'm saying, I don't know why,</i>

1515
01:04:21,862 --> 01:04:24,198
I don't know why you had the cops
blocking off all the exits, man,

1516
01:04:24,281 --> 01:04:26,158
keeping people from coming
into the city during Freaknik.

1517
01:04:26,241 --> 01:04:28,118
Well, first of all,
we wanna reassure the public

1518
01:04:28,202 --> 01:04:30,162
that Atlanta is a safe place.

1519
01:04:30,245 --> 01:04:31,413
All this isn't called for.

1520
01:04:31,496 --> 01:04:33,165
You see the riot patrol,
you see the horses.

1521
01:04:33,248 --> 01:04:35,667
I mean, it shows
that we locked down like in a prison.

1522
01:04:35,751 --> 01:04:37,544
So, you know, it's kinda messed up.

1523
01:04:38,670 --> 01:04:42,090
There was a lot of... tension

1524
01:04:43,425 --> 01:04:45,135
that kinda comes around Freaknik.

1525
01:04:46,386 --> 01:04:48,138
And be-because of that,

1526
01:04:48,222 --> 01:04:51,225
<i>of course it made the police
that much more vigilant,</i>

1527
01:04:51,308 --> 01:04:54,394
<i>because, I mean, there was
real firepower out on the streets.</i>

1528
01:04:54,895 --> 01:04:57,272
[George] <i>And I think
that to a certain extent,</i>

1529
01:04:57,356 --> 01:05:00,943
<i>when some of the more heavy-handed
police tactics were involved,</i>

1530
01:05:01,026 --> 01:05:05,906
was a way to show that in fact
we could control this large event.

1531
01:05:06,657 --> 01:05:08,909
[sirens blaring]

1532
01:05:09,326 --> 01:05:11,787
[KP] <i>And, you know, and at that point
I think that's where...</i>

1533
01:05:12,955 --> 01:05:14,164
the decline happened, right?

1534
01:05:14,248 --> 01:05:16,583
[♪ soft, melancholic music playing]

1535
01:05:17,209 --> 01:05:18,210
[♪ dramatic sting]

1536
01:05:22,422 --> 01:05:24,424
[♪ tense music playing]

1537
01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:26,677
[newscaster]
<i>Atlanta Police have caught a glimpse</i>

1538
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:28,428
<i>of the dark side of the party.</i>

1539
01:05:28,512 --> 01:05:33,308
We have had two cases of reported rape.

1540
01:05:33,392 --> 01:05:34,893
[newscaster]
<i>One of the alleged attacks</i>

1541
01:05:34,977 --> 01:05:37,312
<i>happened away from the crowd
in an apartment.</i>

1542
01:05:37,396 --> 01:05:39,690
<i>The other, police say,
was frighteningly similar</i>

1543
01:05:39,773 --> 01:05:42,359
<i>to this assault captured
by Chopper 5 Friday night</i>

1544
01:05:42,442 --> 01:05:43,652
<i>and later showed to police.</i>

1545
01:05:43,735 --> 01:05:46,071
[♪ tense music continues]

1546
01:05:47,406 --> 01:05:49,449
[Stacy]
<i>So this is spring 1998.</i>

1547
01:05:52,703 --> 01:05:55,956
<i>My best friend at the time
and I had a party to go to.</i>

1548
01:05:56,665 --> 01:05:59,918
And so we're, like, anxious
to get to our friend's place,

1549
01:06:00,002 --> 01:06:01,336
um, in Marietta,

1550
01:06:01,420 --> 01:06:02,838
and so we can't.

1551
01:06:02,921 --> 01:06:06,133
And we can't because of these barricades
and these roadblocks

1552
01:06:06,216 --> 01:06:09,928
keeping us from
heading to the north side of town.

1553
01:06:10,220 --> 01:06:12,764
And what's on the north side
of town at that time?

1554
01:06:12,848 --> 01:06:15,142
White people and affluent neighborhoods.

1555
01:06:15,225 --> 01:06:18,103
- [traffic noise, distant horns honking]
- [helicopter whirring]

1556
01:06:18,187 --> 01:06:22,816
<i>So we are forced, basically,
to go south of town.</i>

1557
01:06:23,650 --> 01:06:25,861
<i>So, my roommate has to get gas,</i>

1558
01:06:25,944 --> 01:06:27,905
she gets out, she uses the bathroom,

1559
01:06:27,988 --> 01:06:31,658
she comes back in the car,
realizes her purse is gone.

1560
01:06:32,284 --> 01:06:35,537
So she storms all the way down the street,

1561
01:06:35,621 --> 01:06:37,706
parks in the middle turning lane,

1562
01:06:37,789 --> 01:06:40,959
gets out of the car and storms the crowd,

1563
01:06:41,043 --> 01:06:42,336
trying to get her purse.

1564
01:06:42,419 --> 01:06:44,880
And some guy jumps into the driver's side,

1565
01:06:44,963 --> 01:06:47,007
driver-driver's seat of the car.

