When I signed on to score and produce music for Trap City, I was not just making a soundtrack. I was building a world.
Trap City is an urban crime drama written and directed by Tel K. Ganesan and produced by Kyyba Films. It follows Deshawn, played by Brandon T. Jackson, a young rapper who becomes an overnight sensation while still trapped in the drug trade.
With prison looming and a dangerous kingpin watching, he has to choose between his rising fame and testifying for a chance at real freedom.
On screen, that story plays out through tension, bad choices and hard consequences. In the music, my job was to make you feel all of that before a single line of dialogue is spoken.
This is how the film came together, how the 5-track Trap City EP was built, and how the wider universe of singles and collaborations turned into a calling card for my sound as The ATG at the intersection of film score and rap.
How Trap City Came Together
Trap City started as a story Tel K. Ganesan wanted to tell about ambition, loyalty and the cost of fame.
Tel is the founder of Kyyba Films and executive chairman of Kyyba, and he approached this film as both a director and a builder of ecosystems – cast, crew, and music all working together.
Key pillars of how the project took shape:
- Kyyba Films at the centre:
Kyyba Films developed, financed and produced the movie, with the goal of creating a Detroit-rooted story that could travel globally.
The film premiered theatrically and later rolled out to platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, and reached #1 trending on STARZ, proving there was real audience demand for this kind of narrative. - Brandon T. Jackson as Deshawn:
Brandon plays a rapper caught between the block and the booth – a character who embodies both hunger and fear.
His performance anchors the emotional arc: this is not just a street movie, it is a story about a man trying to reconcile talent, loyalty and survival. - Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins in front of and behind the camera:
Multi-platinum rapper Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins makes his acting debut in the film as Reverend Lylee, a character who challenges Deshawn’s choices and worldview.
Jeezy also steps in as executive producer of the soundtrack, bringing cultural weight and experience from a career built on authentic street narratives. - My role as The ATG:
As music producer and composer, I was responsible for building both the score cues and the record side – the songs that could live on DSPs as well as inside the film.
The goal was clear: merge cinematic orchestration with hard, urban drums so the music felt equally at home in a theatre, in a car and on playlists.
Trap City is what happens when a film is built from day one as a music-driven narrative, not a drama with songs added at the end.
Crafting the 5-Track EP
Alongside the film, we built the Trap City – EP, released under Brandon T. Jackson’s name. It is a 5-song project that functions as a distilled shot of the movie’s world: same character, same stakes, but in pure audio form.
The core tracks are:
- Trap City
- Redemption
- Had It All
- Shinin
- Smoke and Mirrors
The production brief I gave myself was simple: each track has to feel like a scene you can hear.
Trap City – the thesis statement
Trap City is the title track and the thematic north star. It is the sound of the city talking back.
- Musically, it blends heavy drums and cinematic textures – strings and pads that feel like sirens in the distance.
- Lyrically, it sets up the world Deshawn lives in: temptation, pressure, and the illusion that one hit record will fix everything.
This is the song that turns the film’s title into a living character.
Redemption – the internal conflict
Redemption plays like the voice in Deshawn’s head when the noise dies down.
- The beat gives more room to breathe: fewer elements, more space for reflection.
- The writing leans into regret, responsibility, and the question of whether you can ever really outrun your past.
It is not a soft song; it is a hard conversation with yourself over a cinematic bed.
Had It All – the cost of what you lose
Had It All zooms out to show the trade-offs.
- Sonically, it feels like a mid-tempo record you could play late at night – something between a victory lap and a eulogy.
- The theme is simple: what you gain in fame and money can be exactly what costs you peace, relationships and safety.
The chorus hits differently once you have seen the film and know what Deshawn is risking.
Shinin – success with shadows
Shinin is the closest thing to a celebration, but the context keeps it grounded.
- The production is brighter – more bounce, more top-end energy.
- Underneath that, there is still tension; you can hear it in the progression and in the details of the writing.
It is the sound of enjoying the spotlight while being fully aware that the dark is still just a few steps away.
Smoke and Mirrors – nothing is what it seems
Smoke and Mirrors closes the EP as the most self-aware cut.
- The title says it all: in both the industry and the streets, appearances rarely match reality.
- Musically, it leans into a more atmospheric palette – spacious, moody, slightly haunting.
For me, this track works like end credits: it sums up the emotional cost of chasing an image.
Together, these five records are not just a marketing tie-in.
They are a companion piece to the film – a way to stay in Deshawn’s world after you leave the cinema.
Themes of Grit and Redemption in the Music
Trap City is rooted in a familiar setup – a rapper on the come-up in a dangerous environment – but the film and the music both push past cliché.
