At first glance, the news may seem odd, but that’s most likely the purview of people who don’t know the club’s connection with just about all aspects of Atlanta’s modern cultural life. Atlanta has lots of strip clubs that have gained popularity and/or notoriety over the years, from Cheetah to the infamous Gold Club. But Magic City has lasted for decades, with no sign of slowing down.
Founded in 1985, Magic City has a unique history as not only one of the top strip clubs in a city known for, uh, after-hours entertainment, but also for its connection to multiple pro sports teams and to the local and national rap, trap and hip-hop scene. Basically, if you want to make it in Atlanta, you have to, at some point, get familiar with Magic City.
Migos, Drake, Jermaine Dupri, 2 Chainz, Big Boi, Future and countless others had their music played in the club by DJs who made up-and-coming artists into stars by giving them airtime between the sets, where the performers’ gyrations made it rain in front of producers and other influencers.
“There wouldn’t be a Migos without Magic City,” the rapper Quavo, Migos’ frontman through the group’s breakup in 2023, said in a documentary about the club that aired on STARZ last year.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of the world, then-Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams was granted permission to leave the NBA “bubble” at Disney World in Florida to attend the funeral of Paul Williams, a local businessman well known throughout Atlanta’s Black community, mentor to the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, and father of Williams’ best friend.
But after the service, Williams went to Magic City — not for a lap dance, but to get the club’s well-regarded lemon pepper wings.
When he returned to Orlando, under the NBA’s protocols, Williams had to quarantine for 10 days before being let back into the bubble. But the wings were, and are, as good as advertised. They had better be: They are named the “LouWill Lemon Pepper BBQ” wings for a reason.
In 2018, Atlanta United players took the MLS championship trophy to the club after the team captured the MLS Cup.
And Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal disclosed that in 1996, he received word that his agent and the Los Angeles Lakers had reached an agreement on a $120 million contract, and that he needed to return to his Atlanta hotel to sign the papers.
Except … the Diesel was busy.
“I still remember the girl’s name, too — Elektra,” O’Neal said on T.I.’s “expediTiously” podcast last month.
T.I., the three-time Grammy Award-winning and BET Award-winning rapper, will perform at halftime of the Hawks-Magic game. DJ Esco, who is as responsible as anyone for making burgeoning artists famous as the club’s regular DJ on “Magic City Mondays,” will put together the evening’s pregame music. And actress and producer Jami Gertz, one of the Hawks’ principal owners and the wife of Hawks governor Tony Ressler, will introduce a live recording of the “Hawks AF” podcast before the game. The podcast will feature T.I. and Magic City’s founder, Michael “Big Magic” Barney. Gertz, along with Dupri, Bayan Joonam and Drake’s DreamCrew, served as executive producer of the five-part STARZ docuseries about the club, “Magic City: An American Fantasy.”
Magic City Kitchen will also serve both the “Louwill” and traditional lemon pepper wings at the game. There will also be a limited-edition Peachtree-themed hoodie with “Magic City” in bold text available to buy at the Hawks Shop and online starting March 16.
“From the food to the music and the exclusive merchandise, we are excited to team up with Magic City to create an authentic, True to Atlanta-inspired game experience,” Hawks marketing officer Melissa Proctor said in a news release announcing the celebration.