1566
01:06:47,090 --> 01:06:50,052
So, we start fighting in the car.

1567
01:06:50,135 --> 01:06:52,387
<i>So I, basically, I sucker punch him,</i>

1568
01:06:52,471 --> 01:06:55,057
and we start tussling in the car,

1569
01:06:55,140 --> 01:07:00,062
because I didn't want him to drive off
with me in the car, leaving my roommate.

1570
01:07:00,145 --> 01:07:02,940
And so, um, we're fighting,

1571
01:07:03,023 --> 01:07:07,069
the crowd is starting to come
from both sides of the street.

1572
01:07:07,152 --> 01:07:11,448
So someone opens up my car door
and starts to pull me out.

1573
01:07:11,532 --> 01:07:14,826
And they drag me on the ground
and just start--

1574
01:07:14,910 --> 01:07:17,287
just start ripping at all my clothing.

1575
01:07:17,371 --> 01:07:19,623
Just start rippin', rippin', rippin'.

1576
01:07:19,706 --> 01:07:25,337
And I would say there were
probably 10 active guys

1577
01:07:25,420 --> 01:07:27,881
pu-- almost, like,
kind of like taking turns.

1578
01:07:28,215 --> 01:07:31,301
The only thing
that saved me from getting raped

1579
01:07:31,885 --> 01:07:33,637
was a man yelled out, "Police."

1580
01:07:36,431 --> 01:07:40,561
And then, um,
the crowd kind of just scatters.

1581
01:07:40,644 --> 01:07:43,981
It-- well, it doesn't scatter.
Kind of loosens up, if you will.

1582
01:07:44,064 --> 01:07:48,861
Um, when I got up,
both breasts were out of the shirt.

1583
01:07:48,944 --> 01:07:50,404
The shirt was ripped.

1584
01:07:50,779 --> 01:07:54,700
Only the elastic, um,
was holding my skirt together.

1585
01:07:54,783 --> 01:07:58,078
My hair was all over the place,
as you can imagine.

1586
01:07:58,161 --> 01:08:00,455
I was cut and bruised and the whole nine.

1587
01:08:00,539 --> 01:08:03,000
I'm like, "What the hell just happened?"

1588
01:08:03,417 --> 01:08:05,586
And I'm scared and, you know,

1589
01:08:05,669 --> 01:08:08,380
all these emotions
on top of anger and frustration,

1590
01:08:08,463 --> 01:08:11,008
because where are the people

1591
01:08:11,091 --> 01:08:12,885
that are supposed to protect and serve?

1592
01:08:12,968 --> 01:08:15,596
[♪ tense, pensive music playing]

1593
01:08:18,265 --> 01:08:20,809
[newscaster] <i>Police say
they may be able to control the traffic,</i>

1594
01:08:20,893 --> 01:08:23,228
<i>but they cannot always control the crowd,</i>

1595
01:08:23,312 --> 01:08:26,231
<i>so they're warning women
to have fun, but be careful.</i>

1596
01:08:26,940 --> 01:08:29,693
[Stacy] <i>So there was nothing
that the Atlanta Police Department</i>

1597
01:08:29,776 --> 01:08:31,612
<i>did to follow up.</i>

1598
01:08:31,695 --> 01:08:33,447
I never got an apology. I never--

1599
01:08:33,530 --> 01:08:35,282
Not that I was expecting one,

1600
01:08:35,365 --> 01:08:37,701
um, but nothing happened.

1601
01:08:37,784 --> 01:08:40,829
<i>It's kind of like the mayor
and the police chief,</i>

1602
01:08:40,913 --> 01:08:43,415
<i>I feel like they were
enablers, in a sense.</i>

1603
01:08:44,249 --> 01:08:47,503
<i>They were protecting one group of people</i>

1604
01:08:47,586 --> 01:08:50,589
<i>but exposing another group of people</i>

1605
01:08:50,672 --> 01:08:54,384
<i>to the possibility
of something like this to happen.</i>

1606
01:08:56,220 --> 01:08:58,180
[newscaster]
<i>Atlanta, Georgia, Freaknik.</i>

1607
01:08:58,263 --> 01:09:01,350
<i>50,000 attendees, 481 arrests,</i>

1608
01:09:01,433 --> 01:09:03,435
<i>four for rape, six for fondling.</i>

1609
01:09:03,519 --> 01:09:07,105
<i>The majority of the major problems
caused by non-college students.</i>

1610
01:09:07,189 --> 01:09:09,024
[speaker] <i>It could be anybody,
you know what I'm saying?</i>

1611
01:09:09,107 --> 01:09:10,901
<i>You get-- you're at the wrong
place at the wrong time,</i>

1612
01:09:10,984 --> 01:09:12,611
<i>anything can happen to you, you know?</i>

1613
01:09:12,694 --> 01:09:14,613
You can have fun, but it's also dangerous.

