T.I. and producer heavyweight Drumma Boy team up for “The Birth of Trap Music,” documentary short film which is set to premiere next month at the Atlanta Film Festival on April 25.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
Trap music is more than just a sound—it’s a survival mechanism, a coded language, and a system born from the Trap itself. Often synonymous with abandoned houses used to sell drugs, the Trap was both a place of risk and a first school of entrepreneurship for those with few other options. From these origins emerged a global sound, raw with expression, resilience, and innovation—yet quickly commodified by corporations eager to profit from the narratives of struggle.
The Birth of Trap Music challenges audiences to confront this tension: Trap music as both testament and transaction, empowerment and exploitation. It asks us to consider not only the brilliance and contradictions of the genre, but also the responsibility of brands and industries profiting from the trauma that created it.
Director Biography – Christopher Scholar
Christopher Scholar is a filmmaker and Grammy-nominated songwriter whose work bridges music and cinema to tell culturally resonant stories. Raised in Richmond, Virginia, he first gained attention in 2010 when Jermaine Dupri highlighted one of his self-shot music videos on Global14, recognizing the young artist’s unconventional approach to reaching him.
In 2012, Scholar relocated to Atlanta, sleeping on the couch of fellow Richmond native and hip-hop historian Mad Skillz. By day he wrote songs at Upstairs Studios in a small building tucked behind the driveway to Outkast’s Stankonia, a cornerstone of Atlanta’s musical foundation. There, he watched artists and producers who helped define trap music arrive for sessions — years before he would document their history.
Initially pursuing a recording career, Scholar’s creative focus gradually shifted from performing songs to framing the people performing them, leading him to direct for artists including Nelly, Wiz Khalifa, Tobe Nwigwe, and Big Sean.
In 2018 he co-founded BOOC with producer Bevin Brown, a Los Angeles and Atlanta-based studio focused on culturally rooted storytelling. His workss have received a SXSW Audience Award (2023) and a CMT Award nomination (2022).
Chris’s parallel career as a songwriter — penning songs for Ariana Grande, 2 Chainz, and Chris Brown — informs a visual style rooted in rhythm, emotion, and the raw energy of music culture. The Trap Music documentary marks his latest step in merging his musical and cinematic storytelling.
Director Statement
“The Birth of Trap Music is more than a story about beats, rhymes, or a regional sound — it’s a lens into survival, resilience, and the way trauma can be alchemized into art. Trap emerged from neighborhoods where opportunities were scarce, resources were withheld, and entire generations were marked by poverty and policing. Out of that pressure came a sound that carried both pain and possibility, echoing beyond Atlanta to reshape the global music industry.”
“As a filmmaker and a songwriter, I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of sound and story. This project is my attempt to capture not just the origins of Trap, but the world that created it: the streets, the people, the politics, and the persistence. I want audiences to feel the urgency of its beginnings, to question the forces that commodified it, and to recognize the voices of those who first turned struggle into rhythm.
Trap is both a warning and a celebration. It’s the American Dream, remixed by those who were locked out of it. My hope is that this film honors the architects of the sound, while inviting a deeper conversation about the systems that shaped — and profited from — their truth. – Christopher Scholar
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