‘Freaknik: The Musical’ debuts on Adult Swim

Rapper T-Pain, also known as Faheem Najm, has resurrected the embers of Freaknik in animated form. He plays the “ghost of Freaknik,” who represents fun and frolic in the form of a black “It”-like figure wearing gold glasses and embossed with dollar signs. He speaks in Auto-Tune style, of course.

Freaknik was the ’80s black spring break picnic that blossomed in the early 1990s into a huge Atlanta-wide party, then degenerated into a police state before dying by 1999.

I was unable to get an advance copy of the one-hour special dubbed "Freaknik: the Musical" so I had to DVR the show. I was also unable to get an interview with T-Pain, despite valiant efforts by the Adult Swim publicist last week. The New York Times did get some time with him:

Indeed, this one-hour special is a complete goof. Fortunately, since it’s on Adult Swim, the types of folks who might be offended are unlikely to see it.  In fact, those people who might be offended won’t be impressed by the voice talent, including Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and “Saturday Night Live” vets Bill Hader and Andy Samberg.

If you missed it last night, here’s a quick summary:

The plot revolves around the Sweet Tea Mob, four Florida rap dudes (T-Pain is from Florida but was too young to partake in the real Freaknik) who drive up to Atlanta to participate in a Freaknik “Battle of the Trillist” contest.

Early on, a drunken old dude in a wheelchair explains to the rappers what the party was about. “Everywhere you looked, you saw booty-shaking. Booty in the clubs. Booty in the street. Booty in the trees! People so inspired by positivity, they just got butt naked on their candy-colored cars. It was like a dream!”

What happened? “Crackers come and shut it down. Police got in the street to scare us, started arresting people… then they killed Freaknik… They couldn’t kill the soul of Freaknik. They say it lives on waiting to return.”

They then summon the spirit and he arrives. “Freaknik’s back, baby!” Freaknik yelps. “Spreading the love as I always do!” He sets up the rap contest with the winner getting a lifetime supply of “money, clothes and ho’s.”

But there's a group called the Boule who aren't happy with Freaknik. They are the "top 10 percent" who keep the other 90 percent of blacks down. They also look suspiciously like Oprah Winfrey, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby and Al Sharpton, to name a few. "If Freaknik becomes too popular," said the faux Cosby, "then we could lose all influence on black culture!" They try to stop the event.

The Sweet Tea Mob (featuring voices of Cee-Lo, Young Cash, DJ Pooh and Rick Ross) drives in a van to Atlanta but get diverted by some hot women at a gas station. They end up meeting with rival rappers, get in a fight, then run. They end up taking a bad turn on their way to Atlanta and end up in New Orleans. Lil Wayne plays a Jesus-like figure there, who inspires them to make it to Atlanta with the proper attitude. He even give them a Lamborghini after their van is stripped. But they run their car over a cliff. Eventually, some black skydivers give them a ride to their destination (think “Honeymoon in Vegas”).

Meanwhile, the Freaknik character becomes the "ghost mayor of Atlanta" and dubs the city "Freaknation." Soon after, Pres. Barack Obama hands the presidency over to the ghost of Freaknik.

The Boule sics a “Perm”-inator-style robotic monster (who looks like Sharpton) to Atlanta to destroy Freaknik. The “Perm”-inator seems to have Freaknik down for the count, but mass love from the crowd empowers Freaknik and he takes down the “Perm”-inator. Then Freaknik is taken away by the “Mother Ship.”