- 2 weeks ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Oh
00:15Previously on Magic City
00:19Magic City is the strip club in Atlanta. Mr. Magic is the boss, okay? I'm Michael Barney aka Mr. Magic
00:27The club blew up so fast and it became an icon in the city
00:33It became the place to be what we started as athletes was the launching pad to the entertainment world
00:39That's Charles Oakley and Michael Jordan. I didn't care who he was. They came to see us
00:45We didn't come to see you. I signed the 120 million dollar contract in Magic City. My jaw dropped
00:51I used to tell him though when I felt the vibe when this Magic City started getting out of control
00:55It's like Cirque du Soleil. It's all joy
01:02Something's gonna hit you. It's just matter of when
01:07Georgia
01:10Georgia
01:14Georgia
01:17Georgia
01:19We on the grindin' Georgia
01:22All the time it ain't nothin' on my mind but Georgia
01:25We ain't playin' with you
01:26We on the grindin' Georgia
01:29All the time it ain't nothin' on my mind but Georgia
01:33We ain't playin' with you
01:34Country name, country slang, fiends at the liquor store
01:37Black cruising, crap shooting, 50 on the ten of four
01:41Overcast the forecast shows clouds from plenty
01:44And we ready for war in the state of Georgia
01:57Atlanta was growing fast
01:59Everybody was coming to Atlanta
02:01We were rolling
02:0290 through 96
02:04I think the greatest time is in that era
02:06It was an era I wish everybody could have experienced
02:09MC Hammer was hot back then
02:12He was probably my hottest artist at that time
02:15And it just kept escalating from there
02:17This is the picture of me and Tupac
02:19Oh, that is my baby
02:21Because we were Geminis
02:22I can relate
02:24We laid in the back at Suge House in Vegas
02:26We had known them before they became like the superstonic star
02:30Ice Cube, Ice T
02:32I danced on stage with Prince
02:33All the Falcon players, some of the Braves players
02:36Just everybody
02:38Magic City was the place to be
02:41Money had hit the ladder a lot more
02:43We had been staying in apartments
02:45We decided to buy our first home
02:46So
02:47And it was a beautiful brick house
02:49And I couldn't believe that we could buy it
02:52It was a game changer
02:54Just to own that property was big for me at that time
02:57It created a lot of good memories there
03:00Mikey grew up there
03:01I was born maybe three years before Magic was open
03:06I didn't know adult entertainment was even adult entertainment
03:10I didn't know anything
03:10Dad went to work
03:11Everything's normal
03:13I didn't want him to know
03:14So I protected that from him for a long time
03:17It started to get where it got bigger than me
03:19It became way bigger than me
03:29Atlanta is one of the top cities in the country
03:32And with good reason
03:33Drugs were big
03:34Cocaine was big back then
03:36MC Hammer was partying a lot in Atlanta
03:39And then in the background you have Freak Nick
03:41Which is like the youth culture sort of rising up
03:45Freak Nick was out of control
03:47It was like having a city-wide party
03:51All night, all day
03:53For days
03:54I have to just emphasize
03:57It was so much drugs out
03:59That's when it really first started
04:01So we was getting some of that drug money
04:03You know what I'm saying?
