Dive into the premiere episode of Magic City - An American Fantasy. This captivating series introduces a world where magic intertwines with the fabric of an American metropolis. Follow the initial journey of its compelling characters as they navigate the mysterious forces at play in their city.
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#MagicCity #AmericanFantasy #FantasySeries #FullEpisode
magic-city american-fantasy fantasy-series magic urban-fantasy premiere magic-city-an-american-fantasy full-episode
#MagicCity #AmericanFantasy #FantasySeries #FullEpisode
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TVTranscript
00:00The first time I was in Magic City.
00:29The first time I went.
00:31When I first got to Magic City, my jaw dropped.
00:36I'm talking about like a $30,000 ring.
00:39I'm talking like a $50,000 ring.
00:42The environment, the aura, the vibe.
00:44It was like something out of a movie.
00:54I don't remember my first time.
00:55You know how much marijuana I smoked?
00:57I was a broke-ass rapper hustling bullshit weed.
01:00All my memories are so fond.
01:02It's like Cirque du Soleil.
01:03It's all joy.
01:04This is where all the big bosses and all the celebrities come.
01:08The first time I met Michael Jordan.
01:10Magic Johnson.
01:12This is a picture of me and Tupac.
01:15Everybody came to see the Magic City girls.
01:18You was the star.
01:19Magic City has the most beautiful black women out of all the clubs and everybody got their shit together.
01:25But it's competition.
01:28Who the baddest bitch?
01:30Two months in, I made $100,000.
01:34Everybody's grinding to be the top girl.
01:37Magic City was this place for black people to flourish, black music to flourish.
01:44It wouldn't be Amigos without the Magic City.
01:47The girls back then that I hung with, we were like sisters.
01:52Dancing is not an easy job.
01:54You're dealing with different people, smells, attitudes, perverts.
01:58I'll kill you straight up.
02:00I'm always packing.
02:01We have to be a little crazy or we'll go insane.
02:06I had a lot of friends that get killed.
02:08It became dangerous.
02:10Something's about to take over.
02:11Gun violence hits a popular nightclub in downtown Atlanta.
02:14A murder outside Magic City.
02:16A guy tried to burn this club out.
02:18Police have arrested a total of four BMF members.
02:21That was the downward spiral.
02:23People don't know these things because...
02:25People are not supposed to see this.
02:29You're only supposed to experience it.
02:31Georgia.
02:35Georgia.
02:39Georgia.
02:42Georgia.
02:45We on the grindin'
02:46Georgia.
02:47All the time.
02:48It ain't nothing on my mind but
02:50Georgia.
02:51We ain't playing with you.
02:52We on the grindin'
02:53Georgia.
02:54Georgia.
02:55All the time.
02:56It ain't nothing on my mind but
02:57Georgia.
02:58Georgia.
02:59Country names, country slang, fiends at the liquor store.
03:03Black cruising, crap shooting, 50 on the ten of foe.
03:06Overcast, the foe cast, souls, clouds from plenty.
03:10And we ready for war in the state of Georgia.
03:13Yeah.
03:14We're located here, the world famous Magic City.
03:26I would ask you, do you have any guns, knife, hand grenades, C4 detonator, blaster cap, dynamite switches?
03:32I extend though.
03:33Once you tell me no, we will move forward.
03:35You will go in and see the beautiful ladies on the inside, pay what they ask you to pay, and the magic begins. Period.
03:44Magic City has always been known as like creme de la creme when it comes to strip in Atlanta.
04:01It's been owned and operated by the same family, it's been in the same building.
04:06It's just, Magic City is Magic City.
04:09I knew the club was named Magic City, but I didn't know that the owner himself was Mr. Magic.
04:14I had no idea.
04:15Mr. Magic is the boss, okay?
04:20He is daddy.
04:22Magic's like everybody's uncle.
04:27Smooth.
04:28No nonsense.
04:29No coming in close with no bullshit.
04:31Magic, the coolest motherfucker on planet Earth.
04:33He's a gentleman and a scholar.
04:35For us as dancers, he was like our father.
04:38He reminded me of my dad.
04:40He's a family man.
04:41He was the Casanova.
04:43He's good with the women.
04:45Charisma, the gift of gab.
04:47Magic is a gentleman gangster.
04:50But don't try him.
04:52Dude from Jersey.
