The Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage, who has long been associated with Atlanta, has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency says he is actually a U.K. citizen who overstayed his visa and that he now faces deportation.
The news has come as a surprise to fans, who assumed the rapper was from Atlanta, as he has often talked about his tough childhood in the city’s Eastside. As The Atlanta Journal Constitution put it, 21 Savage — whose real name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph — “has long been considered a local act.”
The 26-year-old first appeared on the rap scene in 2015 and has since rocketed to success. In December, he scored his first No. 1 on the Billboard charts for his latest album, I Am > I Was.
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