1614
01:09:14,696 --> 01:09:17,074
Guys was reaching inside
the girl's sunroof top,

1615
01:09:17,157 --> 01:09:18,450
grabbing on their breasts.

1616
01:09:18,534 --> 01:09:20,035
Or if the girls was
walking down the street,

1617
01:09:20,118 --> 01:09:21,870
they were going up under
their dress and everything

1618
01:09:21,954 --> 01:09:24,039
and I felt like the women
were being violated.

1619
01:09:24,122 --> 01:09:25,916
[newscaster]
<i>While police say there is no excuse</i>

1620
01:09:25,999 --> 01:09:27,668
<i>and no provocation for rape,</i>

1621
01:09:27,751 --> 01:09:31,004
<i>sexuality has become
an almost sideshow on the streets.</i>

1622
01:09:31,463 --> 01:09:33,382
[Marc]
<i>There is a narrative in this country</i>

1623
01:09:34,091 --> 01:09:36,760
that Black men are sexually violent,

1624
01:09:36,844 --> 01:09:40,514
sexual predators, sexually irresponsible,

1625
01:09:40,597 --> 01:09:43,267
and it's important
that we don't reinforce that idea

1626
01:09:43,350 --> 01:09:45,060
by suggesting that Freaknik
was just filled

1627
01:09:45,143 --> 01:09:48,146
with these crazy, violent,
Black male sexual predators.

1628
01:09:48,230 --> 01:09:49,731
[crowd clamoring]

1629
01:09:51,692 --> 01:09:53,986
<i>There was a lot of harassment,</i>

1630
01:09:54,069 --> 01:09:55,988
<i>there was a lot of unwanted touching,</i>

1631
01:09:56,071 --> 01:09:59,241
and there was, in some cases, rape.

1632
01:10:00,492 --> 01:10:02,744
<i>But most people who attended Freaknik</i>

1633
01:10:03,120 --> 01:10:07,583
did not participate
in any kind of sexual misconduct.

1634
01:10:07,666 --> 01:10:09,126
That's important.

1635
01:10:09,209 --> 01:10:10,711
[indistinct shouting]

1636
01:10:10,794 --> 01:10:13,547
[Stacy]
<i>So after the attack,</i>

1637
01:10:14,464 --> 01:10:15,591
my...

1638
01:10:16,258 --> 01:10:19,928
So, again, I was just
in this weird mental state,

1639
01:10:20,470 --> 01:10:24,391
um, kind of blah, but then angry, um,

1640
01:10:24,474 --> 01:10:27,978
and I was afraid of crowds.

1641
01:10:28,896 --> 01:10:32,107
Um, and I was specifically,
unfor-- and unfortunately,

1642
01:10:32,191 --> 01:10:37,905
afraid of Black crowds,
um, because I, unfortunately,

1643
01:10:37,988 --> 01:10:39,907
were attacked by my brothers.

1644
01:10:39,990 --> 01:10:42,117
Like, I didn't-- for the life of me,
I couldn't get it.

1645
01:10:42,201 --> 01:10:45,120
I'm like, certainly,
clearly you have a mom,

1646
01:10:45,204 --> 01:10:49,291
clearly you got a grandmama,
um, you know, sister, auntie,

1647
01:10:50,292 --> 01:10:52,461
you know, somewhere along those lines,

1648
01:10:52,544 --> 01:10:56,757
you have females in your life,
and what if it was them?

1649
01:10:56,840 --> 01:10:58,550
[crowd shouting]

1650
01:10:58,634 --> 01:11:00,761
[Shanti] <i>I did hear about
that unfortunate situation</i>

1651
01:11:00,844 --> 01:11:01,929
<i>with that young lady.</i>

1652
01:11:02,012 --> 01:11:04,556
Um, several of my friends
felt disrespected

1653
01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:08,060
from some of the guys,
like, just unwanted advances

1654
01:11:08,143 --> 01:11:10,979
and-and them being rude,
and so that's why, again,

1655
01:11:11,063 --> 01:11:14,066
it got to a point where we didn't
really wanna hang out during Freaknik

1656
01:11:14,149 --> 01:11:15,984
because it became something different.

1657
01:11:19,279 --> 01:11:21,240
[crowd clamoring]

1658
01:11:24,701 --> 01:11:27,287
The nature of Freaknik changed...

1659
01:11:27,371 --> 01:11:28,830
[indistinct yelling]

1660
01:11:28,914 --> 01:11:31,166
<i>...and folks weren't
handling it in the way</i>

1661
01:11:31,250 --> 01:11:32,668
<i>that it had been handled before.</i>

1662
01:11:36,129 --> 01:11:38,257
[speaker 1] <i>It got to the point
where Freaknik wasn't fun.</i>

1663
01:11:38,340 --> 01:11:39,675
<i>Not just the traffic.</i>

1664
01:11:39,758 --> 01:11:43,053
<i>The energy started feeling
a lot more, um, predatory.</i>

1665
01:11:43,637 --> 01:11:44,680
[woman screams]

1666
01:11:46,098 --> 01:11:47,724
[speaker 2] <i>Let me down!</i>

1667
01:11:48,392 --> 01:11:52,688
If you have to say,
"Protect Black women" in the 2020s,

1668
01:11:52,771 --> 01:11:56,900
then imagine what you
had to say in the 1990s.