05:02I'm Michael Barney, aka Mr. Magic.
05:07Born in Camden, New Jersey.
05:09I come from a family of seven.
05:11I dated Mike Sr. in high school.
05:15Through college, he went to Duke University.
05:18And after he graduated, we got married.
05:21We both came from dysfunction.
05:24We wanted more for our kids when they grew up.
05:27I told my mom one day, I'm packing up.
05:28I'm out of here.
05:29Put my little suitcase.
05:30I didn't have much back then.
05:32Threw it in a dodge coat.
05:36Rode up out of there.
05:39I didn't want to move south.
05:40It was a stigma.
05:41The people weren't as progressive.
05:43And I don't want to be around that.
05:45That's not what I'm used to.
05:46I cried from New Jersey to Atlanta.
05:55Came to Atlanta.
05:56And the guy introduced me to a job where you had to sell for commission over the telephone.
06:00You know there are telephone sales persons.
06:02No better qualified than yourself.
06:04Earning well over a hundred thousand a year.
06:07So the more you sold, the bigger the checks.
06:10So I was amazed with that.
06:12And they couldn't beat me so they used to say that he's magic.
06:21So that's where the name came from.
06:25He did well.
06:27Atlanta was a culture shock.
06:29I wasn't accustomed to being around so many affluent Afro-Americans.
06:35You know Atlanta has always just been this great place to dream.
06:38And then you can look around and you can see it become a reality.
06:43You think about Atlanta and the civil rights movement.
06:46Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy, Ambassador Young.
06:49Come together as one nation without violence.
06:52And then here comes Maynard Jackson.
06:55Atlanta literally is on a roll, is on the brink of setting an example for the rest of the world.
07:00Maynard Jackson was the first African-American mayor of Atlanta.
07:03Being the first black mayor is what you wish on your enemy.
07:09Okay?
07:11He changed the way we expected to do business in our city.
07:15If we were putting money in a bank, he demanded that that bank have visible diversity, representation.
07:23Maynard directly said, you're going to do business with us or you're not going to do business.
07:27I want to see us culturally rich.
07:29It set a tone for a city that was really building itself as this black Mecca.
07:39In Atlanta, the dream is coming true.
07:45The dream is shining through.
07:47The team is coming through.
07:48I saw black excellence every day. It was normal.
07:53Everything I ever thought I wanted to do or liked or looked up to, I saw a black person doing well in that sphere.
08:01Atlanta's black Hollywood.
08:03This is the first place I saw a black man driving a Bentley.
08:07He wasn't an entertainer. He damn sure didn't look like no athlete.
08:11He looked like he just fucking got off work.
08:14They could be a professor. They could be a doctor. They could be a lawyer.
08:17That was the most nut to make up that black world.
08:21Beautifulest thing I've ever seen in my life.
08:22Mr. Magic has the foresight and insight to get in on what's happening in Atlanta.
08:29It has entrepreneurial advancement, but it also has the club.
08:34The club.
08:40You know, I had never seen strip until I came there.
08:43I just was hanging out with some people and one night they took me to the Foxy Lady.
08:48That was the first strip club I probably ever went in.
08:51Something captivated me in there.
08:54After my first experience, I used to put my suit tie on and go up in there.
08:58I just started going by myself, just find a corner and try to count the people, the beer bottles.
09:04Then I started going to the other clubs, trying to see the difference.
09:08There were other clubs in the city that were hood.
09:12Purple Onion, Montrez, Blue Flame.
09:16Cheetah probably was the best.
09:18And I started talking to the girls, asking about what do they think would make this place better.
09:23And then one day I seen a white guy come in and he kept always coming, go behind the bar and get the money.
09:29And I kept saying, well, who is that?
09:30Man saw the way that other clubs were not valuing their talent.
09:34Mike always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
09:37At some point he got the club idea.
09:40I used to see my vision.
09:50I could do one of these kind of clubs.
09:52All my love is all I have.
09:57And my dreams are very special.
10:02All my life I looked for you.
10:05And today my dreams come true.
10:08You're home, yeah, yeah.
10:11I'm riding around and I think I found a building before anything else came to fruition.
10:30Just a small bunch of people painting and trying to just get the door open.
10:37That was the first challenge.
10:39At the beginning when I opened Magic City, that strip was a slut.