The core themes I kept circling back to in the score and EP were:
- Survival in a system designed to fail you:
Deshawn is not just fighting one villain. He is navigating a web of the drug trade, law enforcement, and industry exploitation.
The music reflects that with claustrophobic chords, repeating motifs and drums that feel like a heartbeat you cannot slow down. - The double-edged nature of fame:
The film holds up a mirror to the double-edged nature of power, fame and ambition.
Tracks like Shinin and Smoke and Mirrors live in that tension: success and anxiety walking side by side. - Faith, guilt and the possibility of change:
Jeezy’s character, Reverend Lylee, brings a spiritual dimension to Deshawn’s choices.
Musically, that shows up in the way choirs, pads and harmonies bleed into otherwise hard records. There are moments where the score almost sounds like a prayer over trap drums. - Redemption that has to be earned:
Nothing in Trap City is handed out for free. If Deshawn wants redemption, he has to put something on the line.
That is why Redemption as a track is not soft or sentimental. It sounds like someone walking through fire, not away from it.
Every cue, every 808 choice, every string line is built to support those themes. If you strip the dialogue away and only play the music, you should still feel the stakes rising and your sympathies shifting.
Spin-Off Singles and Collaborations
Beyond the EP, Trap City lives in a wider musical universe of singles, collaborations, and cross-genre collaboration moments. That is where some of the most interesting cross-cultural moves happen.
Paranoid – a cross-cultural lead single
Paranoid was one of the first major singles tied to the Trap City soundtrack. Produced by me as The ATG, it features Omar Gooding, Sa-Roc and compositions from Indian composer G.V. Prakash Kumar.
- The track has been described as a cinematic explosion built on slow strings and French horns, rising into an oceanic crescendo – exactly the kind of scale I like to bring to rap records.
- G.V. Prakash brings Tamil melodic sensibilities into an English-language rap context, including a soft Tamil opening that creates an emotional bridge between cultures.
- The official video directly addresses themes like police brutality, media stereotypes of Black communities and the Black Lives Matter movement, tying the song back into real-world stakes.
Paranoid is not just a soundtrack song; it is a statement about what kind of conversations Trap City wants to be part of.
Entourage – Omar Gooding and Leslee Lewis
Another key record in the Trap City universe is Entourage, performed by Omar Gooding and Indian pop icon Leslee Lewis, produced by me.
- The track appears on the motion picture soundtrack and was released with its own music video by Kyyba Films.
- The lyrics mirror what Deshawn is going through in the film – fame, attention, and the people who suddenly appear when things start moving.
What I love about Entourage is that it proves you can have a global collaboration – Detroit production, American actor-rapper, Indian pop legend – and still tell a very specific urban story.
G.V. Prakash and the international bridge
For G.V. Prakash Kumar, Trap City marked an official entry into Western music, fusing Tamil phrases and Indian compositional ideas into a rap context.
From my side as a producer, that meant:
- making space in the arrangements for different melodic languages,
- ensuring the drums still knocked for hip-hop audiences,
- and keeping the overall sound cinematic enough to sit under picture.
Trap City’s spin-off records are proof that the film’s universe extends beyond the runtime.
The songs are their own stories, but they all orbit the same core themes: pressure, perception, loyalty and the fight to be seen accurately.
What Directors and Supervisors Should Know About THE ATG Sound
If you are a director, showrunner, editor or music supervisor, Trap City is one of the clearest front-to-back examples of what my sound does inside a visual narrative.
Here is what you should know about how I approach projects like this:
- Cinematic at the core:
I write beats and cues like scenes – with arcs, tension points and releases.
Even standalone songs like Paranoid or Trap City are built so they can sit under picture without fighting dialogue. - Urban and orchestral in the same breath:
You will hear 808s, trap hats and bass, but you will also hear strings, horns, choirs and pads that give the record scale.
That blend allows the music to work in crime drama, social storytelling, sports, automotive, fashion and more. - Character-driven scoring:
I am always scoring people, not just locations. Deshawn’s internal conflict, Reverend Lylee’s presence, the weight of the city – each gets its own sonic treatment.
That mindset carries over into any project: I want the audience to know how a character feels before they speak. - Sync-ready structure:
Tracks are built with clean edit points, intros that can work as stings, and sections that can be looped or extended.
That is part of why the Detroit Cinematic instrumentals and the Trap City cues both lend themselves well to licensing and re-use. - A full ecosystem, not just a folder of beats:
On Trap City, I was involved from concept through mixing, singles, videos and rollout.
That is the level of involvement I bring to projects where the music is not background but a narrative engine.
If you are looking for a sound that can sit confidently between rap, score and global influences, Trap City is the blueprint of how I build that world.
It is what happens when film, rap and cinematic score stop being separate lanes and become one continuous highway.
