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21 Savage Details His Upbringing and Detainment in New Interview

“I'm not leaving Atlanta without a fight. We gon' fight all the way till the last day even if that mean I sit in jail for 10 years,” the rapper told the New York Times.
JT
Chicago, US
21 Savage

On Feb. 13 21 Savage was released on bond from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody where he was held in a Georgia detention center for nine days. The rapper born She-yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, who ICE officials alleged was a U.K. national who entered the U.S. in 2005 and overstayed his visa, gave his first interview to Good Morning America. He talked about his arrest, detainment, and childhood revealing to the show, "I ain't know what a visa was. I was seven when I first came here. I knew I wasn't born here but I didn't know what that means as far as how I transitioned into an adult.”

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But over the weekend, Abraham-Joseph describe his detainment and upbringing in even more detail to the New York Times. The interview found him defiant and optimistic when he said, "It's like, I got three kids, my mama, everything that I know is here in Atlanta. I'm not leaving Atlanta without a fight. We gon' fight all the way till the last day even if that mean I sit in jail for 10 years." He also revealed that he watched the Grammys, appreciate Post Malone’s show of support, and even enjoyed the Twitter jokes people made about his arrest, “Some of them was funny—I ain’t gonna lie. I was appreciative of that.”

Elsewhere, 21 Savage highlighted the stark realities of immigrants trying to live in the United States. He described his own experience coming to the United States “from the poor side of London” eventually realizing his legal status wasn’t settled, “ I couldn’t never take driver’s ed, I couldn’t never go get a job…We struggled but we couldn't get food stamps, we couldn't get government assistance. I learned how to live without.” He added later, “ My situation is important ’cause I represent poor black Americans and I represent poor immigrant Americans. You gotta think about all the millions of people that ain’t 21 Savage that’s in 21 Savage shoes.”