10:42That's all they thought of it as.
10:44Sexual, drug, this and that.
10:47It started with one dancer.
10:49And they would go down to the hotel passing out flies.
10:52One dancer.
10:53And maybe that first week or two, I was doing everything.
10:57I used to run up and do the music and serve the drink.
11:01Just started off like that.
11:03The 85 was rough.
11:05After I did the lease, I was broke.
11:08Everything else was bag-borrowing and stealing like that at that point in time.
11:14Everything I had in the world was tied up in there.
11:17Hard to make your wife understand that.
11:18He was leaning into the club business now.
11:24Unbeknownst to me, I was like, you mean like a nightclub?
11:29And he said, yeah.
11:31I had no clue.
11:32I had no idea it was going to be a strip club.
11:36So, when the grand opening came, he backs me into the club.
11:44He doesn't let me walk in face first.
11:48He said, close your eyes.
11:49So, I'm thinking I'm going to be surprised.
11:52And I was.
11:54I'm going to sit you at the bar.
11:55I just want you to keep your eyes closed.
11:57Well, I couldn't.
11:59And the first thing I saw was this female with the most perfect backside I've ever seen in my whole life.
12:08And my eyes, I was like, Mike, she doesn't have any clothes on.
12:14He says, I know.
12:15Everything's going to be okay.
12:16He's trying to keep me calm.
12:18And I'm like, Mike.
12:20I said, she doesn't either.
12:25My mind was blown.
12:27I was trembling.
12:29I was angry.
12:31And he's standing in front of me.
12:32And he's just trying to, he says, just believe me.
12:36This is all about the money.
12:43He opened a strip club right under my nose.
12:46I didn't like it.
12:47I didn't appreciate it because they're coming up to him and they're, Mr. Magic this and they're cute.
12:53And I got baby body because I've got two kids.
12:56I felt insecure to say the least.
13:00There were some friends there that knew it was a strip club and never told me.
13:05It was the best kept secret that anybody could keep from a person.
13:09My name is Kenneth Beatty.
13:15They call me the wolf.
13:17What's going on?
13:19Back in the early 80s, Magic was the security guard, the bartender, the waiter and the DJ.
13:28I was a bank robber back then.
13:33It was a long time ago, like in 85.
13:36I was in the street doing my thing.
13:40Just trying to get away from the policeman.
13:43So I said, well, okay, I got to duck off until the heat get down.
13:46So I wind up popping right down here in Magic City.
13:50And I came in, you know, we sit at the bar having drinks and all of a sudden you just start hearing famine on the door.
13:57Bam, bam, bam, bam.
13:59It was a fist and they came in and laid both of us down.
14:02And I was like, wait a minute, man.
14:03Y'all got me, man.
14:05That man ain't got nothing to do with this.
14:07This was the first time I ever met him.
14:10First time I ever met him.
14:12So they handcuffed me, took me out of here.
14:16From that day forward, we just been cool.
14:19He looked out for me, made sure that I was okay.
14:22He checked on me, got me a lawyer.
14:24He's always been a friend.
14:25When I came back, Magic City was just crazy.
14:29Everybody just gravitated toward it.
14:31It held its own.
14:33Magic City is not the first gentleman's club that's in the city.
14:37It's the first gentleman's club to elevate what happens inside the club.
14:41Mr. Magic wanted Magic City to have the best of everything.
14:47The best food, the best environment, and the best women.
14:51The other clubs, we'd catch a pretty girl every now and then, but they couldn't get them in abundance.
14:57Just kept on hustling.
14:59Just trying to get a squad of nice looking women.
15:01And I just used to think if you could put it all together, people would come.
15:16What makes a Magic City dance a poppin?
15:20What makes a woman powerful?
15:24Let's be clear.
15:26Magic City may have been Big Magic's fantasy.
15:29But baby, this is our shit.
15:37Okay?
15:38Now back to the story.
15:50I never did this before and I'm just nervous.
15:52I'm scared.
15:55No, no, no.
15:56I say too much.
15:57Strawberry was the funniest person in the whole wide world in the club.
16:01She was our comedian.
16:03Clap, my mama.
16:05She used to be loud.
16:06How's your body to you?
16:08Have you ever told any of these stories before?
16:10No.
16:12Okay.
16:14Let me have some wine.
16:16Let's start from the beginning.
