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00:00previously on magic city federal indictment alleges that barney operated a major cocaine
00:21distribution operation to the streets of metro atlanta mike you must have the wrong mike
00:29i never sold no dope i was traumatized the attorney says it's about shutting down that club
00:35when magic went away is when i feel like the etiquette was tampered with at that time magic
00:42city was the number one black club in atlanta it was a space where women could be a part of the
00:48hustle community when i finally became the it girl i had this one friend that he'd fly in every monday
00:56night just to see why chocolate dance it was meechi from bmf we pay you know that's simple a lot of
01:02niggas don't like to spend their money we love to spend our money georgia georgia
01:15country name country slang fiends at the liquor store black cruising crap shooting 50 on the 10 to 4
01:28overcast the forecast shows clouds from plenty and we ready for war in the state of
01:46america atlanta atlanta's this wonderful city where people are thriving and we look great in music
02:01videos but it's really this tale of two cities i'm not from around here but i with this
02:07music i understand it there was a time where i was watching smack dvds at my mom's crib you watching
02:15smack too nigga and i would see bmf be in magic city bmf baby there's some ogs you know like india that
02:25were surrounded by and immersed in that life did y'all get india in the dark we've been working for a
02:30long time she hasn't said yet i'll call india free let's see if she breaks up what's uh where you at
02:38i'm in the a where you at i'm uh i'm in the middle of talking about you for the magic city documentary
02:45are you really yeah you got to come and tell your stories though because it's it's not a doc without
02:51you you behind it yeah it's all the problem all right
02:54i'm born and raised i'm a georgia peach for real i danced that magic in the late 90s 2000s
03:04mitch he was family to me he brought something to magic that never been done we all elevated
03:11from that big mitch era we have to give him his flowers
03:14atlanta was just a perfect stage for big personality it was a place where you could be
03:25young black and fly spend your money and you didn't draw any particular attention
03:33when people think bmf black mafia family they're thinking of that high-end lifestyle with the greatest
03:39show on earth as mitch used to call it being left was created by big mitch and his brother terry
03:49they created a drug cartel you just watch the build of this group of guys
03:55ain't no telling how many 250 300 people in the club at one time
04:00the the antics that they're known for over the top partying there'd be a string of cars that hadn't
04:06come out yet fully customized going from one club to another everybody's shining like new money there
04:12ain't no other crew like this in the world and never will be another
04:18i started becoming a regular in magic city once bmf came they were so flashy you almost had to go in
04:26your shoebox and be like you know i got me up i got a couple dollars up i got a couple hundred you know
04:31what i'm saying my first birthday set when me first start coming to magic us dancing on hundred
04:36dollar bills vmf blowing money fast that's what he did vmf came in and changed how everything
04:44operated i mean it didn't make sense probably spending a hundred grand plus on any given night
04:55who invented making it rank it's a throwing money thing to make it right here is a movie within itself
05:01there are a lot of people who say they invented making it rain somebody might have called
05:05themselves taking credit for making it rain that was a bmf advent i started that in another club
05:13a boy easy they didn't have no ones he started throwing fives 20s i don't remember it happening
05:19before he came throwing money in the air and not giving a definitely bmf i'm not gonna argue with
05:25people definitely bmf but this right here we've invented that for the record the only big spinners
05:33we ever had was like bmf for real can't nobody talk big meach meach we love you he don't show love to
05:40this girl that girl that girl he break bread with the whole club from the djs to security to the bartender
05:46and the waitress the house mom when you're just showing everybody love now that's balling out
05:51meach would throw money and you dance on the money it would just be a pile of money excuse my french
05:57but i damn to made about 15 16 000 at night meach flooded the block one night i maybe made about seven
06:05or eight thousand dollars three songs and then that started other guys doing it and then they started
06:12this money-throwing war i didn't have my first share of wars with meach you never want to let anybody
06:20throw more money than you once he take off everybody taking off and it's just like
06:25one time i should pull out five and i pull out 10. you pull out 15 i pull out 20. probably spend
06:32about a hundred thousand between the both of us girls started buying houses with that money
06:38immediately girls started driving nicer cars one girl at majesty it was day trading
06:44i didn't think much about the dancers i thought more about the management that was left in charge who
