By: SoundSlam
Published: Dec. 13, 2005 - Atlanta, GA

Atlanta’s municipal leader, Mayor Shirley Franklin, agreed to have a song constructed on behalf of the city with the principal intent of uniting the people and creating a verbal and sonic camaraderie. Not all is going as planned on that front.

Mayor Franklin commissioned Dallas Austin, a hip hop producer based in Atlanta, to write the metropolitan anthem as a unique addition to her “Brand Atlanta” campaign. The campaign is meant to attract tourists and businesses to the city and encourage citizens to experience all that it has to offer. Austin then penned a fast paced song mixing elements of hip hop and r&b and titled it “The ATL.”

October witnessed the official debut of the song at an Atlanta Falcons football game and residents have been chiming in ever since. Dick Williams, a 60 year old FOX television host cited that he could only make out one line: “Get ‘em up, Get ‘em up, Get ‘em up, Get ‘em up, Get ‘em up, Let’s go….” Williams made the observation that it’s “Not a good line for a city with a high crime rate.”

It appears that the interpretative nature of Atlanta’s own residents are where much of the division comes from… an old problem in the Deep South and the country as a whole. One reader of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution residing in a suburb stated that he believed the song announced to the world to “bring your boom-box and your bling-bling to Atlanta.” Yet another individual said that he could not identify with the city since he feels it discarded the notion of family values and replaced it with “gun-blazing, Ray Lewis-admiring thugs.”

Sarah Lattimer, a partner with LattimerMoffitt Communications, who bore the idea of the city anthem as a marketing tool is a bit surprised by all the harsh criticism. Lattimer responded indirectly to FOX host Williams, stating “’Get ‘em up’ is a club reference. In a dance club, people throw their hands in the air.” Even more, Lattimer stated that ““The ATL” is intended to capture the soul of the city.” Atlanta has become a huge business hub for the South, but is still divided between the predominantly black city and the larger metropolitan area, which is roughly only 30% black, according to a 2000 Census Bureau report. Lattimer concluded by responding to the suburban comments, saying “I can’t speak for the suburbs. I don’t know what goes on there.”

“The ATL” is performed by contemporary r&b artists, such as Ciara, Monica, Jagged Edge, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of TLC and Sammie. The song is also anticipated to enter the Billboard’s Top 40 charts and even become a fundamental piece in the repertoire of Atlanta’s high school bands, orchestra and nightclubs.

S. Craig Watson, a University of Texas at Austin associate professor of radio, TV and film believes that there is an inability for many people to separate r&b from hardcore rap. Watson stated “Someone who doesn’t know a lot about hip-hop just hears ‘hip-hop’ — and with that comes the stereotypes … the idea of young urban black men who are dangerous.”

Despite all the bickering, one important recent study coming from Georgia State University may denote the importance of hip hop business to the city of Atlanta. That study estimated that the annual impact of Georgia’s commercial music landscape—largely concentrated in Atlanta—is near $1 billion. Revenue in such large quantities as this have a strong grip in dictating the direction that business and culture often grow.