21 Savage’s Fans Stunned: ‘Prototypical Atlanta Rapper Is Not From Atlanta’

Grammy-nominated 21 Savage was detained in a targeted operation in the Atlanta area and put in deportation proceedings. For fans, surprise about his arrest quickly gave way to outrage. Many showed their support for the rapper, and an online petition was created to stop his deportation.

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It was a shock for fans when 21 Savage was taken into custody by U.S. immigration agents in Georgia. It was an even bigger shock to learn he had been an immigrant in the first place.

The Grammy-nominated rapper and his music are so deeply associated with Atlanta that the notion he was actually born in England and brought to the U.S. at age 12 felt downright bizarre.

Scores of surprised tweets came after his Sunday arrest. Memes bloomed that some called cruel under the circumstances, including one of him dressed as a Buckingham Palace guard, along with an old video of him talking in a mock English accent about tea and crumpets.