07:02handled things wrong some of the management that worked during the time mike was there
07:08had cut me off they wouldn't talk to to me anymore they now had a new chief and that's who they were
07:17loyal to these were people i knew for years they turned them back we had bills we had attorney fees
07:27after a while the money ran out the breadwinner was gone so i had to quickly figure out how to survive
07:37mikey stepped up from the ninth grade until he graduated he worked seven days we were just in survival mode
07:46he was everything whatever i needed he would even tell us you guys go ahead and eat i'll eat what's left
07:58it still touches my heart because he shouldn't have had to do that he shouldn't have he should have
08:03been having the time of his life but he worked i would go sometimes in the room and shut myself in and
08:11cry they would come and they would all surround me and hold me and they just said mom we love you it's
08:21going to be okay everything's going to be okay they were my soldiers they helped me through
08:31motherhood it's a major challenge your kids come first i have four kids i have two sons and two girls
08:39i'm a hustler and it's enemy necessary to come to my kids so i had started selling drugs the person
08:45who was selling drugs for me snitched me out and my house was busted i stayed in jail for three months
08:53without a bond it was an eye-opener for me because my kids had never been apart for me so momma got a
08:59bond got me out i tried to work a regular job i was a supervisor for a visa the credit card company
09:05that lasted like six months i don't like paychecks it's not enough money for me i kind of dabbled
09:13into the strip club world because the big bosses was in that club and i knew a lot of guys
09:22probably wanted to see me naked you feel me
09:24i used to make a flower bloom out of my private area and you just see this rose blossoming up out of
09:39me and coming back and going back it was beautiful though and there was just guys just giving me money
09:45like you fine as hell like you fine as hell big meach gave to a lot of people he always supported
09:56anything that i did with the kids that era paid for a lot of people's tuition it paid a lot of folks
10:04homes it paid off a lot of car notes you know a lot of money was made during that time but i also
10:12believed that it was just attached to the type of music that was coming out
10:19what is trap music trap music is
10:28philosophical presentation set to music detailing the lives lifestyles and experiences of refugees of
10:37the war on drugs
10:57the first wave of trap music you can actually smell the dope being cooked you could feel it you were there
11:02the music made you feel like you were there drugs get sold in certain ways everywhere but trapping
11:06is unique to atlanta and like southern towns we have two-story projects they're spread out on a
11:12widespread piece of land there's a lot of dead-end streets we coined it the trap just because of
11:17that one way in one way out talking about town if somebody is from denver then they probably know how to
11:24ski somebody that may be from hawaii they can surf i lived in a neighborhood that was a trap i used my
11:33trap money to buy some studio time this is the beginning of trap music becoming its own subgenre
11:41of southern hip-hop not a southern sound or a miami sound but in atlanta sound gucci and ti are i think
11:46presenting the dope boy lifestyle from the ground level then jeezy swoops in with the backing of the
11:54black mafia family and bmf and he becomes this sort of larger than life kingpin figure i met jeezy through
12:02meach we met at magic city magic city was like an office you know every week jeezy gonna be in there
12:10it will be so many taste makers you wanted your song played around these people i brought dj nanda over
12:15here it's a new record you want to see what it sounds like and just see if the girls move to it i
12:21introduced jeezy to nando i said nando let's turn this up tonight boom he started breaking the record for
12:29me yeah not to mention bmf made this they theme song
12:45bmf is in the building dj nando would just let it play because they're gonna turn up at the end of
12:57the night the girls have to tip out the dj if jeezy had music to push i pushed it because i make money
13:04off of it i could dance to it so it's an operation that's happening now the bmf era was an era where
13:10that type of money could be spent but it was an unsustainable era
13:21niche don't broke us off the whole bmf family don't broke us off we don't made a check at magic
13:27we danced on hundreds 20s 50s whatever that was thrown but dancing is not an easy job you're dealing
13:33with different people smells attitudes perverts all money ain't good money to me
13:43i used to be really really really really nice like too too nice in the beginning but then once i
13:50realized like okay the more nice i am the more people are gonna take advantage of me then i had to be more
13:57like a bitch i have a story this guy that coach he was a little perv and he wear gray sweatpants but
14:06he broke money he pulled me back towards him and all i feel can i say what i want to say is this