04:04You had cocaine, eggs pills and stuff like that
04:08All kind of people came in Magic City
04:14My name is Dr. Dax
04:15I'm from here in Atlanta, Georgia
04:17I sold drugs and I had a lot of money and a lot of time
04:20I spent a lot of it in Magic City
04:22Music in the early 90s when everybody was smoking chronic and weed
04:25Shit slowed
04:27And then some people from San Francisco gave me an x-pill
04:30And it was the first time I felt affectionate, compassionate
04:33Everybody needs to eat these things
04:35I started selling them to strippers and girls that worked in the strip club
04:38The house moms, all that shit
04:43Girls started dancing faster and a little bit more promiscuous
04:46Things in the strip club seemed like they were being tolerated further
04:49Because money was growing
04:52That's kind of the foundation for what Atlanta music was
04:54Where we were like, I'm not looking for a life lesson in the music
04:57I'm just looking to elevate, make my heart beat
05:00Everything was kind of based off of tempo
05:02Radiating and sex
05:04The music was booty shake, you know
05:07Very sub-heavy and what a dancer would be
05:10Fast, party-oriented
05:12It was music based off the inspiration of Miami
05:15It differed a lot from what was happening in New York, Los Angeles
05:19You need a different soundtrack for life in the South
05:21Magic City was the epicenter of booty shaking
05:25Booty music becomes really the foundation for how Southern hip-hop, particularly in Atlanta, begins to develop itself
05:33We hope this has made getting to know Atlanta a little easier
05:40But this is just a sample of what's out there
05:42The independent nature of Southern hip-hop is very much in alignment with the independent space of a club
05:50The environment of a gentleman's club is built around the DJ
05:56DC the brain supreme interview take one mark
05:59That's funny
06:00This weird hearing me call DC the brain supreme in a professional interview
06:08I first got to Magic City on an accident
06:12And I was listening to the DJ and the girls were complaining about him
06:16So I was like, Magic, you need a DJ man?
06:19Like, no, I don't need no DJ
06:21Can you cook?
06:22I was like, yeah, I can share
06:24Because I do cook better than most people's mamas
06:26For real
06:29The daytime DJ is like, hey man, I gotta go run some errands
06:32Can you cover for me?
06:33And I get up there
06:36And go hard
06:42It's like, who is this big, sexy, articulate, black DJ?
06:46Who is this?
06:47And it was a different style that they had ever heard
06:52DC, he probably was the first highlight DJ
06:56DC was like our big brother
06:58He always looked out for us
07:00I knew how to rock a party
07:02I was writing a song about Friday nights in Magic City
07:05And Steve Rowland, the other half of the tag team
07:08And it was called the tag team crew
07:10Our first attempt at a booty shake record was
07:13Wump, there it is
07:13Party people
07:14Party on, party people
07:16Let me hear some noise
07:17DC
07:17We went to the studio
07:26I had Magic City girls on
07:30That's me and the whoop, there it is
07:32Whoop, there it is
07:34I was supposed to be in his video
07:36But that night I got real high
07:38So I couldn't wake up that morning
07:39So I missed the video
07:40When we made the record, the original cassette
07:45The original record
07:46The last verse was about the girls in Magic City
07:49Because there was pride in that, right?
07:51Shake that ass, make that money
07:52Send shots to my girls at Magic City
07:54Oh so fine, make it drop blind
07:56Slip 10 more, maybe get that grind
07:58Whack ass clubs, get a grip, take notes
08:00Magic City's home, we ain't no joke
08:02Ladies
08:02When the song actually came out
08:04Oop, there it is
08:05I'm like, no, that's not there
08:06That's supposed to be Oop, Magic City
08:08And in a month and a half, Tag Team was platinum
08:15The rest is history
08:17You can trace that song
08:19Directly back through the streets
08:21Directly back through these clubs
08:23It's one of the only adult entertainment club scenes
08:25In the world in which the talent
08:27Looks like the ownership
08:29Looks like the audience
08:30A great strip club record
08:38First of all, the beat needs to be better than the rapper
08:41It has to be something that a girl want to dance to