16:18My friend was like, well, we're going to go to Magic City and try to get a job.
16:24Didn't know what Magic City was.
16:26So we went over there and they took us downstairs to talk to Magic.
16:30He asked us our names.
16:32I said, well, my name is Cherry.
16:34He was like, well, I already got a cherry.
16:37You got to think of another fruit like a strawberry.
16:38You know how he talks.
16:40Strawberry.
16:42She done well.
16:44She was a hustler.
16:46She started something new when she used to bring more customers than most girls could get.
16:51I had a certain trick that I do.
16:53I can't say it on TV.
16:55You got to leave that up to your imagination on what it could have been.
16:59And that was another new phase.
17:02You had your girls recruiting and trying to bring money in.
17:05Platinum.
17:06My alter ego.
17:07Because I had to defend Sonya.
17:10Sonya's real sweet and giving.
17:12But Platinum was a beast.
17:13And don't mess with her.
17:15That's all I can say about that.
17:17At that time, other states was just topless when Atlanta was new.
17:22In Michigan, we call them titty bars.
17:25And so down here, they call them pussy clubs.
17:28Yeah, they don't.
17:31So the adult clubs in Atlanta all went nude.
17:35Because in 1970, a play called Herrick made its way to Atlanta.
17:42And it features the actors standing nude on stages.
17:47The prosecutor wrote a letter saying if they came out nude, they would be arrested.
17:52A federal judge ruled that not only was nudity not obscenity,
17:57but it could be performed anywhere.
18:00The Atlanta strip clubs went from topless to nude the next day.
18:05And they've stayed that way since.
18:07When I first came, they was very intimidating.
18:13Because I had never seen pretty women comfortable with being nude and stuff.
18:18The first time I was in Magic City, I was intimidated because I was like 97 pounds in an A cup.
18:23And I felt like to be a dancer in the South, you got to be like big booty, big thigh, thicky thicky.
18:30I danced a little bit and then I took my clothes off and turned around like they asked me to.
18:38Body check.
18:45The average woman might think that the job of an entertainer is oh so easy.
18:50That is, until you got to get that body check.
18:53And a body check is exactly what it sounds like.
18:55They check your body.
18:56You strip naked, do a 360, and they just look at you up and down.
19:02They turn down a lot of girls that come in here.
19:06They want to see what you're looking like.
19:07Because, I mean, essentially you're going to be naked in some heels.
19:10When you come to Magic City, these girls in here are serving one thing, and that's body-ody-ody.
19:16That's body-ody-ody.
19:37Them first five years were tough.
19:38You had to just keep trying to get people.
19:41It just took time.
19:42But, by 89, superstars just showed up.
19:49Dominique, when you were drafted out of the University of Georgia over there in Athens,
19:54first round pick, straight to Atlanta and, you know, I was the happiest human being.
19:58Dominique was like the biggest thing that hit Atlanta.
20:01Dominique was a god in this city.
20:03As a young person, it just makes you say,
20:05when and if I get to that point, I'm going to be just like him.
20:08Dominique brought a little fire to the clubs, to out in the street, you know,
20:11just a different type of chatter.
20:13Man, when I tell you, the money, the doggone, the notoriety.
20:20Just let Atlanta.
20:26So what do y'all want to know?
20:27I think what I brought to Magic City, a little excitement.
20:35We took off.
20:37Dominique was just real cool.
20:38I used to gamble with his mother.
20:40I remember platinum.
20:41He was like a big brother.
20:43All their dancers came to our games.
20:46It was a party.
20:47Then he started bringing other players.
20:48Magic City was our sixth man.
20:51And what I mean by that is that we could send them guys over there to hang out.
20:55Magic City would wear them out.
20:57The next night, they had no shot of beating us.
21:00But there were certain guys that could hang out all night at Magic City and it wouldn't face them.
21:05Magic Johnson.
21:07Man, Magic Johnson was a beast.
21:08Yeah, we would go the night before the games.
21:11Go there and over party.
21:14Man, I remember the time that I was contract renegotiating.
21:21I'm in there and I had one of them big dope man cell phones.
21:24I want everybody to know it's me.
21:26So it's ringing.
21:28Hey man, where you at?
21:30I'm out. What's happening?
21:32I need you to come to the hotel right now.
21:34Why, what's up?
