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.

Best thing to happen to and come from hip hop in many years. Freaknic, The Musical has a star studded cast (of hip hop artists) that brings the excellently written script to life, as well as gives depth and realism. "Freaknic ain't real, its a urban legend, like Candyman (the character from the movie)," became, for me, one of the more memorable lines from the musical. Great one-liners and 90's references as the previously mentioned before are pleasantly placed throughout the musical, maintaining a quick pace of comedy. Freaknic, The Musical, as a work of hip hop music brings a fresh critique of the genre as a popular art form and as an urban form. Freaknic, The Musical also offers an intellectual component, similar to Adult Swim's The Boondocks, as it makes fun of conservative black thought for more liberal and modern culture. Once again, Adult Swim has delivered thoughtful programing for its targeted audience.

I watched this movie and just fell in love. The rapping is solid and sounds great. The acting was humorous and well done. The story line was not made to be serious. I know a lot of people dog on T-Pain for "over using auto-tune", which does at times make people sound a lot better. But I think what people miss is that it brings a style to singing. Maybe T-Pain sucks at singing with out the help of the program, but with it he brings a different style of music. Which can also work in his favor, such as it may work for his voice but for another person could make it sound horrible. It may not be talent but it sounds really good, so why dog it. It works really good with the musical. The art of the musical is all done in I guess you would say a graffiti style which is perfect for the movie it is.

In a nut shell: Its a rap musical, featuring several top rap artist, with T-Pain as Freaknik turning Spring Break into the party it should be, and three young men trying to rising to fame.

Can not wait for the soundtrack ^_^

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 was a pretty good video. The animation wasn't the greatest but the plot was pretty decent. I'd recommend it for a first view but I probably wouldn't watch it again any time soon. The plot had some good points to it that weren't typical of something you would get out of most Hip/Hop. The voice actors did a pretty good job. It was also cool that they had Kel Mitchell in it since I haven't seen him in anything lately. All in all I would give in an 8 out of 10. Not because it wasn't great but because it was lacking in some of the things that you would expect out of an animated movie but it did have some of the plot features that you don't soo to often in movies nowadays.