ATLANTA — The documentary Birth of Trap Music, created by hip-hop icons Drumma Boy and T.I., is premiering at the Atlanta Film Festival on Thursday, highlighting the countless contributors who helped shape a sound that eventually redefined hip-hop.
Memphis native and Grammy Award-winning producer, author, and visionary Drumma Boy noted the significance of the project being selected for the festival, saying only 2% of films are accepted into the Atlanta Film Festival.
The documentary explores more than just the sound and struggle of Trap music. It highlights key contributors such as T.I., Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, Young Dro, DJ Toomp, Don Cannon, 2 Chainz, Kawan Prather, DJ Drama, among countless others who helped shape and evolve Trap music.
The documentary premieres at the Plaza Theatre at 10:30 p.m. and will be featured at the Atlanta Film Festival through May 3.
“Trap music to me is a way of life that we turned into a sound,” Drumma Boy said. “It’s a form of expression and a form of hope that people don’t have to be scared to tell the truth and talk about how you were raised and what you did to get you money. The most important part of the trap is the way out. People forget that part. We’re doing this to get out, not to stay there forever. If you stay, build it up and rebuild it.”
Drumma Boy also highlighted the team behind the documentary, crediting director Chris Scholar, longtime engineer Andre Lipscomb, creative collaborator and producer Bevin, Broderick Keithian, T.I. and everyone involved for helping bring the vision to life.
“This is a 20-minute short film version of what will be a docuseries. Super excited to get eyes on it and support,” Drumma Boy said.
Before it was widely recognized as a subgenre, Trap music was simply a reflection of everyday life. Early records didn’t just echo through the trunks of heavy Chevys on 24s, but through car speakers, clubs, concerts, and CDs across the southern United States and beyond.
Prominent hip-hop historian Larry “NuFace” Compton said Trap music reflects both transformation and continuity.
“Trap evolved from survival music to a popular culture soundtrack,” NuFace said. “Early on, it was raw, beats knocking, stories unfiltered. Now it’s more polished, melodic, and widely embraced across genres.”
Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. introduced the world to “Dope Boyz in the Trap” on his first album I’m Serious in 2001, helping lay the foundation for what would become Trap music. DJ Greg Street was the first to play his records on the radio.
“When I heard it, it was one of the dopest records and I knew it was going to be the song for T.I. to help put him on the map,” DJ Greg Street said. “By him having that record sounding like that sonically, I understood it after listening to his album with Still Ain’t Forgave Myself and I’m Serious.”
That same message of ambition and escape is heard throughout T.I.’s early catalog, including a line from “Still Ain’t Forgave Myself” where he raps, “I promise I’m gonna make it because I’m damn good, I’m gonna get us out this hood and off these canned goods.”
That thread of elevation also carries through songs like “Be Better Than Me” from Trap Muzik, along with lines from Jeezy that reinforce the mindset behind the music: “The world is yours and everything in it, it’s out there get on your grind and get it, the sky’s the limit.”
NuFace said that perspective helped define the emotional core of the genre.
“TIP gave you the perspective, introspective. Jeezy gave you motivation, turning nothing into something. When Jeezy said, ‘trap or die,’ that wasn’t just a line, that was a mindset,” NuFace said.
Drumma Boy recalled how one of his signature sounds came to fruition while working with Jeezy.
“I only had $100 in my pocket, so I put $20 in my tank and drove to Patchwerk Studios in Atlanta to meet Jeezy,” Drumma Boy said. “After playing a few beats, Jeezy told me, ‘That ain’t it Drum.’ I listened to the entire Trap or Die mixtape and noticed there were horns in every beat. I finished the beat, brought it back to him at Patchwerk and the rest is history.”
That moment helped define a signature production style.
Atlanta rap legend and community activist Young Dro said Trap music reflects lived experience and survival turned into expression.
“I’m from the projects,” Young Dro said. “For us, the Trap music culture was more of a time when we began to tell our stories about what transpired while we were living in those circumstances. Trap music was a way for us to feed our families.”
Young Dro said seeing T.I. evolve into a philanthropist, music and film mogul, entrepreneur, and visionary is especially meaningful. He also highlighted his own journey overcoming addiction and continuing to move forward through community work with his Still Takes a Village initiative.
Doug Peterson, one of the creators of the Trap Music Museum, reflected on how the sound and culture expanded from studio experimentation into a larger movement.
“He made the type of songs on I’m Serious that everyone could relate to,” Peterson said. “The club records, the records that people from New York would say it’s cool, there was a bunch of different sounding records.”
He said the sound became more intentional with the album Trap Muzik.
“When we worked on his next album Trap Muzik, we went into it thinking let’s make something strictly for us,” Peterson said. “The trunk records with heavy 808s, organs, and synthesized productions TIP brought to the table. He stamped it and it had the perfect sound to be Trap Muzik.”
It evolved into a sound that others gravitated toward and it eventually became a genre. Before global recognition, Atlanta’s creative pockets were already shaping the sound across Bankhead, Zone 6, Decatur, to Memphis and beyond.
“Trap music started a long time ago. Rappers like Scarface, Poison Clan, JT Money, Master P and different artists back in the day started it. T.I. coined the phrase and Atlanta put a sound around it with Jeezy and Gucci Mane and Zaytoven and all the artists,” DJ Greg Street said.
Drumma Boy said it creates a sound that feels powerful and cinematic, almost like a superhero energy that is untouchable and undeniable.
Among the other pioneers who contributed to its evolution are Yo Gotti, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Young Dolph, Future, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Lil Baby, Young Buck, Shawty Redd, Zaytoven and Metro Boomin, along with countless others whose influence helped shape the genre across generations.
Drumma Boy also paid homage to other legends, including Three 6 Mafia, UGK, Mannie Fresh, 8Ball and MJG for their contributions to Trap music.
Peterson said that movement eventually expanded beyond music into cultural preservation.
“The south was looking for that representation and once we created it with Trap music, and it grew from there, the world caught on,” Peterson said.
Together, their contributions helped transform Trap music from a localized expression into one of the most influential movements in modern music.
“I want us to realize that all of us are in the same struggle. We need more unity and we need more active community leaders to try to make sense of where we’re at because it’s still happening,” Young Dro said.