21:35I need you to sign this contract.
21:36Bro, we can't do it tomorrow because it's cracking.
21:40And I got something going on.
21:42He's like, no, I can't wait till tomorrow.
21:44I was like, why not?
21:46We're going to make you the first $100 million player.
21:49I'm like, what?
21:51That's when I signed the $120 million contract.
21:54I've never told that story before, but I was actually in Magic City having a good time.
21:58History was made that night.
22:00And I remember, he was kind of wild.
22:03But you know how many stars came through that door?
22:06In Magic, the day shift.
22:08I look up to the corner.
22:10That's Charles Oakley and Michael Jordan.
22:13Oh shit.
22:15They say, hey, what's up MJ?
22:17My name's Tip. They call me T.
22:19I reach my hand out. He reached his hand out.
22:22And...
22:23Knocked his cigar out of his hand.
22:28So, he looked down at the cigar, I looked down at the cigar.
22:33We looked back up at each other.
22:35We looked back at the cigar.
22:37And I'm thinking, I know he don't think I'm finna pick this cigar.
22:42My brother Phil picked it up.
22:44There you go, MJ.
22:45And then him and Phil went back in the VIP and they started drinking and hanging.
22:49He ain't gonna get back to that no more.
22:51You know what I mean? That was a moment in time.
22:53You would never see anything like that.
22:56That type of interaction with the nightlife and professional sports.
23:11There are a lot of misconceptions, stereotypes and stigmas that come along with dancing.
23:17You hear the most negative things from people who never even been inside Magic City.
23:22People who only seen movies where the strippers are prostitutes or drug addicted.
23:27And they run with what all strip clubs must be like, but they never saw it for themselves.
23:32In all instances, we all have our own story.
23:39I work to help at home, but...
23:41Music made me feel so free.
23:46I didn't even look at nothing.
23:49The way the club was then, it was like mirrors all over.
23:53And so we could see ourselves.
23:59And if you liked it or not, I don't care.
24:05They started dancing because they needed to take care of their parents or their children or their siblings.
24:12I dreamed of this life a long time ago.
24:15And coming to Magic, it was magical.
24:20I don't have a high school diploma or any type of college degrees, but I'd have a doctorate and strip.
24:25Because that was my university. And I learned a lot.
24:26It's a real world over here.
24:27Outside of this world right here.
24:28They didn't really accept you over there.
24:29It's a real world over here.
24:33It's a real world over here.
24:34Outside of this world right here.
24:35They didn't really accept you over there.
24:36That world is devilish.
24:37Just period.
24:38Nobody walked around with a halo over their head now.
24:39Nobody walked around with a halo over their head now.
24:40There's something about Atlanta that understands the balance between the same people.
24:41It's a real world over here.
24:42It's a real world over here.
24:43It's a real world over here.
24:45There's a real world over here.
24:46It's a real world over here.
24:47zombie funzionZYs Yonglerockika
24:48It's a real world over here.
24:49be perfectly perfect.
24:50It's a real world over here.
24:51có
24:52It's a real world over here.
24:53Outside of this world right here.
24:54They didn't really accept you over there.
24:55That world is devilish, just period.
24:59There's a real world over here.
25:03it now. There's something about Atlanta that understands the balance between the saint and
25:10the sinner. The balance is needed. Saints and sinners need one another. If you don't have these
25:16clubs, you never have the soil to grow the music industry that creates an outcast. If you don't
25:22have the so-so death Magic City Marriage, do you ever get the hit records Money Ain't a Thing?
25:29How you doing? I'm Jermaine Dupree and I produce records, rap records.
25:33Magic City was like my movie office. Somebody comes in town and they have to go meet the
25:39Godfather at this place. Jermaine Dupree and guys like that, they elevated it to another level.
25:48Well, I used to tell them though, when I felt the vibe, when this Magic City started getting
25:51out of control, it's going to do us well if it doesn't kill us. I think the greatest time
25:58is in that era. 90 to 96. That set the stage for whether we was going to be a player-ass
26:04city or was we going to turn into some dark, dumb gangster shit. Something's going to hit
26:08you. It's just a matter of when. Magic City is more magical than Disney World. Magic City,
26:15entertaining entertainers. I danced on stage with Prince.
26:181.30 was about Magic City. Making money is cutthroat. There's always an offer you can't refuse.
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