Should you’ve been to Atlanta and have an interest within the metropolis’s nightlife, it’s doable (possibly even possible) that you simply’ve stopped by “Magic Metropolis.” You’ve in all probability a minimum of heard of it. The well-known downtown strip membership has been patronized and rapped about by Atlanta rappers because the Nineties, changing into an extra a part of the lore of Atlanta as a cultural hub.
That affect and affect on tradition, and particularly hip-hop tradition is the topic of a brand new five-part docuseries not too long ago acquired by Starz, in accordance with Deadline, set to debut this summer time on the community that can be house to exhibits “BMF” and “Energy Ebook III: Elevating Kanan.”
“Magic Metropolis: An American Fantasy,” directed by Charles Todd, is a journey via the membership’s historical past and the way it grew to become important to the sound of hip-hop, particularly within the 2000s and past. Well-known anecdotes about “Magic Metropolis” all contain artists utilizing the house and the ladies who labored there to resolve which songs would develop into hits, successfully changing into an area as vital as radio for breaking data. The story additionally focuses on the membership’s founder Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney and the ladies who dance there and made the membership a cultural mainstay and centerpiece of what’s scorching (or not) in hip-hop.
“Magic Metropolis: An American Fantasy is a riveting behind-the-curtain have a look at one of the distinctive locations in Black tradition. The docuseries’ unprecedented insider entry and historical past unveiled from those that constructed its empire is an ideal complement to Starz’s slate of grownup, culture-driving exhibits,” stated Kathryn Busby, President of Authentic Programming at Starz.
Jermaine Dupri and Drake’s DreamCrew Leisure, amongst a number of others, are govt producers of the sequence, which premiered at SXSW final 12 months. Jermaine Dupri was not too long ago an govt producer on Hulu’s “FreakNik: The Wildest Story By no means Instructed.”
“Magic Metropolis” has been talked about in too many hip-hop songs to call, particularly by artists from Atlanta, proving to be so important to the tradition of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene that it was the location of the legendary Verzuz battle between Jeezy and Gucci Mane that befell in November 2020, the place the 2 former enemies stood collectively for the town.
Jeezy, Future, and a pair of Chainz—three artists whose success in hip-hop in all probability owes partially to the strip membership—even launched a track known as “Magic Metropolis Mondays,” a nod to the membership’s chokehold on Monday nights in Atlanta for the entire celebrities, rappers and ballers who would come via and “make it rain,” a nod to the cultural phenomenon of throwing hundreds of {dollars}—in $1 increments—into the air and letting it fall to the ground in cinematic trend.
