Jermaine Dupri and Uncle Luke Talk to Apple Music About New Documentary, ‘Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told’

Ebro Darden sits down with hip-hop legends Jermaine Dupri and Uncle Luke on Apple Music 1 to talk about the new Hulu documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told. They dive into the little-known origins of the Atlanta street party that drew hundreds of thousands during the ‘80s and ‘90s and how it evolved into the party of lore that it’s known as today. They also get into Uncle Luke’s history as a pirate radio DJ, his legal battles with George Lucas, and how he “invented” the Black strip club.

The episode is available now alongside an exclusive playlist curated by JD and Uncle Luke featuring songs that were popular and frequently played during Freaknik over the years.

Key quotes and photo are below, please feel free to use and credit Ebro Darden on Apple Music 1.

Jermaine Dupri Talks To Apple Music About His First Time Experiencing Freaknik…

Atlanta, the streets was full and they didn’t never go nowhere. They just stayed out there all night. So as a kid, you saw it was almost like a thunderstorm. It would be on the news, like “Freaknik is coming this weekend. If you live anywhere around Piedmont Park, you might want to go out of town. The streets will be jammed, blah, blah, blah.” They’ll send you all of these messages. And for me, it was just like, okay, I want to go downtown and see what’s going on. I want to at least get in the car and do whatever. So at first, before I was driving, I had to be like, “Ma, let’s go outside. Let’s go out and get in this traffic.” But as I grew into it it became something that I wanted to get into, drive around in and just see what was happening. And it was pretty amazing from that perspective of just being in the cars and not ever getting out the car and going to a parking lot in the club and being in the parking lot and seeing everybody just dancing outside and doing whatever it is. It actually felt like a natural thing that was supposed to happen every year.

Jermaine Dupri Tells Apple Music That Freaknik Started For The HBCU Students Who Couldn’t Afford To Travel Home For Spring Break…

They had no money. They couldn’t go home for spring break. And there was five people that said, “I’m sure it’s a hundred other kids out here that’s in the same space. Let’s throw a picnic for them that can’t go home.” We ain’t even going to charge them for food. They was giving away food. It was almost like Burning Man. They created something that was like Burning Man, we going to give y’all food because we don’t have no money, and I’m sure y’all don’t have no money.

Jermaine Dupri Tells Apple Music That Uncle Luke Is Responsible For The Invention of Black Strip Clubs…

JD: The story goes so deep that in Atlanta, all I know is strip clubs, right? And I don’t know Atlanta to not be a place where we don’t have a strip club. [Uncle Luke] was going to strip clubs before Black people. He actually invented Black people going to the strip club, and I don’t think in hip hop we ever talked about this, ever. He invented Black people going to the strip club in Miami. Because I asked him, I said, “In Miami,” I said, “How was the strip clubs in the ’80s?”

UL: No strip clubs in the ’80s. It was only white strip clubs. Tootsies is the biggest strip club in the world right now. It was a little spot right next to the skating rink that I used to throw the parties at, and the bouncers took me over there and they were like, “Yo, you got to check this shit out.”

JD: And he was like, “I ain’t going to no strip club, white biker be over there, white bikers.” He said, “Nobody Black went to the strip clubs in Miami.”

UL: Nobody.

Jermaine Dupri and Uncle Luke Tell Apple Music About Luke Started His Own Pirate Radio Station In Miami Since The Real Radio Stations Wouldn’t Play His Music…

JD: Luke went to England and discovered pirate radio stations and took that shit back to Miami and created a pirate radio station. And that’s how his music got popping. That shit is crazy to me.

UL: Bass 919. I would take it and play off and say, man, I just … Man, fuck it. I’m going to just go play my own record. Because they won’t play it. And then after that then how the pirate radio station thing became so more unique, then the other brothers say, “Okay, man, we’re going to have a Jamaican pirate radio station, but then we’re going to have Jamaican at night and then New York in the daytime.” And that’s how DJ Khaled got on, because he was on Mix 96 pirate radio station.

Uncle Luke Tells Apple Music About Getting Sued By George Lucas For Going By The Name Luke Skyywalker…

I went and actually got a release from him. But then when the height of the controversy happened, Tipper and Al Gore wife and all of them, they were sending letters to everybody. So they then sent the letter to George Lucas. “How dare you let him use that name, George Lucas?” And then I ended up getting sued by George Lucas, had to go to court and let me remind you, I had a release from him, which I didn’t think I needed a release, but I was just trying to protect myself. I got in court in LA and had to pay George Lucas $500,000. That’s why I do not look at a Star Wars movie today. I do not look at nothing George Lucas do. No, I’m going to stay at none of that. When I see George, I’m like, “Man, you ripped me off for 500,000.”