It’s minutes before kickoff of Atlanta United’s first home playoff match of 2018, and Atlanta R&B star Lloyd is reminiscing how his life took an unexpected Five Stripe turn this year.
“This team changed my life, seriously,” he says. “This year it didn’t matter if it was an afternoon game, evening game, middle of the week whatever, I was there.”
Lloyd may be from New Orleans, but Atlanta is the city that made him into the man he is today. He says his mom found refuge in the city when he was young, and it was listening to Atlanta giants like Goodie Mob and TLC that molded his style. Five albums and several world tours later, he couldn’t imagine raising his own children anywhere else.
“Atlanta gives everyone a voice.”
“It gives everyone a place, it gives them worth," he says. "It’s very inclusive. It’s always been that way, since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King, and it continues to be that way in all walks of life. Whether we’re talking about race, religion or sexual preference, it’s a place where people can come and take refuge from judgment.”
Growing up in Atlanta meant a level of sports fandom that’s unique to this city. The dominance of the Braves in his younger days brought baseball into his life, and his relatives from New Orleans put him in the middle of one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL. But the emergence of Atlanta United brought a new sports love to his life.
“It’s way more energy than any other major sport,” he says, as the crowd starts to pack in before kickoff. “And it’s still young, so you can still claim it as your own. It doesn’t necessarily belong to anyone, any certain group."
"You can come make it yours right now.”
Lloyd has certainly become a fan of the product on the field, and makes sure to point out that seeing the athleticism and skill of these players in person is the only way to fully grasp how special they really are. But like so many others, he says it’s the community that’s formed around the team that’s gotten him hooked.
“I think it gave a whole new community in Atlanta something to be prideful of in sports."
"You can inherit what’s going on already, but when you’ve got something as deep and rich as the soccer culture is around the world, to be able to have that here is really special. It’s what Atlanta’s all about, teaching people to go outside the box sometimes. Football, baseball and basketball was everything, but now we have something else to open up to.”
For Lloyd, it’s not only opened up his life to a new team in his city, it’s created a new connection for his family and memories they will carry with them forever.
“It’s one thing to do what you love, which I’m fortunate to do, but it’s another thing to do it with people you love,” he says. “It just makes it so much more worthwhile. I’ve felt Atlanta United energy before, it is unique. So I love watching my family members experience that for the first time. I brought my cousins along to see them watch this sport for the first time. Today I brought my son to his first professional sporting event. Hopefully this will be his first real sports memory that will last.”
The lights dim at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which means it’s nearly time for Lloyd to go hammer the Golden Spike for the first time in his sixth trip to see the Five Stripes take the field. He takes a couple warmup swings, to get ready to send the supporters’ stand into raptures.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” he says with a smile. “It’s a love that's not just for the team but that the fans have with each other, and really have for this city."
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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