14:11nigga dick sticking out and i'm like running and i'm backing up into a penis i'm like what the
14:18fuck at magic city i'm getting naked for my first time ever and i'm dancing literally somebody touching my
14:25vagina and i'm like why would you do that that is so disgusting they were like nah i'm spending my
14:33money on you i can do what i want to do i'm like what of course they want to fuck automatically i had
14:39a customer try to lick my coochie yesterday guys tend to think that because you're naked it's okay to
14:45grab your ass it's okay to grab your titties it's okay to try to you know put their fingers inside of
14:50you or pour liquor on you or whatever the case that's like seeing a girl at a pool party and thinking
14:54because her ass is out in the thong that you can smack it no like know your boundaries there's been
15:00times when i've been insulted people have asked me how much i'm not a prostitute one time somebody
15:07slapped me on my ass when i'm on stage and i kicked them literally kicked this nigga with my heels
15:13and he went backwards like me i'll kill you straight up i always i'm always packing we have to be a
15:19little crazy or we'll go insane it's real simple that's true that's why are you all right mb
15:31magic city profits off of a representation of dancers as available people are being sold this fantasy
15:42of access to these dancers women especially black women we figure out how to negotiate a space in a way
15:51that benefits us the confines of a strip club dancers then have to think of themselves as both object and
15:59subject here they are doing their thing dancing feeling confident but also having to see how their
16:06patrons view them and erect all of these walls of armor to allow them to take up space in these
16:14environments no matter how it makes them feel
16:21we don't want your man we want his money okay we want what's in his pocket not what's in his pants
16:25so we are going to say and do and seduce and ooh la la and va va voom to get that in the moment
16:31whenever they try to start using their manipulation tactics on me i can be more manipulative like i can
16:38i'm gonna say whatever you need me to say see now i feel like i'm telling y'all my business oh no
16:45they might watch this and then try to you know use my stuff on me
16:53there's there's tactics there's strategies that us girls have for instance i had to take seconds
16:58that that's good oh it's my first day it's my first week i'm a new girl meanwhile that
17:02bitch been here for two and a half years okay she just changed her wig so you could think she's
17:06somebody new more when thanks handsome oh taking care of my sick grandpa i have to work to pay the
17:12bills girl your baby daddy trying to start his rap career and you're funding it
17:19thank you darling a little birdie told me this one so you know don't quote me however you give a girl
17:24your phone and thinking she do do putting in her digits but she's really doing this
17:29sending herself a few bucks but not me though either way you're gonna give it to her so don't be bad
17:37a girl like me what i'm gonna do is pick that money up off the table and spend it on myself
17:42when he ain't spending enough okay and that's free game you're welcome
18:02mikey wanted his father home and we had to take it a day at a time
18:10i still went to work and had my job my career my mom's a backbone she's a backbone of everything
18:18my mom used to be more involved in the club back in the day
18:22my dad went to jail and then she she opened bonding companies
18:25when he went to jail that kind of got her interested in the field
18:30mom has always been more of her kids she don't really say much about working in her own her own
18:37company she's just a family woman that's all she dedicated to mikey and jewel to work for me at the
18:46bonding company i started being active in the church and i would speak to him about maximum minimum
18:5217. it was just on my heart to let people know that this can happen to you too we rose from the ashes
19:00i learned i was tougher than what i thought i was and um maybe even smarter
19:12bmf started coming around and um it was awesome it was like kind of like damn look at these
19:16motherfuckers you know but then it quickly became kind of like holy they're
19:19bringing a lot of attention to all of us now these guys have to be being watched
19:23the billboards they were like setting your behind on fire the last thing you want to do is draw
19:34particular attention to your illicit behavior
19:39i remember one night i was in magic city and i remember seeing meach and his brother standing
19:45they actually stood on the stage it was you couldn't see no more girls it was just bmf everywhere
19:52i actually remember just like looking at the stage like damn where the girls at and i was actually
19:57like man this ain't cool y'all just took over the club meat consumed the room past the point of people
20:05respecting him now they were just mad you've taken over the club you're getting all the special
20:11treatment what's so great about you and then it became dangerous a lot of violence started happening
20:19around that era people were getting stabbed in bathrooms and shit gun violence hits a popular
20:26nightclub in downtown atlanta i remember a guy pulling a gun inside of magic