1669
01:11:56,984 --> 01:11:59,152
[indistinct shouting]

1670
01:11:59,236 --> 01:12:01,488
[Kathleen] <i>It just hurt me,
and I came from Spelman,</i>

1671
01:12:01,572 --> 01:12:04,658
where our total fabric, DNA,

1672
01:12:04,741 --> 01:12:08,036
is about uplifting the greatness of women.

1673
01:12:10,247 --> 01:12:13,375
<i>That was just the total opposite
of Atlanta for me.</i>

1674
01:12:14,418 --> 01:12:16,170
[indistinct yelling]

1675
01:12:16,253 --> 01:12:22,634
[Sharon] <i>Once I saw definitively
the degradation of women,</i>

1676
01:12:23,594 --> 01:12:27,639
I had reached my fill with Freaknik.

1677
01:12:28,432 --> 01:12:30,601
And there was no coming back from that.

1678
01:12:31,256 --> 01:12:33,103
[♪ solemn, tense music playing]

1679
01:12:35,856 --> 01:12:38,108
I'm calling this press conference today
to release the report

1680
01:12:38,192 --> 01:12:40,235
of the Black College
Spring Break Planning Committee.

1681
01:12:40,319 --> 01:12:43,780
<i>We drafted up the final report
and released it to the city</i>

1682
01:12:43,864 --> 01:12:46,158
<i>and to the press at the same time.</i>

1683
01:12:46,241 --> 01:12:49,286
The man who heads the Black College
Spring Break Planning Committee

1684
01:12:49,369 --> 01:12:50,829
is recommending Freaknik,

1685
01:12:50,913 --> 01:12:53,040
as it's popularly called, be canceled.

1686
01:12:53,123 --> 01:12:55,667
This plan represents
the committee's desire

1687
01:12:55,751 --> 01:12:59,129
to get rid of the negative elements
of this event.

1688
01:12:59,213 --> 01:13:02,132
The city of Atlanta
is not going to host Freaknik.

1689
01:13:02,216 --> 01:13:07,137
It is not an event that, uh,
we feel is appropriate for our city.

1690
01:13:07,221 --> 01:13:09,264
It had degraded to a point

1691
01:13:09,348 --> 01:13:12,643
where I thought
that Freaknik had become, uh, basically

1692
01:13:12,726 --> 01:13:14,937
a time for guys to come
from all over the nation,

1693
01:13:15,020 --> 01:13:18,106
have a free-for-all with women in Atlanta,

1694
01:13:18,190 --> 01:13:23,362
and it just wasn't fair for us
to put them in that position

1695
01:13:23,445 --> 01:13:24,738
by supporting such an event.

1696
01:13:24,821 --> 01:13:27,699
♪

1697
01:13:29,034 --> 01:13:31,870
<i>No one chastises you
for killing a monster.</i>

1698
01:13:33,789 --> 01:13:36,041
And it needs to be known as the monster

1699
01:13:36,124 --> 01:13:38,627
that it metastasized to what it was.

1700
01:13:38,710 --> 01:13:40,963
And so I think it took
some courageous leadership

1701
01:13:41,046 --> 01:13:44,299
on behalf of the mayor
to make this move and to do this.

1702
01:13:44,383 --> 01:13:46,218
[newscaster]
<i>As Freaknik '99 draws near,</i>

1703
01:13:46,301 --> 01:13:48,178
<i>many of those who would attend</i>

1704
01:13:48,262 --> 01:13:50,347
<i>say their attentions
are turning elsewhere.</i>

1705
01:13:50,430 --> 01:13:52,558
I think it's pretty much gonna be
just like a regular weekend.

1706
01:13:52,641 --> 01:13:54,810
I know I have a lot of friends
that are going down to Daytona,

1707
01:13:54,893 --> 01:13:56,937
and that's kinda
taking the place of, um, Freaknik.

1708
01:13:57,020 --> 01:13:59,439
And so, it's without the hassles
and stuff like that

1709
01:13:59,523 --> 01:14:01,775
from the police and other,
uh, city officials.

1710
01:14:01,859 --> 01:14:05,612
Freaknik is totally
degrading to women, I believe,

1711
01:14:05,696 --> 01:14:08,866
and, I mean, I won't be
participating in it this year.

1712
01:14:08,949 --> 01:14:11,159
No, I'm not planning
any Freaknik activities.

1713
01:14:11,243 --> 01:14:12,828
I have a lot of work to do.

1714
01:14:12,911 --> 01:14:14,621
[speaker 1]
<i>Freaknik is not calling my name.</i>

1715
01:14:14,705 --> 01:14:16,665
[speaker 2] <i>It's crazy.
Streets are always blocked off.</i>

1716
01:14:16,748 --> 01:14:20,252
It takes you three hours to get home,
guys shake your car, rip your clothes off.