08:43Not aggressive, but aggressive
08:45When you hear the vibe and the lady start vibing to the beat
08:48The beat that would last, that could hold the energy
08:51The production is just nasty
08:53It's some blow your wig off type
08:54Girl dancing all hard, buck the move and the wig fly all over there
08:58You need to say some super ratchet shit
09:01It gotta be juking, it gotta be jamming, it gotta be slung
09:04Back in the day, Ice Baby was the hottest record in the clubs
09:08I'm telling you, I didn't even know Vanilla Ice was white
09:11You're almost looking for awkwardness, to be honest
09:13You're looking for like a stopping conversation
09:15All it takes is for one girl to like that record
09:19Now it's in rotation
09:20And everybody keep running to the DJ booth saying
09:22Who is this, who is this, who is this
09:24I've been with DJs in clubs where you can pay them 20 bucks
09:28And they'll play whatever song you want
09:30You know, this isn't all pure, nor should it be
09:32It's the music business
09:34There's an economy between the people picking the music
09:37People boosting music
09:39Managers, labels, street patrons
09:42By the way, at our strip clubs in Canada
09:44Still to this day, you can't throw money
09:47You like pay for lap dances like it's like 1982 or something
09:51So it's a different culture
10:02My earliest memory in this building would be something like that
10:05You know, people trying to like walk you downstairs
10:09Trying to look still through right their eyes or whatever
10:11Mike started off running across the stage at five and six
10:15He was here
10:16He's been raised around the strip or something
10:18He was a little beady boy
10:20Yeah
10:20We used to bring him up there
10:22Used to run around
10:24Some of them used to chase me around the club
10:26Fun stuff like that
10:27But they just loved me because I was Madge's kid
10:29You know, they call me Richie Rich
10:30He'd pick you up and talk you around that kind of thing
10:32I didn't know about that
10:35See, I found about that later
10:36I'm like, took my son to the club
10:39Oh, he was only in there for a minute
10:40There was nobody
10:41He was in my office the whole time
10:42I had his eyes closed
10:43And he didn't see anything
10:45I'm like, took my son to the club
10:49So I just involved myself in things that I needed to involve myself in
10:55That would, you know, help me keep a grip on things
11:02I didn't hang out in the club
11:04It wasn't my cup of tea
11:06I don't have anything against strippers
11:07I don't
11:08It's a means to an end for those ladies
11:10They're beautiful
11:13The joy for me was
11:16All the money I was making
11:19When I first got into the game
11:20I didn't have any money
11:22Telling my mom,
11:23My, it's not as bad as you think it is
11:25And I know that's not the life you want me to lead
11:27But it's leading me somewhere
11:29I would chat with them or have a drink with them
11:31Before I went home or whatever
11:32I would tell them, you know, you don't have to do this
11:35You could do something else
11:37Women that wasn't dancers
11:40They looked down at the women that were dancers
11:44It's just
11:47It just wasn't for me
11:49They looked at what we was doing as foolishness
11:51It really was a blessing
11:52Because if they learn how to do what we did
11:54They probably keep that man
11:56And that man would have to come out here
11:59It was hard on the family
12:01It was hard
12:02But I tried to find the positive in it
12:05And the only positive was the money to me
12:07What he did, he's very smart
12:10He would bring the money home so we can count together
12:15It was an eye opener
12:16Because I hadn't experienced that before
12:21Mike Sr. brought a limo and we would go to dinner in the limo
12:26It was just fabulous, fur coats, diamonds
12:29Magic made sure we had the best of everything
12:32It was like a sex or a Neiman market
12:35All the stones
12:37And not being bourgeois
12:39This is not bougie
12:40It's bourgeois, it's French
12:42Not being bourgeois, but I already knew
12:43I dreamed of this life a long time ago
12:46My fantasy became my reality
12:54Let's talk investments
12:55Because at the end of the day
12:57The bottom line is always the coin
13:01Everything costs money
13:03These clothes
13:04Our wardrobe
13:06The shoes too
13:07If you giving side boots
