21 Savage Says His Lyrics Are Mostly ‘Fiction’ But ‘Some of It Be Based off of Real Life’

Real life hit hard in February 2019 when Savage, née Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was revealed to be a British immigrant, although his fans believed him to be an Atlanta native. At the time, the Grammy Award-winner was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after coming to the United States with his parents nearly 15 years before when he was seven years old. Authorities claimed that the rapper was “unlawfully present” in the U.S., as his 2005 visa allegedly expired one year after he settled in Atlanta.

Savage faced deportation and a 10-year ban from returning to the States, as he also had a 2014 felony drug case in Fulton County. During his arrest that year, ICE wasn’t made aware of Savage’s immigration status. The rapper had reportedly tried to renew his visa since 2017 and applied for a U visa petition, where victims can assist law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting crimes without being met with deportation.