A viral video of Atlanta rapper 21 Savage explaining how his city “groomed” him from a young age has been catching mixed reviews online. For outsiders looking in, 21 characterizing Atlanta as a “pedophile” is both confusing and unbelievable. But plenty of Atlanta natives understood exactly what he was getting at.
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During an interview with Atlanta legend Big Bank, the rapper said club culture was forced upon young folks like him in Atlanta even before they came of age. It’s this lifestyle that he claims can lead young people down the wrong path. The Root spoke to Corey Cameron, an Atlanta businessman and coach, about the real problem with Atlanta’s club culture.
“Train a child in the way they should go,” he told us. “Whatever you introduce a child to whatever they see they’re gonna emulate especially if they look up to that particular individual role model.” Cameron — known as Coach Corey to his students — coaches boys basketball at Wilson Academy in Atlanta. As a mentor to many young men, Cameron understands just how influential party life can be on impressionable youth.
Atlanta is renowned for its strip clubs — like Magic City — and popping party life. The city’s nightlife industry generates nearly $5.1 billion every year, according to the mayor’s office. This equates to about 41,000 jobs. But club life is more than just about the city’s economy…it’s an entire lifestyle.
“It’s a visual thing in my opinion, so you have the celebs; you have the athletes; you have the women, and it’s appealing,” Cameron, who moved to Georgia permanently in 2015, explained. “It appeals to that side of all of us that want to be entertained– that wants to be accepted.”
Brenton Nesbit has been working in Atlanta’s party scene since selling out his first club at 23. But even from a younger age, the now-27-year-old knew just how much club culture was ingrained into the fabric of the city.
“It started at Cascade on a Saturday night,” he recalled. “You go to school all week long just to get excited to go to the teen club on Saturday night.” But like Coach Cameron, Nesbit said its the adults who should do better at steering kids the right way. “It’s not necessarily the city that groomed them,” he clarified. “But a lot of the times these kids, parents, uncles, aunties [and] godparents are the people that run the strip clubs.”
For him, Atlanta was the perfect breeding ground to dive deep into the party scene. “You get introduced to the Opiums [nightclub in Atlanta] of the worlds, and the Rebels [Atlanta bar and event space], and. Now, I’m a full on a schedule that’s three days a week, Wednesday to Sunday– ’cause you guys start with R&B Wednesday,” he explained. “Once you try to get started, you gotta keep rolling and Atlanta don’t stop you, ’cause they want money… That’s just kind of how we grew up.”
Following a bad experience with a fraudulent party promotor, Nesbit took a three-year break from the club scene. “Atlanta’s club culture, unfortunately, does have a toxic undertone, because it genuinely just exploits younger people and people who don’t know what they’re getting themselves into,” he said. “It’s all about a dollar for some people, and a lot of people it’s a facade.”
Now, he’s back on his own terms. He co-founded “Call Your Friends,” which offers a variety of events in the city. “This is really three people that came together from Atlanta to put something on for Atlanta,” Nesbit added. “You know, that could last for a long time.”
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