T-Pain resurrects Freaknik – as an Adult Swim cartoon
A decade later, Freaknik is back — in animated form.
Rapper T-Pain (left) has executive produced a one-hour animated special set to air on Adult Swim in March called “Freaknik.”
Anyone who lived in Atlanta in the 1990s knew it well. In the 1980s, Freaknick started out as a modest gathering of African-American students during the third week of April. But by 1994, it had mushroomed into a city-wide spring-break party with traffic jams, men videotaping booty-shaking on car roofs, and debauchery galore.
With no warning, the party would hit major thoroughfares, creating snarls for hours. Folks who weren’t even in college started causing trouble. There were cases of sexual assault and drunken lewd behavior. Residents rebelled and the city government subsequently squelched the fun with aggressive police patrols and traffic stops. By 2000, Freaknik was more or less dead.
The entire situation became a bit of a racial football. Some people have warm memories of Freaknik, especially in its earlier, more halcyon days. But others still blanch when they think about the inconveniences it caused. The latter group probably won’t be inclined to watch this cartoon. And since it’s on Adult Swim, it’s obviously targeting a more mature audience.
The special features T-Pain as the “ghost of Freaknik.” Fellow rap starLil Wayne voices a man named Jesus. (Some Web reports erroneously say he’s actually playing Christ. Not true.) Plotwise, Lil Wayne’s character advises four guys who are coming to Atlanta to compete in a battle of the bands contest during Freaknik, according to Adult Swim spokesman Tim De Claire.
Adult Swim released a promo last year. The special was supposed to come out in the fall of 2009 but was pushed back to the spring. After some feedback. I decided to pull the embedded video. It’s a little risque. If you want to see it on YouTube, here’s the link.
I’ve had to moderate this one pretty aggressively. It’s now 9:52 p.m. I’m turning off the ability to comment now. Sorry!
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81 comments Add your comment
Kassie
January 12th, 2010
3:45 pm
Ummmm…did you all watch this before putting it on a website that my 7 YEAR OLD CAN CLICK ON??? Just wondering idiots!
Wink
January 12th, 2010
3:50 pm
Yeah Kassie…like your 7-year old is reading the AJC online.
Jim M.
January 12th, 2010
3:52 pm
Let me see if I understand this: You don’t want US to be divisive, yet you post that promo?
Well, heck, the animation and design is nice …
Zack
January 12th, 2010
3:58 pm
Or like your kids won’t be watching Adult Swim in the first place. Thanks for INFORMING us Rodney. It’s not his job to babysit your kids.
guy
January 12th, 2010
4:09 pm
i don’t miss freaknik. what can i say? i am not a thug baller.
Tracy D
January 12th, 2010
4:12 pm
There is nothing PG-13 about Adult Swim! They could have chosen another name for Lil’ Wayne. OMG!
lantana
January 12th, 2010
4:15 pm
AJC should be ashamed to run this trashy promo on their site. I am embarassed for you, Rodney as this shows a major lapse of judgement on your part.
You Dolts
January 12th, 2010
4:17 pm
@ Kassie….
Can you read??
“Warning: it’s a little PG-13, like the network itself.”
Or did you just see the word “Freaknik” and memories of you with your legs behind your head on top of some dude’s car came racing back and you lost all sense of the here and now?
miss marta
January 12th, 2010
4:19 pm
let me get this right. you guys – or some guys – bleep out the B word and the F word, but not the N word?
right…
Kim
January 12th, 2010
4:19 pm
You all sound like blubbering idiots. You have your opinion, theres mine. Its on an adult television station so its your responsibility to watch your children, not America. The lil wayne comment was a little edgy so watch it and let a generation relive there fun years..im sure a few of you miss Woodstock.
ricky
January 12th, 2010
4:29 pm
What crap! This is nothing but a rush to see how offensive you can be in a one minute clip. Do something serious with your life….
Not all ATL is hood...
January 12th, 2010
4:36 pm
Atlanta’s biggest issue is, being Atlanta.
Jeff
January 12th, 2010
4:36 pm
Freaknik was a detriment to the city that has yet to be overcome. Some of the largest conventions(Atlanta’s lifeblood) fled and have not returned. Visitors did not feel safe and were disgusted with the gridlock that was caused by Freaknik…
Tony
January 12th, 2010
4:40 pm
Shaqwanda Lafonda Jones III: Well played. This shouldn’t be taken as a call to bring back the fiasco that was Freaknic, but as a chance to look back on what was with a nostalgic shudder and perhaps get a few hundred residents to call our new Mayor Reed and remind him that there is no way this crap is going to be tolerated again — even if it does make for a good cartoon.
E
January 12th, 2010
4:40 pm
That clip was one of the most awful things I’ve ever seen. How is THAT supposed to be entertaining? It does nothing but reinforce the very reasons why so many Atlanta residents were so opposed to it in the first place. Watch that garbage on tv all you want…just please don’t bring the real event back, ever!
