Freaknik: The Musical

I saw Adult Swim's advertising blitz for Freaknik and was so annoyed by it I watched the show out of spite. I actually hoped that it was bad I could keep complaining about the direction they are taking on some of their animated shows. I was pleasantly surprised.

If Freaknik is any indication to what Adult Swim is going to put out in the future, I'm excited. I grew up in Atlanta and I remember Freaknik coming through the city. I had no idea how they would make this into an animated TV show and honestly thought they were going to screw up.

The show had a rather silly plot with a lot of small jokes scattered throughout it. I had to watch it again because I giggled at things characters said (or just Lil John going "WHAT?!" in the background) and missed some dialog. The music in it is pretty good and it's really amazing to see so many artists collaborate on something and have it turn out pretty well. Very entertaining and easily re-watchable.

I'm writing this in absolute disbelief how the main review that showed up on this page is absolutely asinine. I honestly thought for a moment that Al Sharpton himself decided that being a robot trying to destroy a festival wasn't satisfying enough to his ever-shrinking heart. But seriously, the reviewer gave it a 1-star, and went on to talk about how it was down right offensive and about nothing other than money, hoes, and weed.

This is the kind of thing that makes me upset, they had a multitude of rap and hip hop icons working neck and neck with the animators and the writing team. This entire show was supposed to be a tribute to an insane event that happened once a year. Not to be taken seriously by anybody, and to say the only intelligent female throughout, who is based off Oprah, that's just ridiculous. But then again I can tell you the reviewer who caused me to write this also was an extra in the movie itself. At one point Big Uzi is diving into a sea of gyrating asses. This was Jamais Jochim's acting debut in all it's gyrating glory.

This country we live in is a complete culture pit, and I think only when we strip off our pride and really destroy ourselves for comedic benefit is when progress from hundred year old grudges might actually happen.

But then again, titties, money, hoes.

Word out.

Freaknik: The Musical is not a movie, TV show, or a special. It has nothing that belongs in the category of special. It runs in the category of an annoying, atrociously bad film, combined with low grade animation, and even worse, bad lyrics that are hardly understandable because of the terrible syncing process and the chaos usually corresponding the song. It can't be to complicated for a special, which it isn't. Its just a loud show that has an excuse to say "the n word".

T-Pain is a decent rapper, sometimes his songs are a little graphic, but for the most part he is tolerable, but his musical talents are wasted in this mess. He plays "The Ghost of Freaknik Past" in which he brings life to a dead party that took place in Atlanta a number of years ago. To me the celebration should have stayed dead, even in a cartoon, the show is still abysmal.

In the mean time, four amateur rappers try to make their way across the state to get to the rap battle being held at Freaknik. Cee-Lo, Rick Ro$$, DJ Pooh, and Young Money get into the usual mishaps while on the road. They find a wild house party, they try to avoid a group that is ironically trying to whipe Freaknik out (too being ironic Al Sharptoin, Oprah, and Bill Cosby resemble the people against Freaknik), and they need to win the Rap Battle so they get some money to pay their rent and finally get the respect they "seemingly" deserve from their family, friends, and the culture around them.

The show is cheesy and poorly animated to a new degree of awful. The colors are putrid and only black, brown, puke green, and gray hit the screen. It's as miserable as a foggy day. The unkempt society of this show is motley and unappealing to the eye. Aside from the number of problems this show has, the music is what counts. The song by the "Sweet Tea Mafia" is tolerable and doesn't cause harm to the ears, but other songs like T-Pain's "Freaknik's Back" and "Save You" are rushed and failed experiences clearly identifying that this show was a procrastinated mess that doesn't deserve recognition.

I've always admired Adult Swim for their clever lineup of shows, humorous bumps, and cool advertisements among the network. Though for every bump Adult Swim put up for this garbage made me just die a little inside. To quote Ally Sheedy's line in The Breakfast Club and as well seen in The 82nd Academy Awards "When you get older your heart dies." To add mine to the cult classics of movie quotations, "Whenever I see an ad for Freaknik my heart dies." Starring: T-Pain, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Rick Ro$$, Lil Wayne, Young Cash, Sophia Fresh, Snoop Dogg, DJ Pooh, Kelis, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Cee-Lo, Lil Jon, Big Boi, Kel Mitchell, Affion Crockett, Charlie Murphy, DJ Drama, Mack Maine, Mike Jones, and Carl Jones. Directed by: Chris Prynoski and Jacob Escobedo.

I'm not really sure where to start with this. I know that Adult Swim tends to play towards the lowest common denominator, but this is ridiculous; never has the bar been set lower. Take some gangsta stylings, add in a rap battle that ends in a Dragon Ball Z power-up, make sure that the n-word gets dropped on a regular basis, and throw in "weed=good" and "all we want is bling and bitches" messages, and that pretty much sums up the movie. You see committee movies in Hollywood all the time; this was a movie produced by a gangsta-wannabes.

It's mildly homophobic (you have a group of ostensibly gay rappers that provide the counterpoint to the show's group of up-and-comers), and women are relegated to pure sex objects; with the exception of the leader of the 10%-ers, the only women in the show are literally nothing but sex objects; heck, one of the rewards for winning the contest is a lifetime of ho's, and one of the numbers shows Freaknik going around transforming women into big-busted bra and Daisy Duke-wearing ho's. The sole intelligent woman was portrayed as a hungry shrew that wanted nothing but control.

The portrayal of the men wasn't much better. Cops are evil, drugs and alcohol are good, and gang credos rule. All that matters for them is getting drunk, laid, and high. I know that young men see fame as a way to getting sex and drugs, but they usually learn something about whats important on the way up; in this show, it wasn't about how the music was important, but how it was a way to money and getting laid. There was nothing solid about any of the male characters; sort of fitting that that a ghost was the lead, I think...

I know that this was supposed to be "light-hearted" and in the vein of the House Party movies, but it just came off as offensive. I think if you wanted proof that the civil rights movement is dead, and not in a good way, this show would be it...

Adult Swim has been making cartoons whatever they are great, good, or bad and Freaknik: The Musical is one of those great Adults Swim cartoons! It has so much humor in it, the animation is rather decent and characters are funny! The rap songs are super catchy for me to listen to, they easily get stuck in my head. And I literally love how cartoony this looks! Freaknik: The Musical is without one of the best Adults Swim cartoons I have ever watched! Go and watch it! I give Freaknik: The Musical a 9.5/10