Early Sunday morning Atlanta rapper, 21 Savage, was arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The arrest appears to have stemmed from a traffic stop in DeKalb County where the three other people who were with him were arrested.
Federal agents told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution on Sunday;
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested unlawfully present United Kingdom national Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph AKA “21 Savage” during a targeted operation with federal and local law enforcement partners early Sunday in metro Atlanta. Mr. Abraham-Joseph was taken into ICE custody as he is unlawfully present in the U.S. and also a convicted felon.
Mr. Abraham-Joseph initially entered the U.S. legally in July 2005, but subsequently failed to depart under the terms of his nonimmigrant visa and he became unlawfully present in the U.S. when his visa expired in July 2006. In addition to being in violation of federal immigration law, Mr. Abraham-Joseph was convicted on felony drug charges in October 2014 in Fulton County, Georgia.
Mr. Abraham-Joseph is presently in ICE custody in Georgia and has been placed into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts. ICE will now await the outcome of his case before a federal immigration judge to determine future actions.”
This is a plot twist like no other if it’s real. Having watched thousands of hours of Law & Order, true-crime documentaries, and every thriller imaginable; naturally, I threw on my detective hat and started investigating.
I started with the obvious, his speech. I had never really heard 21 Savage actually speak except the occasional clip. I pulled up one of his previous Breakfast Club interviews to analyze the way he speaks, and to see if I could get any insight into his character.
If he had immigrated from the UK in 2005, he would have been about 12-13 when he immigrated. His speech would have been well-developed already, so it would have taken extensive speech therapy to get rid of his accent.
As I watched him talk during the interview his southern drawl was almost incomprehensible. More recent interviews show 21 Savage speaking more clearly, and enunciating more, but the drawl is mos’ definitely still there.
Further on in the interview, he talks about past events in his life, but his stories are hard to keep up with. His thought processes seem scattered. He can’t get a complete sentence out; repeating certain, almost key, details over and over.
Now, this very well could be due to drugs. But, it also seems like he’s orchestrated certain stories to create a backstory with street credibility in Atlanta. Almost like he’s told the story hundreds of times, but now that people are pointing out his incomplete, or inconsistent thoughts, he’s having trouble keeping it straight.
Another weird thing I noticed, even listening to other interviews, I haven’t heard anything about 21’s life before 2005. I’ve never heard anything about his childhood, I hear a lot about being 12-13, and seventh grade, which would have been coincidently around the year 2005 for him. Personally, I feel like 21 just has some traumatic life experiences he might not want to talk about, and maybe even suppressed.
Now, here’s where it gets suspicious to me, 21 Savage is a bad dude. Like, multiple arrests, selling drugs, shot someone in quote-on-quote self-defense, kind of bad. He got caught with guns in SEVENTH grade. ICE is saying that he had a non-immigrant visa that expired in 2006. He would have been legally allowed in the country at that time, but firearm possession is high on the list of reasons for an immigrant to be deported.
Chalk it up to his age, or whatever, he stayed in Atlanta. He got another chance at school but was apparently expelled from the entire DeKalb County School District. This is the same district that he gives back to for charity, making me think that he has a deep, deep love for the area regardless of his rough childhood.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrbZlFtH7wM/
Even further though, he was involved in a shoot-out where he was shot in the neck and killed a man in self-defense. As well as, getting arrested on drug charges in 2014. It’s strange to me that a man with an expired visa would be able to have such high criminal activity without having ICE be aware of his status.
The timing of the arrest is also very suspicious. Just last Thursday, 21 Savage performed at the Super Bowl Music Festival, taking place right before the 53rd annual Super Bowl at Mercedez-Benz stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
a couple days ago 21 savage adds an extra verse on the live performance of “A lot” speaking on flint and immigration. today he is arrested by ICE with claims that he is from the U.K. ay man i’m not saying this a set up but it’s highly questionable. pic.twitter.com/qyfYl7CmPk
— jonny🇨🇺 (@goldlinkjonny) February 3, 2019
Social media has exploded since the news dropped. DJ Akademiks got on Twitter to say that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding.
Spoke to 21 savage team… this whole situation a big misunderstanding … hope it gets cleared up quickly. There’s a logical explanation behind everything as well… but until then them U.K. jokes gonna fly. When the real story comes out a lot will identify with it .
— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) February 3, 2019
If this is all just one big misunderstanding, it’s definitely another reason to add to the long list of government fuck-ups. This man has done a lot for the community he supposedly isn’t originally from. Not to mention very openly preaching about his self-improvement.
On the other hand though, how wild would it be if he really is an immigrant whose managed to create a new life for himself? It’s almost like he’s living the American dream, using his platform for good, and the government doesn’t like it.
I’m not really convinced one way or the other. I’ve heard a lot of wild stories in my life, but one thing is for sure, this story has a lot more to it than what we see on the surface. Stay tuned, we will be updating as this story unravels.
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