This August will mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop.

We've already brought you our special series, Street Disciples, which traced how politics

and policy impacted the evolution of hip-hop, and now the genre, in turn, influenced America.

And now, as summer gets in full swing, we're bringing back another hip-hop favorite, our

episode about the incredible history of hip-hop's most notorious party, Atlanta's Freaknik.

This episode originally aired on June 30, 2022.

You might not ever cross a black person in the United States who has never heard about Freaknik.

Freaknik in many ways is what Woodstock was for white people.

People were grilling out some of the frats for stepping.

You know, people were just really just hanging out.

They grew and grew and I'm really big. I mean, people were coming from all over the country,

not just college students, but other young black singles.

Ain't been nothing like Freaknik.

He blurs out Freaknik. You gotta come and tell me this is out of control.

I'm like, what is it? He's like, it's just imagine the biggest blackest home coming,

but in the spring, I'm like, wait, I have to be there.

It was a different kind of freedom. It was like freedom, but it was also like solid

there. Freedom, I felt like a small nation.

It was a perfect storm. You know, it could not happen anywhere else.

It had to happen in Atlanta.

Freaknik. Freaknik was a legendary street party that started in Atlanta back in the early 80s.

Every third week of April, for more than 15 years, young black people from all across the

...