1717
01:14:20,335 --> 01:14:21,920
<i>It's not fun for females anymore.</i>

1718
01:14:22,379 --> 01:14:24,006
[Kenny]
<i>Freaknik needed to die.</i>

1719
01:14:24,089 --> 01:14:26,884
[♪ soft, melancholic music playing]

1720
01:14:28,427 --> 01:14:30,846
[♪ vocalizing]

1721
01:14:32,764 --> 01:14:35,058
♪

1722
01:14:37,686 --> 01:14:40,230
[tape fast-forwarding]

1723
01:14:40,314 --> 01:14:42,900
[whooshing]

1724
01:14:46,111 --> 01:14:48,864
[Kenny]
<i>Everything ain't supposed to last forever.</i>

1725
01:14:50,115 --> 01:14:53,160
Because what happens is Black kids

1726
01:14:53,243 --> 01:14:56,079
<i>has come along generations later
and they revive it in the way</i>

1727
01:14:56,163 --> 01:14:58,332
<i>where you remember this amazingness.</i>

1728
01:14:58,415 --> 01:15:00,792
<i>Oh, man.
And that's what nostalgia's about.</i>

1729
01:15:01,251 --> 01:15:02,836
That's what history's about.

1730
01:15:03,295 --> 01:15:07,299
Well, tonight we are less than 48 hours
from the return of Freaknik.

1731
01:15:07,382 --> 01:15:09,510
And what?
You don't know about Freaknik?

1732
01:15:09,593 --> 01:15:11,011
You haven't lived here that long?

1733
01:15:11,094 --> 01:15:12,513
Freaknik ended years ago,

1734
01:15:12,596 --> 01:15:15,307
but organizers say
this is the revamped version.

1735
01:15:15,390 --> 01:15:17,726
<i>You know, the organizer,
when I spoke to him earlier today,</i>

1736
01:15:17,809 --> 01:15:19,311
<i>he really wants people here in Atlanta</i>

1737
01:15:19,394 --> 01:15:23,065
to know that you can celebrate Freaknik
in a positive way.

1738
01:15:23,148 --> 01:15:26,193
So in 2018, and I saw that Cartoon Network

1739
01:15:26,276 --> 01:15:28,320
was the last one to have the trademark

1740
01:15:28,403 --> 01:15:31,782
when they did their Freaknik
cartoon series with T-Pain.

1741
01:15:31,865 --> 01:15:33,325
[♪ hip-hop music playing]

1742
01:15:33,408 --> 01:15:35,285
<i>♪ I'm back! ♪</i>

1743
01:15:35,369 --> 01:15:36,995
♪

1744
01:15:37,079 --> 01:15:39,540
[Carlos Neal] <i>And once I saw that
the mark was available,</i>

1745
01:15:39,623 --> 01:15:41,792
<i>I applied for it,
and then that's when I put in</i>

1746
01:15:42,751 --> 01:15:46,046
<i>all the financial resources
to be able to do it.</i>

1747
01:15:46,129 --> 01:15:47,256
[slate claps]

1748
01:15:47,339 --> 01:15:49,216
[interviewer] So my brother,
um, tell me your name

1749
01:15:49,299 --> 01:15:50,425
and what is it that you do?

1750
01:15:50,509 --> 01:15:53,929
Carlos Neal.
I am the owner and the founder

1751
01:15:54,012 --> 01:15:55,514
of the Freaknik Festival.

1752
01:15:55,597 --> 01:15:56,598
[bells dings]

1753
01:15:58,225 --> 01:16:00,644
[Tony Wyzard] <i>When we first started,
he came to me and said,</i>

1754
01:16:00,727 --> 01:16:02,563
<i>"Hey, I wanna do Freaknik."</i>

1755
01:16:02,646 --> 01:16:04,523
<i>I was like, "Really? Freaknik? Okay."</i>

1756
01:16:04,606 --> 01:16:06,859
"But it won't be the Freaknik of the past,

1757
01:16:06,942 --> 01:16:08,443
"it'll be the new Freaknik.

1758
01:16:08,527 --> 01:16:10,195
<i>"We're, we're doing a concert</i>

1759
01:16:10,279 --> 01:16:13,991
<i>"and we institute different organizations,</i>

1760
01:16:14,074 --> 01:16:18,203
<i>some health fairs and things like that,
not just a party."</i>

1761
01:16:18,287 --> 01:16:20,122
I was like, "Oh, okay, great."

1762
01:16:20,455 --> 01:16:23,625
I can, you know,
fully support and get behind that

1763
01:16:23,709 --> 01:16:26,378
because I think that's something
that Atlanta needed.

1764
01:16:27,546 --> 01:16:33,010
When I think of Freaknik, I think of
Freaknik as what you recognize it as.

