The highly anticipated Hulu documentary, “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told,” released its first official trailer on the legendary spring break experience of the ’80s and ’90s in Atlanta.
Killer Mike, Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri, Too Short and other hip-hop artists are seen retelling their stories of participating in one of the greatest parties of all time.
“At its heart, Freaknik is a music documentary,” P. Frank Williams, the film’s director and executive producer, told Variety. “Luke [Luther Campbell] is the soundtrack of Freaknik, [Dupri’s] So So Def label is directly correlated to Freaknik, and 21 Savage is the new school — they’re fascinated with the wild stuff we did, the clothes and the music of that era.”
“Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” looks deeper into the festival’s impact on uplifting Black culture, joy and empowerment. While the coming-of-age story does include the downfalls of the iconic Atlanta street party, the documentary examines its cultural significance, which has endured with the following generations.
“The turn-up, the cars, sexuality, joy, the daisy dukes – that’s the candy of it,” Williams continued, per Variety. “But there’s also some vegetables in it – which is the Black empowerment, police brutality was part of it, Black cultural realization, young women realizing their sexuality, young men too. Freaknik is really a coming of age story about a generation who was trying to find a voice in a world that didn’t accept them — but this is a place they created for themselves. Freaknik is the ultimate personification of that.”
The trailer features footage from those who attended the annual spring break festivities. The sneak peek also includes additional interviews about Freaknik’s legacy from the event founders, politicians and partygoers.
“The legacy of Freaknik really started in ’83, I don’t know if people realized that,” Williams said. “It was about kids trying to find a place for Black joy. Freaknik wasn’t just about the party: Our goal was to show how it affected politics, culture, race, there was a lot with sexuality, gender.”
The film is executive produced by Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, Jermaine Dupri, 21 Savage, Terry “TR” Ross, Melissa Cooper, Alex Avant and Tresa Sanders, Geraldine L Porras and P. Frank Williams.
“Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” is scheduled to be screened next week at SXSW’s film festival before becoming available to stream worldwide on Thursday, March 21.
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