ATLANTA — On Thursday, a documentary about the legendary Atlanta street party known as Freaknik airs on Hulu, bringing back many memories—good and bad—about its inception and fall.
For Atlanta Music Mogul Jermaine Dupri, one of the names behind the documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, the event solidified Atlanta as a Black Mecca.
“The way Atlanta is now, Freaknik basically birthed it," Dupri said. People came to this city, and like I said in ‘Welcome to Atlanta,’ they came here and they didn’t leave. They found out this was an amazing place for Black people to raise their families and for Black people to start a living.”
RELATED: Atlanta Freaknik documentary on Hulu
In 1983, five students from the Atlanta University Center organized a picnic inviting students from all over the country to Piedmont Park.
The event was planned for students who couldn't travel back home for Spring Break. But over time, tales of the humble kick-back spread until it blew up from a mere picnic into a raucous week-long party.
“Just word of mouth. Passing out flyers," Dupri said. "This became 200 thousand, 300 thousand people coming to Atlanta”
Reports from the Associated Press said it brought nearly 250,000 students and non-students alike to Atlanta, but nationwide attention also drew the ire of some Atlanta residents who complained about the noise, the gridlock and the dancing in the streets. It also put a huge strain on the police.
“We have to look at Freaknik as a good and a bad thing," Dupri said. "Some people have bad things to say about it. People who lived around Piedmont Park are probably ecstatic there’s no more Freaknik.”
A little over a decade in 1994, city leaders were faced with increased pressure to end the event with reports of sexual assault, including rapes, looting arrests and shootings marked the start of the festival's downfall in 1995.
And though attempts have been made to bring the event back, it never has. Most recently, a Freaknik was planned for 2020 at Morris Brown College; those plans were unraveled partly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dupri wants the focus to be on how this Atlanta era left a major mark on southern hip-hop culture. However, many others are worried about their portrayal in the film.
“Are you ashamed of our Black culture when you say that? Are you ashamed that you were a 21-year-old kid that was going to college, and college kids do wild and crazy things,” Dupri asked.
He wants the documentary to celebrate a time before smartphones and social media when young people were carefree and lived in the moment.