Get Your Freaknik On

“Freaknik in many ways is what Woodstock was for white people,” explains Dr. Maurice Hobson. Hobson is an historian at Georgia State University and former Freaknik attendee. 

Freaknik was a legendary street party that started in Atlanta back in the early 80s. For more than 15 years, young Black people from all around the country flooded the parks and streets of Atlanta every third weekend in April. There was dancing in the middle of the streets, step shows, and concerts with rap stars like Outkast, Goodie Mob and Uncle Luke.

“It was the perfect storm. You know, it could not happen anywhere else. It had to happen in Atlanta,” rap legend Uncle Luke tells Trymaine Lee. At one point, Luke was crowned “King of Freaknik.”

This week, Into America explores the rise and fall of the greatest block party America has ever seen, and the impact that Freaknik still has on Atlanta and Black youth culture today, told by the people who lived it, including Uncle Luke, Maurice Hobson, radio host Kenny Burns, and Freaknik co-founder Sharon Toomer.

For a transcript, please visit msnbc.com/intoamerica. 

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Thoughts? Feedback? Story ideas? Write to us at intoamerica@nbcuni.com.

Further Listening: 

• Big Daddy Kane’s Lyrical Legacy
• Black Joy in the Summertime