EXCLUSIVE: Cole Brown, DreamCrew Leisure, Jermaine Dupri, and Jami Gertz introduced that manufacturing has wrapped on the forthcoming documentary collection Magic Metropolis: An American Fantasy – a three-part collection uncovering the story behind the famed Atlanta strip membership, Magic Metropolis, and its decades-long affect on hip-hop. Drake joins the manufacturing via his DreamCrew Leisure, with Government Producers Adel “Future” Nur and Peter Nelson. Dupri joins with music government Michael Mauldin as Government Producer, and manufacturing firm Scheme Engine.
Magic Metropolis has been an Atlanta establishment and the launchpad for numerous artists since 1985, resulting in the membership’s popularity because the “Black Studio 54” and the traditional knowledge: “If the girls in Magic City dance to it, it’s a hit.” The collection affords an unique look into the enigmatic founder, Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney, and the lives of the numerous ladies answerable for constructing the membership’s mystique.
The collection is directed by Charles Todd (Buddy Man: The Blues Chase The Blues Away, LatinGrammy nominated King of Bachata) and produced by Scheme Engine–a BIPOC-owned studio with a powerful concentrate on ladies and minority illustration–with showrunner and Government Producer Bayan Joonam and Producers Ashley Brooke and Marlowe Blue. “This genre bending docuseries will bring audiences an intoxicating experience that blurs the line between fantasy and reality,” says Joonam.
“This is a unique story of Black entrepreneurship and empire-building in a city that is the beating heart of Black culture,” says collection creator Cole Brown, “I’m ecstatic to be working with a team that will give this story the authenticity and platform it deserves.” Magic Metropolis: An American Fantasy charts the rise and pitfalls of the Atlanta strip membership and its sustained imprint on hip-hop tradition, as informed by workers, dancers, journalists, administration, and numerous Movie Star Interviews together with 2 Chainz, Nelly, Shaquille O’Neal, Quavo, Killer Mike, Large Boi and others.
“Magic City is a second home for me. It’s the one place where celebrities, hustlers, politicians, and Atlanta locals all come together. I’ve watched it evolve over the years from a local joint to an internationally-recognized spot. It’s about time we tell this story the right way,” says EP Jermaine Dupri. In 1985, Barney opened a small membership with one dancer. Over time, Magic Metropolis would welcome superstars Michael Jordan, Madonna, Magic Johnson, Travis Scott, and Rihanna, to call a couple of.
The membership holds a novel place in Black tradition – it was the well-known hangout of infamous drug gang B.M.F. and the location of a widely-viewed get-out-the-vote announcement by former Georgia Governor Stacey Abrams in 2020. The docuseries connects the membership’s aspirational way of life with the mainstream success of Southern sounds from the likes of Jermaine Dupri, Outkast, Future, Migos and extra.
“The inner workings of Magic City and its prevalence in hip-hop are remarkably mysterious – it’s a wonder the story has yet to be told,” says Jami Gertz, Government Producer, actress, and Atlanta Hawks group co-owner. “Atlanta is my adopted home and a place I’m looking forward to celebrating through this story.” The docuseries spans 4 many years, immersing viewers in a community of intertwining relationships between hip-hop, crime, ladies’s sexuality & commodification, Black entrepreneurship, and socio-economic politics.
The collection affords viewers unique entry to the epic footage and information cemented by the membership’s DJs and dancers, high-stakes drug and crime conspiracies, and unbelievable champagne-drenched events attended by hip-hop royalty. Michael Barney’s evolution to Mr. Magic is a narrative of the American Dream, and his membership is a case examine for the examination of hip-hop’s most traditional tropes.
Producers had been granted unique entry to the membership and its founder, Mr. Magic. The collection options unique movie star interviews with hard-to-believe anecdotes, never-before-seen archival footage and impressionistic imagery impressed by first-hand accounts of a “night at Magic City.”
The collection is independently funded with distribution rights to be brokered by CAA’s Bobby Kenner and Joe Aiken and Fox Rothschild’s Darrell Miller.