Keith
January 12th, 2010
4:42 pm
Yes Freaknick cost the City of Atlanta 22 million dollars a year wjen Comdex left!
Lucky to escape the 'ATL' in '99
January 12th, 2010
4:46 pm
Freaknik in Phatlanta or Fat’lanta, take your pick.
JJ
January 12th, 2010
4:50 pm
I for one miss Freaknik. I am a white male, 32 years old and YES I went down to Freaknik with my friends. Sure there was a few things here and there that maybe was a little extreme. Nothing worse than waht you would see in Panama City, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Daytona, Myrtle Beach, etc etc etc during spring break. I think if maybe some of the Freaknik participants would have done like their white counterparts and got drunk and jumped off the roof of the Westin, people wouldn’t have cared much. Losing any revenue for a city is bad. That being said….
People are way too sensitive. That promo was meant for an adult audience (PG-13 is generous, but whatever, the lines are skewed). I for one can not wait to see this show, as I am sure it will be just as funny as everything Cartoon Network has put on the air (well maybe not as funny as the Boondocks, but probably close). For all of you who are offended, GET A LIFE, MOVE ON, and DON’T WATCH!!!!! If you don’t want your kids to watch, BLOCK THE CHANNEL. Most TVs, dish, and cable providers offer that option. Better yet, monitor your children better. This show is going to come on when they should be in bed anyways. So there. As far as the promo goes, you were warned. But curiosity got the best of ya. And sure your kid could click on this, but maybe you should monitor what they do on the internet better too.
TheManMike
January 12th, 2010
4:51 pm
Kim
HAHA – Are you really comparing Freaknik to Woodstock? That would be woodstock 99` right? It is comical to even try placing Woodstock 69` and Freaknik in the same sentence…
Richter
January 12th, 2010
4:52 pm
Why not have Barry make an appearance on this show — anyways he likes to cheapen the Presidency on every late night show. Why not get his groove on this pimp and thug show too?
**Frederick(Bailey)Douglass**
January 12th, 2010
4:55 pm
The Freaky-Deeky was ATL at its PRIME!!!
The only thing that could stop it was Bill Campbell (I guess he couldn’t make any $$ off if it). City planners should have been more thoughtful and creative with organizing the event. Could have become something like the Jazz Festival in NO or CIAA in Charlotte…however, ATL is too racially divided to allow young Blacks to take over for even ONE weekend.
Could have been major $$$ if organized and moderated correctly.
**Frederick(Bailey)Douglass**
January 12th, 2010
4:57 pm
“TheManMike”…I didn’t make Woodstock, but the Freaky-Deeky ‘94 was SOMETHING SPECIAL.
Tracy
January 12th, 2010
4:57 pm
Someone please help me understand what flying female anatomy has to do with Freaknik?
Daniel
January 12th, 2010
5:07 pm
Is it just me or does the green monster’s mouth look alot like a womens privates. Also, the colorful vortex that he just fell into.
Danny Del
January 12th, 2010
5:08 pm
The best were the ladies with the mini’s riding on the back of a speed bike.
FREAKNASTY
January 12th, 2010
5:11 pm
I still remember my mom telling me “honey, I saw things I had never seen before. And I mean pornographic things”. Bless her heart, she was on her way to a wedding in Midtown and got much more than a wedding. That is why I love Atlanta. She needed to see big booty shakers for herself and not on TV. You don’t get those things in the burbs.
Jay
January 12th, 2010
5:12 pm
BINGO JJ YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD….
Danny Del
January 12th, 2010
5:14 pm
Tracy…that stuff is flying all over the A. wink-wink
Strong Black Woman
January 12th, 2010
5:14 pm
Moving to Houston when this happens. I’m serious.
Danny Del
January 12th, 2010
5:19 pm
I’ve never been, but my buddy says you can experience Freaknik every weekend in Atlanta at Atlantic Station.
Blond Haired Hippie
January 12th, 2010
5:25 pm
“It is comical to even try placing Woodstock 69` and Freaknik in the same sentence…”
Why??? The only difference is the race of people, and nothing ever got set on fire downtown
daman
January 12th, 2010
5:26 pm
The event wasn’t canceled because it was black. It was canceled because black people attending the event showed no respect to the city and it’s residents. Whether it was a few of them or most of them, it was enough of them to create a really bad impression and no city would want that again.
They didn’t spend money in hotels and restaurants and scared the actual spenders from going downtown to spend. It cost alot of money to police and clean. Economically it makes no sense to host the event.
There was also nothing good spiritually or otherwise to bring to the city. Didn’t help anyone or make anyone’s life any better in this city. It was void of anything positive or good so I don’t see why anyone would want it back.
It is an excuse to be lawless by the fatherless.
AtlantaGuy
January 12th, 2010
5:27 pm
How is it the African American community can stand up and yell they do not have opportunity to progress and then accept something like this? It is African Americans in the media who continually foster and push these stereotypes that are doing the most harm to African American community. All African Americans should boycott this and complain to AdultSwim. Nothing about this show will help further the cause.
