64 third street nw. a former laundromat on a dead-end street in midtown. at the center of a city that has defined american music for forty years.
no city has shaped american music the way atlanta has.
laface records launched out of atlanta in 1989 — tlc, usher, outkast, goodie mob, toni braxton. so so def followed — jermaine dupri building careers for kris kross, xscape, jagged edge, da brat. the dungeon family and organized noize were quietly building a sound in southwest atlanta that would change rap entirely. "southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" dropped in 1994.
in the 2000s atlanta invented trap. t.i., young jeezy, gucci mane — a new architecture for rap that spread globally and never stopped. lil jon defined an era with crunk. in the 2010s: future, 2 chainz, migos, young thug, 21 savage, lil baby, gunna. quality control music. the slime, the culture, the vocabulary. what atlanta makes, the world eventually adopts.
that is the commercial record. the live music record is its own thing — and that is where this address enters.
founded august 1994 by reggie ealy, andre zarka, and paul sobin in a former laundromat at 64 third street nw. started as an acid jazz room and became the center of atlanta's neo-soul movement. the AJC called it "the kind of place atlanta needed to become the black music center many think it already is."
the house band, the chronicle — billy odum, dj kemit, phil davis, avery johnson, lil john roberts — played every thursday with no setlist, fully improvised. the chocolate soul thursday series launched in october 1994 and ran for six years. the room closed in september 2000 when the landlord chose to sell.
erykah badu · india.arie · george benson · wynton marsalis · dj kemit · anthony david · joi · floetry · divinity roxx · donnie · sleepy brown
opened april 9, 2001 by asa and karen fain in the same space yin yang left behind. named after les apaches — a 1900s parisian bohemian collective. asa: "it refers to the idea of freedom, emancipation from the norms."
sunday night spoken word became nationally known. artists came from across the country to play that stage. the weekly art shows ran for eight straight years. mic club — hosted by d.r.e.s. tha beatnik every tuesday from 2002 to 2008 — averaged 275 people a night and won creative loafing's best club event.
apache held 1,336 documented concerts over 18 years. it left 64 third street in early 2019 — rent increases and a building in deterioration. the community has not stopped talking about it since.
janelle monae · aloe blacc · killer mike · saul williams · algebra blessett · avery sunshine · julie dexter · dionne farris · russell gunn · india.arie · erykah badu
the address is still here. the room is still here. same dead-end street. same corner of spring and 3rd.
a live music room and gathering place — built around culture, rooted in the city. resident djs with deep catalog knowledge across genres. vinyl nights. a stage for new artists on mondays. spoken word on wednesdays. kemit on thursdays. super friends on weekends.
kitchen open. bar open. shisha floor open. come to sit. stay a while. hear something.
the story of the yin yang and apache cafe at 64 third street is documented in spring & 3rd, directed by malik salaam. rated 9.5 on imdb. available free on tubi.
distributed by dame dash studios · bronze lens film festival selection · city of atlanta elevate arts series grant recipient