In hip-hop slang, a trap house is the site of a drug dealer’s illicit business. However, Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz’s so-called Pink Trap House dropped a positive beat on the concept by serving as a free HIV clinic on July 4.
As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, the “Trap Clinic” provided free HIV testing along with educational packets, games and giveaways.
But let’s back up. 2 Chainz wasn’t operating an actual trap house. Instead, in June he painted a rental home pink, with the word trap emblazoned across the front, as a promotional gimmick for his latest album, Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (trap music is a subgenre of Southern hip-hop).
To create the temporary HIV clinic, 2 Chainz worked with the Fulton County Board of Health, Atlanta AIDS and Test Atlanta. To draw visitors, he promoted it on social media, for example, via his @hairweavekiller on Instagram:
The pink trap house has also served as a trap church, where social activists gathered to encourage citizens to get involved with local organizations, and as an art gallery that has displayed paintings by Andre 3000, Tupac and others.
However, not everyone thinks the rapper’s form of activism is dope. Pastor Al Hollie Jr. doesn’t support the trap clinic. “Much love to 2 Chainz, his movement and the culture, but if you’re taking photos in front of a trap house, you haven’t seen the damage it can do to a community,” Hollie told Fox 5. “The damage I’m talking about is broken homes, taking family members from each other, kids being taken away, fathers going to prison, children being born addicted to drugs.”
Despite some criticism, the pink trap house has attracted thousands of people to the area and has been named “the first hip-hop monument of Atlanta.” But fans hoping to take a pink selfie may be disappointed because the lease on the house is up. The property managers said they are working with 2Chainz to sell him the home so it can be physically moved to another location.
To read other POZ articles about famous people doing their part to fight the HIV epidemic, click #Celebrities.
Comments
Comments