Atlanta residents driving down Howell Mill Road got a colorful surprise this week when they saw a prewar bungalow splashed with pink and the word “Trap” spray-painted in black over the home’s porch.
The “trap house,” a slang term used to refer to houses where drugs are cooked up and sold, has been transformed from a negative to a positive for the local community. On Tuesday, rapper 2 Chainz turned the Atlanta-based home that he’s been using to promote his new album “Pretty Girls Like Trap Music,” into an HIV testing facility.
The Pepto-Bismol colored home is now functioning as a free clinic, with the rapper encouraging people to come down to get tested and “know their status.” Testing has been a free service to anyone who stopped by the house located 1530 Howell Mill, between 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The house which has previously functioned as everything, from a church to a nail salon and an art gallery, was set up in conjunction with the Fulton County Board of Health, to help with Atlanta’s HIV/AIDS problem.
Atlanta currently has an HIV/AIDS rate that is five times higher than the national average, according to a study by the Big Cities Health Coalition. A study by Emory University found that these rates are highest among Atlanta’s gay and bisexual men of color population.
This isn’t the first time that the Atlanta-born rapper has taken steps to share his good fortune and give back to his community. In 2015, the rapper helped a disabled military vet pay her rent for a year, using proceeds raised from his “Dabbing Santa” sweater sales. A year later, he used money raised from his CEO Millionaires clothing line to help the city’s homeless population.
Painting the house pink to raise awareness about the importance of HIV testing isn’t the only way the rapper has utilized the house for the greater good. A week before the house went pink, the rapper transformed it into Trap Church, as a sort of community center to help bring awareness about the drugs, crime and poverty that the community is grappling with.
Pastor Michael Wortham said that while he appreciates 2 Chainz bringing awareness with the house, a lot of people simply come to get their Instagram photo and leave, forgetting about the issue facing people who live in the community. “Trap Church is to really to talk about the other side of the trap, to talk about how we as a community have a responsibility to come together and help our brothers and sisters who are facing these tough situations,” the Pastor told Atlanta’s Fox 5.
The pink colored trap house is expected to be painted over back by the end of next Friday. A new tenant has already bought the home. So if you want that selfie in front of what is being hailed the new Atlanta hip-hop landmark or a free HIV test, you better hurry.
Before and after the house’s pink paint job.