20:34everybody's scammering i got pinned in a corner there was nowhere for me to go
20:40i felt very unsafe just in the past week there have been at least five shootings at or near atlanta
20:47clubs and restaurants one night i was driving i was with my best friend and she's like yo this car
20:53been following us we got on this little side street blocked the car start trying to bust out the window
20:58to get to me that was like the spookiest thing that ever happened to me you just always have to
21:04really pay attention to who it is and what they're asking for because you know people can try to take
21:10advantage of you rape you rob you whatever the case you had to have a lot of heart to be around this
21:16stuff i know i know strippers that had to go to jail and go to court they witnessed murders stuff was
21:22just happening out in the open me got into some wild west shootout in buckhead i remember going by
21:27there and all the windows were shot out everywhere like i don't want to be near this because i don't
21:31want to be grouped in with whatever federal agencies are watching these motherfuckers and they
21:35are and then you started hearing about club owners being like the feds come in here and get all receipts
21:40and everything we told me she said just give them what they want i was like well these guys must know
21:44that they're going to go to prison and they're just trying to have the best possible time they can
21:48before it all goes to the last time that meach and i actually saw one another it was obvious to me
21:56the uh the thousand yard stare at this point a bunch of stuff is going on people are getting
22:02arrested we know it's like yo i'm not gonna see you for a while type of thing u.s marshals and atlanta
22:09police have arrested a total of four bmf members an organization that at one time claimed to rule
22:14atlanta now agents say that's no longer the case ultimately what meach is convicted for
22:21uh is continuing criminal enterprise that was the downward spiral magic city is not the same it lost
22:29a lot of its heart and soul i think you know i believe i was there the first monday after meach was
22:34picked up and magic city was very somber quiet it was like a funeral a little bit meach pumped a million
22:44dollars a week into the immediate economy well when the mob leaves everything leaves behind us like
22:52a vacuum i made the switch from magic to gentlemen's club because magic was closing it was ugly it was
22:58ugly something that magic would have never tolerated if you start something you grew it you built it and
23:04it's not the brand that you know you built and you see it deteriorate that's hard that's hard
23:14so we had been preparing for his arrival eight years dad's coming home you know we have little
23:29parties and we dance around and everything and you know uh the day comes and i watched him walk closer
23:38and closer and i'm like is he really coming out no guards are coming out no
23:43handcuffs nothing he said yeah i'm out i'm done he got in the car he said i'm in a car
23:52and so long you know a lot had changed so he had to get acclimated and i was like wow
23:59i had to get used to not having the power anymore
24:05the day he came home i was in trouble at school my mom was like wait till i tell your dad he just got
24:09out too i was like my dad's always been authentic he's always been himself he led with his actions
24:15and i think we naturally try strive to be like him we got into a car wash we got into parking we got
24:22a different stuff like that until he can get back into magic so i came home right i guess at the end of
24:29the bmf club had changed dramatically when that came it was pretty run down it was 120 days from being
24:36sold on the auction block this manager they were pumping the money out of it at that point in time
24:45after eight years i hate the club i was like we're done with that we're absolutely finished with that club
24:55let's find something else to do let's open another business regrets
25:06about my life no i don't believe in the regret far too much i'm more about um can you get up from no
25:16matter what hit you i've sort of learned to take that and turn it into excitement and i believe there's
25:22a will there's a way and that's where i think the divide came
25:43my dad had this huge collection and one day i finally just like took a magazine out of that small
25:51stack and i was like astounded i just remember praying so much when i was a kid i wanted to be
26:01beautiful i want to be beautiful but you know i didn't see black women glamorized like this i think
26:07that was a big thing magic was like all the dreams come true about playboy magic city taught me to harness
26:19that sexual energy and not be afraid of it
26:32the old man be remembered in a ladder magic city probably been the only constant in our life the
26:52impact that he had on the community will speak for itself magic city is absolutely necessary the economic
26:58impact is real it wasn't given to us we hustled for it we changed the game baby he put his all into
27:04it until he achieved what he set out to accomplish it's a blessing and curse even though it gave a lot
27:09it stole a lot it stole a lot
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