1765
01:16:33,093 --> 01:16:35,721
- Yeah.
- And what we all recognize it as,

1766
01:16:35,804 --> 01:16:37,598
because we lived that shit.

1767
01:16:37,681 --> 01:16:40,350
<i>You know, from year-in to year-out</i>

1768
01:16:40,434 --> 01:16:42,811
<i>and cars and the partying and all that,</i>

1769
01:16:42,895 --> 01:16:44,188
that's how it should be.

1770
01:16:44,271 --> 01:16:46,940
If you don't--
if you ain't experienced Freaknik,

1771
01:16:47,024 --> 01:16:48,567
you don't know how to treat Freaknik.

1772
01:16:48,650 --> 01:16:50,694
- [Uncle Luke] Right.
- You can't just buy the name.

1773
01:16:50,986 --> 01:16:53,572
[21 Savage] <i>You can own T-shirts
that say "Freaknik" on 'em,</i>

1774
01:16:53,655 --> 01:16:57,159
but you can't own, like,
the essence of Freaknik.

1775
01:16:57,242 --> 01:16:59,328
You know what I'm saying?
That's just how I feel.

1776
01:16:59,411 --> 01:17:01,997
[♪ "When I say Freak you say Nik"
by Playa Poncho playing]

1777
01:17:02,080 --> 01:17:03,207
<i>- ♪ Freak ♪
- ♪ Nik ♪</i>

1778
01:17:03,290 --> 01:17:04,499
<i>- ♪ Freak, F-Freak ♪
- ♪ Nik ♪</i>

1779
01:17:04,583 --> 01:17:06,335
<i>♪ When I say Freak you say Nik ♪</i>

1780
01:17:07,336 --> 01:17:10,088
People are trying to bring Freaknik back,

1781
01:17:10,172 --> 01:17:13,300
but Freaknik will never be
what Freaknik was.

1782
01:17:13,383 --> 01:17:15,802
[indistinct shouting]

1783
01:17:15,886 --> 01:17:17,930
[Clay]
<i>You can get you a-a park</i>

1784
01:17:18,013 --> 01:17:20,682
and do your big party
and call it Freaknik,

1785
01:17:21,725 --> 01:17:25,395
but the actual lifestyle
of living of Freaknik,

1786
01:17:25,479 --> 01:17:26,939
<i>that will never happen again.</i>

1787
01:17:28,982 --> 01:17:30,359
[Shanti]
<i>Everything has changed.</i>

1788
01:17:31,527 --> 01:17:32,945
<i>Everybody's so uptight now</i>

1789
01:17:33,028 --> 01:17:34,696
and you can't even
step on somebody's shoe.

1790
01:17:34,780 --> 01:17:36,448
Like, we had thousands
and thousands of people

1791
01:17:36,532 --> 01:17:38,325
<i>just on the streets of Atlanta partying,</i>

1792
01:17:38,408 --> 01:17:40,994
<i>nobody pulling out guns,
nobody trying to kill each other.</i>

1793
01:17:41,078 --> 01:17:42,829
<i>We were just trying to have a good time.</i>

1794
01:17:42,913 --> 01:17:45,165
[indistinct chatter]

1795
01:17:45,249 --> 01:17:47,042
[Jalen]
<i>We weren't worried about likes,</i>

1796
01:17:47,125 --> 01:17:48,585
we weren't worried about follows.

1797
01:17:48,669 --> 01:17:50,420
And you know what else
we weren't worried about?

1798
01:17:50,504 --> 01:17:52,047
"Ah-ha, I got you!" moments.

1799
01:17:52,130 --> 01:17:55,008
<i>It was a celebration of our heritage,</i>

1800
01:17:55,092 --> 01:17:57,010
<i>a celebration of our Blackness.</i>

1801
01:17:57,261 --> 01:18:01,849
And now with social media,
I don't think that could exist.

1802
01:18:03,100 --> 01:18:05,477
Come show that ass
like your mama and them do.

1803
01:18:05,561 --> 01:18:09,773
[Stacy] <i>I think that Freaknik,
um, was old Atlanta,</i>

1804
01:18:09,857 --> 01:18:13,318
and for those of us
who were living in Atlanta

1805
01:18:13,402 --> 01:18:16,572
or frequent visitors
of Atlanta at that time,

1806
01:18:16,655 --> 01:18:17,948
understand the difference.

1807
01:18:18,031 --> 01:18:20,075
It's just a completely different city.

1808
01:18:20,158 --> 01:18:21,702
[♪ "My Boo" by Ghost Town DJ's playing]

1809
01:18:21,785 --> 01:18:24,413
<i>♪ Boy, you should know that ♪</i>

1810
01:18:24,496 --> 01:18:26,874
I think there is nostalgia about Freaknik

1811
01:18:26,957 --> 01:18:29,168
because it started in such a good place.

1812
01:18:29,251 --> 01:18:31,628
<i>It started with a pure intent.</i>

1813
01:18:32,379 --> 01:18:34,298
<i>But there were some
vile things that happened.</i>

1814
01:18:34,381 --> 01:18:37,926
That's part of the legacy.
That's not going to go away.