13:08With the rhinestone razzle dance
13:10And all of the extra hoop-de-la
13:11We're talking Giuseppe number on a stripper boot
13:13Hold on my phone ring
13:15Miss show me the money
13:17You ain't got it
13:20Anywho
13:21It's adding up in the math ain't mathin
13:23Because guess what
13:24We're not done
13:24Ooh child
13:25If you're a mother
13:26None of it is cheap
13:27Access denied
13:28Hair
13:29$300
13:30Skin gotta be right
13:31$400
13:32The nails
13:33$500
13:34The titties
13:34$10,000
13:35Excuse me
13:36It keeps going up
13:37Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching
13:38The coin is adding up
13:40Hell no
13:41Baby
13:42It ain't easy
13:44And it ain't cheap
13:46And it all adds up
13:52Mr. Magic
13:53He's in the business of entertaining entertainers
13:56Those entertainers are part of the draw
13:58To why the audience goes here
14:00Dominique Wilkins
14:01Deion Sanders
14:02MC Breed
14:03Tupac
14:03I could see them on television
14:05But to be in Magic City
14:07And to be 50 feet away from them in the club
14:09That's what made Magic City kind of different
14:11People could come
14:12Take your hat off
14:13Have a good time
14:13I'm over in that corner
14:14I'm over in that corner
14:16And we all having our fun
14:17The next day
14:18There was no talk about it
14:19You know
14:21As a DJ
14:23I get to watch how people treat each other
14:25I get to watch how people hustle each other
14:28You know we stuck together like sisters for real
14:32There has always been a sisterhood within the community
14:35We was a family
14:37We hustled together
14:38We got money together
14:39Don't act like getting money is the happiest go lucky thing
14:42We end up singing songs and having a good time making money
14:45Making money is cutthroat
14:49There's always going to be an offer you can't refuse
14:51I also heard that Deion Sanders offered you a watch one night
15:07Was it for a dance?
15:09No it wasn't for a dance
15:13Strawberry
15:14She used to Joan him
15:16And so Joan means crack jokes
15:18This lingo I'm saying is from the south
15:19She used to Joan him
15:21By his jerry curls and all his jewelry
15:24So he got really really tired of it
15:26He was like look
15:27I'm gonna give you my watch
15:28This watch is worth 55,000
15:31And just put it in my ass and beat her up
15:34Why?
15:35Because she got on his nerve
15:37I was like drop it here
15:38You know what
15:38I'm gonna hit you and just knock you out
15:40Girl he's gonna give me this money
15:42I'm gonna give you 10,000 tomorrow
15:43Let me beat your ass
15:44Mad stopped all that
15:45I had my white boots on
15:46Girl I was ready
15:47See I still never asked him
15:49How did he find that out?
15:51Like our watch
15:52Is this where you didn't know?
15:53Nah that don't ring no bells to me
15:55Yeah I got
15:55You know what I'm talking about
15:56Nah I don't know
15:58But I know
15:59He's like you are absolutely not taking that watch
16:01Give me that watch
16:02So he made me get a watch back
16:06Why would she say that?
16:08I don't want to talk about what
16:10Somebody said because I can't verify that
16:14It wasn't told to me
16:16And I really don't want to tell the story but
16:17He came over to me and he was like somebody said you was talking about me
16:27And I'm like I don't even know you
16:29And I think it was because I was talking to all the other players and not him
16:35I think that was the root of it
16:37We had a little confrontation
16:39And I'm going to leave it at that
16:41Magic made me get up in front of all his friends and apologize
16:46He would give her a watch if she slapped me
16:50If that was the case she should have slapped me
16:54But would it have been worth it in the end to lose a long time friend off of something like that
17:02You understand?
17:03And I grew up fighting so that was my element
17:12Club environments create ecosystems that provide different illusions of power
17:17So the dancers have power
17:20The customers have power because they have the money
17:22The establishment has power because they regulate the trade
17:28I think what becomes dangerous
17:30With customers is when that power is enmeshed with entitlement
17:36And that's when dancers can be vulnerable
17:40Entitlement I think is the biggest threat
17:45It was a dangerous life for the girls, right?
