21 Savage denies that his lyrics have close ties to his reality.
In a new Rolling Stone cover story by Mankaprr Conteh, the Her Loss co-rapper claimed that the tales in his music are mainly fictional in terms of its street-centric content and visual imagery. Calling his lyrics "fiction as hell," Savage added, “I just think of it in my head. Some of it be based off of real life, but a lot of it be creative stories."
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.
Four years after his arrest, in October 2023, Savage became a U.S. citizen and was cleared for international travel, later holding a European tour with a sold-out concert in London. Now having citizenship, Savage plans to release his third solo album, although he told Rolling Stone “we ain’t got no mixes back yet." The album will be his first since 2018's I Am > I Was and his latest solo venture in five years following 2020's Savage Mode II with Metro Boomin and Her Loss with Drake.