1815
01:18:38,010 --> 01:18:42,181
That didn't happen during that nostalgic,
early, wonderful part

1816
01:18:42,264 --> 01:18:44,349
<i>when it was just the students
of the AU Center.</i>

1817
01:18:44,433 --> 01:18:46,393
<i>♪ ...give me a call boo ♪</i>

1818
01:18:46,476 --> 01:18:47,686
[Emma]
<i>What we birthed,</i>

1819
01:18:47,769 --> 01:18:49,646
that they can't own.

1820
01:18:49,730 --> 01:18:52,232
- DC Metro...
- [all] DC Metro Club!

1821
01:18:52,316 --> 01:18:54,151
[♪ "My Boo" continues playing]

1822
01:18:54,234 --> 01:18:57,738
College students need
something that is theirs.

1823
01:18:59,072 --> 01:19:03,577
Young people need places
where they can go and gather

1824
01:19:03,660 --> 01:19:09,208
and not have to be treated
as if they're unwanted.

1825
01:19:11,001 --> 01:19:13,420
We need Freaknik.

1826
01:19:13,504 --> 01:19:15,088
<i>♪ Every night I pray I can call... ♪</i>

1827
01:19:15,172 --> 01:19:17,216
[Marc] <i>We might not need
the name Freaknik,</i>

1828
01:19:17,299 --> 01:19:20,344
<i>we might not need the same city
or the same location,</i>

1829
01:19:20,427 --> 01:19:22,095
but we need Black joy.

1830
01:19:22,179 --> 01:19:23,597
<i>We need Black culture.</i>

1831
01:19:23,680 --> 01:19:27,434
<i>We need spaces for us to unwind
and to connect and to bond,</i>

1832
01:19:27,518 --> 01:19:29,436
and not on the Internet!

1833
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:32,564
<i>♪ Every weekend
just to see my boo again ♪</i>

1834
01:19:32,648 --> 01:19:35,567
These young people right now, today,
they want Freaknik in their lives.

1835
01:19:35,651 --> 01:19:37,569
<i>♪ At night I think of you ♪</i>

1836
01:19:37,653 --> 01:19:39,321
<i>♪ I want to be your... ♪</i>

1837
01:19:39,404 --> 01:19:41,782
[Uncle Luke]
Freaknik was a real serious thing.

1838
01:19:41,865 --> 01:19:44,076
No, it wasn't no revolution,

1839
01:19:44,159 --> 01:19:46,078
but in a sense it was a revolution.

1840
01:19:46,161 --> 01:19:49,748
I mean, it was.
Everything that is here now

1841
01:19:49,831 --> 01:19:53,168
comes from this--
not too far away from this era.

1842
01:19:53,794 --> 01:19:57,339
[Shanti] <i>Oh, the seeds
that we planted paved the way.</i>

1843
01:19:57,422 --> 01:19:59,341
There would be no Future without OutKast.

1844
01:19:59,424 --> 01:20:02,302
<i>No T.I. without Goodie Mob.</i>

1845
01:20:02,386 --> 01:20:06,598
<i>You know, Southern hip-hop went mainstream
on the streets of Atlanta during Freaknik.</i>

1846
01:20:08,517 --> 01:20:11,520
It made me understand how Black youth

1847
01:20:11,603 --> 01:20:14,773
<i>has the power to expand</i>

1848
01:20:14,857 --> 01:20:18,110
<i>and spread culture by itself.</i>

1849
01:20:18,193 --> 01:20:20,070
<i>♪ But if you can please me ♪</i>

1850
01:20:20,153 --> 01:20:23,031
I think the legacy of Freaknik
is just creativity.

1851
01:20:23,115 --> 01:20:24,491
<i>♪ My love will come easy ♪</i>

1852
01:20:24,575 --> 01:20:27,578
[Marc]
<i>The legacy of Freaknik is Black joy,</i>

1853
01:20:27,661 --> 01:20:32,207
Black self-determination,
Black music, Black education.

1854
01:20:32,749 --> 01:20:35,335
[Adamma] <i>From the fashion
to the music to the culture.</i>

1855
01:20:36,712 --> 01:20:38,255
Like André's famous line said...

1856
01:20:38,338 --> 01:20:40,465
The South got something to say,
that's all I got to say.

1857
01:20:42,217 --> 01:20:44,553
It was so big of an influence.

1858
01:20:44,636 --> 01:20:47,139
- I mean, Chevys and dunks and...
- [Jermaine] Oh, yeah.

1859
01:20:47,222 --> 01:20:49,224
[Uncle Luke]
<i>...and dancing on top of cars.</i>

1860
01:20:49,308 --> 01:20:51,852
Freaknik changed music.

1861
01:20:51,935 --> 01:20:54,146
<i>In my opinion, it helped build the South.</i>

1862
01:20:54,229 --> 01:20:57,107
People just massively coming to Atlanta.