Young black male
January 12th, 2010
5:28 pm
I was around 9 when Freaknik was shut down so I honestly have very little to say about the Freaknik itself. I’ve heard about what it was like and why it was shut down and I can understand both sides in the argument for and against it but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish it’d come back for a year or something just so I could experience what it was like. But Atlanta really doesn’t have the infrastructure or environment to host an event like Freaknik and was probably chosen only because it’s considered the “Black Mecca” so shutting it down was probably a good idea.
As far as this cartoon, it looks like pure garbage. On a simplistic level, the animation is terrible but on a deeper level, it’s ripe with all of stereotypes that plague black people now. I’ll probably watch it just to see it but I can perfectly see how this thing will offend people and cause a lot of controversy (probably what Adult Swim wants).
And I’m confused as to how the author of this article can say that they won’t tolerate anything that crosses the line but a sterotypically ignorant, “black” comment from a (most likely) fake user named Shaqwanda Lafonda Jones III is allowed. It reeks of something you’d see on the Stormfront when they’re trying to impersonate black speech and was mostly likely written up by a racist person. If you want any validity to the last claim you made, I’d suggest you delete that.
Nada
January 12th, 2010
5:29 pm
This is not appropriate for this website. What has happened to the AJC? Clean up your act or lose this reader.
Byron Mathison Kerr
January 12th, 2010
5:34 pm
The link to this page was the intentionally misleading, Freaknik is coming back?
I am so thankful I have a strong heart! I used to live at Peachtree & North Ave during its heyday.
The AJC is gone
January 12th, 2010
5:38 pm
This is just proof that the AJC has slipped down the ladder of journalism and is no longer a respected news outlet but rather just another crass website pandering to the lowest common denominator.
Thanks for lowering the bar Ho.
astonished
January 12th, 2010
5:44 pm
we talked about that word (astonished) in prek the other day.
WHY WHY WHY is this on ajc?
WHY WHY WHY is this show coming on at all?
its ignorant, its derogator, its pitiful.
is this where tv is headed? and why were all those negative words allowed to be played? this did not belong on AJC, it does not belong on tv. adult or otherwise, it is garbage. where is the petition against it? ill sign!!!!!!!
lemme guess, after seeing the success of the ignorant housewives of atl, they thought of THIS????
whats EVEN MORE IGNORANT is that people look at this and think that all black people act like this.
Charlie
January 12th, 2010
5:47 pm
Great song! Those times we great fun.. especially the bikini-clad babes carrying boa constrictors. Te traffic was a mess..it made Atlanta famous, and we all knew it wouldn’t last. It just outgrew itself, but it was like the Carnival in the Caribbean…..party time! It was like having a circus delivered to my doorstep..I just couldn’t drive anywhere. It was amazing. Historic!
JL Lager
January 12th, 2010
5:50 pm
OK, so you have this misleading link in your smut headlines on the front page to talk about an Adult Swim cartoon with no interviews or anything from the people over at Turner. Oh, and I don’t think this is the crowd for that YouTube video either. Instead of reporting about some really quirky Atlanta inspired stuff, you gloss over the history of Freaknik and put T-Pains picture up for clicks.
Well I didn’t expect anything more from the Roswell Journal-Constitution. Who is the publisher this week anyway?
Yo Kim
January 12th, 2010
5:52 pm
Kim:
im sure a few of you miss Woodstock.
Me:
Woodstock was on an isolated farm way, way, way, out in the middle of nowhere. Not on Ponce, North Ave, Piedmont Road, Peachtree St. all over downtown, midtown and Buckhead. See the difference?
Freaknik Veteran
January 12th, 2010
5:55 pm
I met my wife at Freaknik!
Kassie's Child
January 12th, 2010
5:56 pm
I guess momma forgot to close her last webpage….I can’t wait for this Freaknik cartoon….I’m staying up all night to watch this!!
pg-13
January 12th, 2010
5:58 pm
are you KIDDING me?
this is why we are headed nowhere fast. should a 13yr old be listening to this?
definitely not!
shameful what we subject ourselves and our kids to just because we are too lazy to exercise morals
Uncle Tom
January 12th, 2010
5:59 pm
Somebody jumped off the roof of the Westin?
KJ
January 12th, 2010
6:00 pm
The good news: You met your wife at Freaknik.
The bad news: So did several other guys.
malika
January 12th, 2010
6:01 pm
rodney, seriously, that clip is a little abrasive and offensive and should be removed. and i’m actually a FAN of yours!
Helen Lovejoy
January 12th, 2010
6:02 pm
Won’t someone PLEASE think of the children???
GaPeach
January 12th, 2010
6:03 pm
Went to freaknik in the early 90’s. Loved it! What it became was a bit of a shame, but the same goes on at white spring break weekends! We had fun without pulling up our shirts or getting sloppy drunk. Just good college fun!
Rodney Ho
January 12th, 2010
6:06 pm
Malika–I removed the embedded video but kept a link up. Fair compromise?