17:48Yes, um
17:49I had a lot of friends that get killed
17:54Two girls in particular
17:58That I still think about
18:01Brown sugar
18:02Her name was brown sugar
18:04And then obsession was her best friend
18:06We was all in the dress room getting dressed
18:11Everything was good, you know, but
18:14The next morning they found him in a rental car torture
18:20And killed
18:20We went to the film room and her mom left the casket open for us to see what they did to our daughter
18:35And she felt like that was scare us from being out there
18:40But it didn't affect me
18:42Not for me to stop doing what I was doing
18:46I couldn't see myself not being a dancer
18:48I could never see myself not being out there like that because I loved it so much, you know
18:53Dancing is the only place that has no doors
19:00But it's the hardest thing to walk out of or walk away from
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24:03It was just like so much money.
24:06It was a brilliant plan, it worked.
24:07I put it on my album, I signed them,
24:09I gave them a deal and everything.
24:10And then I started realizing the strip club
24:13did the exact same thing that the mixtape did.
24:16It brought awareness to the artists.
24:18The strip club was our mixtape.
24:27The International Olympic Committee has awarded
24:31the 1996 Olympic Games to the city of Atlanta.
24:39Atlanta's got its arms around it, ready for it,
24:43prepared to put on the best Olympics
24:44the world's ever seen.
24:46The Olympics was a big deal coming to Atlanta.
24:50This whole city changed, just nobody could see it yet.
24:53Amongst all of this black entrepreneurship,
24:55a lot of poverty, a lot of homelessness,
24:58this is all happening at the same time
25:01that the city is being gifted this opportunity
25:05to become that international city
25:07that Maynard Jackson predicted it to be.
25:10And that creates a tension.
25:13They were on the streets heavy,
25:14Red Dog was big back then.
25:16The police department has a unit
25:19called the Red Dog unit in place
25:21to run every drug dealer out of Georgia.
25:24It was much easier, once the Olympics actually
25:26was locked in here, that they were like,
25:28now we have the excuse to tear down everything.
25:31Everything that was happening around 94, 95,
25:34prior to the Olympics, felt like a push
25:38toward getting old remnants of Atlanta out
25:42that may not be as accepted by corporations.
25:47My perspective is truth.
25:49The way it went down was...
25:56We flown to Tennessee to a party.
26:00Someone called Mike saying that VEA agents
26:04had been in our house.
26:07Again, Mike didn't tell me.
26:09I found this out later.
26:11So he says, hey, you want to get out of here?
26:14Let's go home.
26:16I'm thinking, really?
26:17We're having a great time.
26:18Okay.
26:19So we get to the airport,
26:21and they put us in first class.
26:24Okay.
26:26They must know who we are.
26:28Sure did, right?
26:30We get to Atlanta.
26:32Agents came out of everywhere.
26:34Ceilings seemed like they came out the floor,
26:37out the windows, and came up on us.
26:41And handcuffed Mike.
26:50So it's definitely a process having to get ready, you know?
26:53Got to make sure I got my smells good, all my oils.
26:55My lips are good.
26:56My teeth is clean, you know what I'm saying?
26:58Got to be a bad bitch before you go upstairs.
27:01They are looking.
27:02Y'all ready to go see where the magic happens?
27:04I'm back with you.
27:05The magic, I just feel like I'm performing somewhere.
27:08I just feel good, like it's me.
27:11I feel like I wasn't even here.
27:16I don't know where my mind went.
27:18I honestly feel like I'm closer and closer to my dream every time.
27:23It, like, really amazes me.
27:25I'm just like, wow.
27:27I definitely feel like Magic City is a gateway for you to be great.
27:31We got 30 more minutes.
27:32We got a last leg in here.
27:34We got to make it count.
27:35We got to make it count.
27:39I love that women can make bank.
27:42They all have their little businesses within the business.
27:46I don't think we had any sense that it would blow up the way that it did.
28:04We just got indicted.
28:06You must have the wrong mic.
Recommended
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