Image via Complex Original
This feature is a part of Complex's "Triple F Life" Week.
Touring a city with an artist who makes it his home, it isn't surprising when you discover the places that have inspired that person's art. When glimpsing Atlanta through the eyes of Waka Flocka Flame, the man responsible for "No Hands" and "Round of Applause" (from his new album, Triple F Life, available from iTunes now), it makes sense that clubs—gentlemen's clubs, especially—figure prominently.
But Waka's Atlanta contains surprises, places of importance that complicate the larger-than-life persona of the MC that so famously declared, "I go hard in the motherfucking paint." For instance, where in his music can you hear the Georgia Aquarium's dolphin show that he finds so moving?
From the small town of Riverdale, where he spent his youth, to his first lap dance and beyond, this is Waka Flocka's Guide to Atlanta.
As told to Ross Scarano (@RossScarano)
Related: The Neighborhood: Waka Flocka & Friends Talk Growing Up in Georgia (Video)
Riverdale, Ga.
"Growing up in Riverdale, there was lots of partying 'cause I didn't go into the city yet. I was hanging out with all kids of people, Cambodians, Mexicans, a big mix of adolescents. But I remember going to this white kid goth party when I was 16. They were all doing mushrooms, so I tried them too. Then everything was in different colors, shit that didn't have three legs had three legs; I prayed to God that it was gonna end. I said, 'If I get through this, I will never do it again.'"
Club Blaze
Address: 3438 Moreland Ave., Conley, Ga.
Website: myspace.com/club_blaze_atlanta
"The first time I went to a gentlemen's club, I was with Gucci Mane. In fact, it was one of the first times I remember getting out of Riverdale and into the city to party. We walked into Blaze, and he told everyone I was his little brother. Inside, it was just ass: ass on the bar, ass everywhere. Gucci wasn't the type to head straight to VIP or anything; we'd be playing pool with everybody in there. Then he started buying me lap dances, telling the dancers I was his brother."
Atlanta's Figure 8
Address: 3131 Campbellton Rd.
Website: figure8atlanta.com
"This is my favorite club ever. I broke my record 'O Let's Do It' there. I remember I'd been away from Atlanta with Gucci, and when I got back into town, I went to Figure 8 to chill with my partners. And I remembering being in the club and hearing I fucked my money up—everybody went crazy. They knew all the words. I felt like an alien from outer space that had just landed on the planet. They're screaming at me, 'This shit hard.' They threw me on stage, passed me a mic, and I performed."
Clubbing
"First thing I notice in a club is the lighting. I tend to like clubs with a lot of lights, not those clubs with just one light over the doorway. When you got only one light, you got only one mood all night. I like clubs where the women have good hairstyles and dress nice. And I love when everybody drinks in the club. When nobody's drinking, then everybody staring.
"When you come to Atlanta, you have to start your night at the club. Then you move to the gentlemen's club, and you end the night at one of the after-hours spots. Those after-hours parties—what happens there stays in there. No cameras. It's always more intense 'cause people are more fucked up. It gets nasty.
"When you're done after after-hours, it's almost morning. Time to go to bed before you're up again and hungry."
Busy Bee Cafe
Address: 810 Martin Luther King Junior Dr. SW, Atlanta
Website: thebusybeecafe.com
"When I'm on the road, I miss Atlanta's soul food the most. There's no soul food anywhere else in the country that comes close to what we have. At Busy Bee, I always order the smothered fried chicken with gravy. If someone was visiting Atlanta for the first time, I would have to take them here."
Driving and Smoking
"My favorite place to smoke in the city is in my car, driving. When I was working on the new album, I'd drive around on these back roads, smoking and listening to what I'd recorded. That was how I'd hear where I wanted to make little changes. In the car, I could hear when something was wrong. Then I could ask the producer to change the beat, things like that."
Georgia Aquarium
Address: 225 Baker St. NW, Atlanta
Website: georgiaaquarium.org
"You gotta see that shit; it's the world's biggest aquarium. They got a hellafied dolphin show, too. Swear to God, that shit fucked me up. The dolphins are commanding humans and all that. They jump out of the water, do flips—it's something you have to see. Even my gangster ass. I was thinking I was too hard for this shit when I went with my girl and my stepdaughter, but it brought the little kid up out of me."
Chops Lobster Bar
Address: 70 West Paces Ferry Rd., Atlanta
Website: buckheadrestaurants.com/chops-lobster-bar
"If I'm taking my girl out, I take her to Chops. It's real relaxed and the food is excellent: big lobster tails, steaks. It's quiet, she'll be impressed, and it's sexy. That's all you need."
Run N' Shoot
Address: 1959 Metropolitan Pkwy. SW, Atlanta
Website: n/a
"When the AND1 Mixtape tour came through Atlanta, they always stopped at Run N' Shoot, this athletic space. I went all the time; I loved that shit. Hot Sauce and Escalade—loved them. I was real big into basketball, going to YMCA games. But then Run N' Shoot closed down for a bit when things changed hands at the building with this new management. It's not the same now."
Metro Lanes Atlanta
Address: 1959 Metropolitan Pkwy. SW
Website: metroplexatl.com/metro-games
"I got in a fight at this bowling alley that was all over TMZ. If you real nosy, you can Google to see what that was all about. I like to bowl, and I'll front like I'm the best, even though I'm terrible. Sometimes I might have three balls hit something, but the rest… [Laughs.]"