In Atlanta, Freaknik Will Never Truly Die

You can take Freaknik out of the A, but you can’t spell Freaknik without the A, as in Atlanta.
While the notorious car-and-girl fest has been dead for more than a decade, the spirit of Freaknik continues to live on in various places around Atlanta (see “strip club” in the dictionary), usually in song and pictures. But this year is different because dueling Freaknik events have sprouted up in the city, not to mention the animated special that Adult Swim aired last week, “Freaknik – The Musical,” starring T-Pain and a host of other rappers.
So, why is Freaknik getting all this love all of a sudden? And what exactly was Freaknik? Physically it was a car show with babes in them. Psychologically, it was a small-city country-boy takeover of a Black Metropolis. Well, maybe it’s pent-up demand. Sometimes you just miss that freak. See, Atlanta, since the mayor that got the party started was sent to jail and back, has straightened its tie, so to speak, and given its soul to business interests. In doing so, there’s been a groundswell of support for things to go back the way they were, for the good times of yesteryear to re-emerge.
Freaknik, call it want you want, symbolized Atlanta at its good-timey peak: The city was fresh from a tryst with the Olympics, millionaires and black people were moving in in droves, and most importantly, the City Too Busy to Hate had jobs. Tons of them.
But things have changed.
The city is no longer as hospitable to visitors as it once was. Unemployment is above the national average.
Jobs are scarce, good times are rare, and well, people miss that Freak.

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