1863
01:20:57,191 --> 01:20:58,734
[Jermaine]
It was like a meeting ground.

1864
01:20:58,817 --> 01:21:00,444
And a lot of people fell in love with it

1865
01:21:00,527 --> 01:21:02,487
- and stayed for the rest of their life.
- Oh yeah. Yeah, 100%.

1866
01:21:02,571 --> 01:21:03,947
- Definitely. They never left.
- Yeah.

1867
01:21:04,031 --> 01:21:06,200
Shit, I don't know how many girls
I fell in love with here.

1868
01:21:06,283 --> 01:21:07,910
[laughter]

1869
01:21:07,993 --> 01:21:09,995
[indistinct chatter, cheering]

1870
01:21:11,079 --> 01:21:12,748
[Killer Mike]
<i>Freaknik was and is the reason</i>

1871
01:21:12,831 --> 01:21:14,499
you'll never be able to tell
your mama and daddy

1872
01:21:14,583 --> 01:21:15,667
you partied harder than them.

1873
01:21:15,751 --> 01:21:17,753
Trust me, your mama and daddy got down.

1874
01:21:17,836 --> 01:21:18,837
[camera shutter clicks]

1875
01:21:21,173 --> 01:21:23,634
Uh, ladies and gentlemen,
Freaknik is not to be brought back,

1876
01:21:23,717 --> 01:21:24,968
you motherfuckers. It's over.

1877
01:21:25,052 --> 01:21:27,095
I'm tired of you niggas
trying to resurrect this shit.

1878
01:21:27,179 --> 01:21:28,263
You need to let it go!

1879
01:21:29,473 --> 01:21:31,350
You didn't think you was
gonna get that answer.

1880
01:21:31,433 --> 01:21:33,352
[♪ "Freaknik '96"
by Chuck Inglish playing]

1881
01:21:33,435 --> 01:21:35,938
<i>♪ They saw yo mama down in Freaknik ♪</i>

1882
01:21:37,606 --> 01:21:39,483
<i>♪ That's where all the freaks went ♪</i>

1883
01:21:40,484 --> 01:21:42,402
<i>♪ The Kawasakis and them Jeeps ♪</i>

1884
01:21:43,570 --> 01:21:46,031
<i>♪ The 1996 Olympic Team ♪</i>

1885
01:21:47,491 --> 01:21:49,493
<i>♪ She stoppin' traffic, shakin' cheeks ♪</i>

1886
01:21:49,576 --> 01:21:50,827
<i>♪ Shakin', shakin' ♪</i>

1887
01:21:51,286 --> 01:21:53,121
<i>♪ Beep, beep, who got my keys? ♪</i>

1888
01:21:54,540 --> 01:21:56,500
<i>♪ She out in traffic shakin' cheeks ♪</i>

1889
01:21:56,583 --> 01:21:57,960
<i>♪ Shakin', shakin', shakin' ♪</i>

1890
01:21:58,377 --> 01:22:00,045
<i>♪ Beep, beep, who got my keys? ♪</i>

1891
01:22:00,128 --> 01:22:03,549
<i>♪ Could you Tootsie Roll for me
like it was 1993? ♪</i>

1892
01:22:04,049 --> 01:22:07,052
<i>♪ Panasonic VHS,
we 'bout to shoot a scene ♪</i>

1893
01:22:07,135 --> 01:22:08,846
<i>♪ I mean, I see you in cut-off jeans ♪</i>

1894
01:22:08,929 --> 01:22:10,472
<i>♪ Them tiny strings, you drive a Jeep ♪</i>

1895
01:22:10,556 --> 01:22:12,391
<i>♪ Came from the beach,
came down to see me ♪</i>

1896
01:22:12,474 --> 01:22:14,226
<i>♪ You and Sheena tag team me ♪</i>

1897
01:22:14,601 --> 01:22:17,980
<i>♪ 69 Boyz, 95 South,
we too live ♪</i>

1898
01:22:18,063 --> 01:22:20,148
<i>♪ Whoop, there it is
like I'm Luke ♪</i>

1899
01:22:20,232 --> 01:22:21,316
<i>♪ Now raise the roof ♪</i>

1900
01:22:21,400 --> 01:22:22,985
<i>♪ Who is you?
Oh that's yo boo ♪</i>

1901
01:22:23,068 --> 01:22:24,695
<i>♪ That So So Def, JD and Toomp ♪</i>

1902
01:22:24,778 --> 01:22:26,363
<i>♪ Two more girls in daisy dukes ♪</i>

1903
01:22:26,446 --> 01:22:28,365
<i>♪ And they won't come down
from my roof ♪</i>

1904
01:22:29,408 --> 01:22:31,326
<i>♪ Look at my roof ♪</i>

1905
01:22:31,410 --> 01:22:35,455
I've been a playa all my life so,
it's been Freaknik for me for a long time.

1906
01:22:35,539 --> 01:22:36,790
[chuckles]