CTRL-A · Vol. 01ATL Community
CTRL-A · ATL Community

For the ones coming up in Atlanta.

A home base for young Atlanta creatives and students: where the city came from, what is on, and how to eat well on nothing.

Roots · Why AtlantaThe lineage you are part of

The city that built its own stage.

Atlanta didn’t wait for permission. It built the studios, the labels, and the schools itself, and the world followed the sound.

If you’re making something here, you’re standing on deep ground. Atlanta became a creative capital for one reason: the people who came up here built their own institutions instead of leaving for New York or LA. Basement studios became labels. Black colleges became a pipeline. A line in the tax code became Y’allywood.

01

The Sound

The world's pop music speaks with an Atlanta accent. LaFace Records opened here in 1989 and turned the city into the new Motown. Out of a basement in East Point, the Dungeon Family gave us OutKast and Goodie Mob. Jermaine Dupri's So So Def followed in 1993. Then trap was born here, T.I.'s Trap Muzik named it in 2003, and the city has set the tempo for hip-hop ever since.

LaFace · 1989Dungeon Family · East PointSo So Def · 1993Trap Muzik · 2003
02

The Screen

They call it Y'allywood, and the numbers earned the name. A 2008 tax credit lit the fuse, and film and TV now spend billions in Georgia every year. Tyler Perry bought a former army base and built the first major studio solely owned by a Black filmmaker. The Walking Dead, the Marvel films, Stranger Things, and Donald Glover's Atlanta all shot in these neighborhoods.

Tax credit · 2008$2.6B spent · FY2024Tyler Perry Studios · 330 acresAtlanta · FX
03

The Scene

The culture has a campus and a canvas. The Atlanta University Center, the largest group of private HBCUs in the world, has been the engine of the city's Black creative leadership since 1929. SCAD Atlanta and the High feed the design and gallery world. The BeltLine turned an old rail line into the country's biggest outdoor show, and Living Walls has put 500-plus murals on the city.

AUC · since 1929SCAD AtlantaArt on the BeltLineLiving Walls

You’re not coming up on the edge of anything. You’re coming up at the center.

The Cookbook · Fuel for the workMeal · Snack · Drink

The Cookbook.

A digital muse feeds the maker, too.

Easy recipes from the cultures we work with, built for creatives short on time and money. Real food, few ingredients, done before your render finishes.

Chef of the volume: Andi, Atlanta. ROV's founder. Cooks the way he edits: fast, few ingredients, nothing wasted.

MealGyeran Bapbrought by Daksha, AtlantaSnackMiso Butter Toastbrought by Kavya, AtlantaDrinkSlow-Brew Focus Teabrought by Ayush, AtlantaChef · Andi
Plate III · The galley, this volume's spread