21 Savage: rapper can now perform in London after US residency granted - who is he and what was his situation?

Rapper 21 Savage can now perform in London after being cleared to travel outside the US after his lawyer, Charles Kuck, said 21 Savage is a permanent US resident and can go overseas.

Mr Kuck said the Grammy-nominated artist had followed “all applicable immigration laws since his initial detention by ICE. His immigration court proceedings have now been terminated and he is a lawful permanent resident of the United States with the freedom to travel internationally."

But who is 21 Savage, and what was the issue with immigration? Here is what you need to know. 

Who is 21 Savage? 

Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, 30, known professionally as 21 Savage, is an American rapper. He was born in London but moved to Atlanta, Georgia, aged seven with his mother. 

21 Savage was raised in the US but did return to London in 2005 to attend his uncle's funeral but returned to Atlanta a month later on an H-4 visa which allegedly expired a year later.

His mother, Heather Carmillia Joseph, had a relationship with Dr Amsu Anpu, an endocrinologist and British expatriate, and 21 Savage had a brother Quantivayus ("Tay-Man") who died in a shooting after an attempted drug deal.

Following the death of his friend in a shootout on his 21st birthday, 21 Savage began rapping and released his debut single, "Picky", produced by DJ Plugg, in 2014. 

His EP, Savage Mode, gained international success and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200, which became their highest charting EP to date. By 2017, 21 Savage announced that he had signed to Epic Records.

In 2018, 21 Savage released his album I Am > I Was which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, and it became his first US number one album. 

In 2020, 21 Savage and longtime collaborator Metro Boomin released Savage Mode II, which peaked at number one on Billboard 200. 

The rapper has also hosted a number of drives to give back to his community and in early August 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, 21 Savage hosted the "Issa Back to School Drive" (named after his album, Issa Album). 

On July 1, 2020, 21 Savage announced he was launching a free online financial literacy education program for kids and teenagers stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "I feel like it's important more than ever to give our next generation the tools to succeed in life." 

What was 21 Savage's situation with immigration? 

On 3 February 2019, 21 Savage was taken into custody by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being pulled over with him and his cousin, Young Nudy, and two other men.

After his arrest, ICE revealed that the rapper is a British national, despite many media outlets reporting him to be from Atlanta, Georgia. 

His management team had tried to express that the rapper has been trying to get his Visa renewed since the year 2017. A spokesperson for ICE said of 21 Savage, "His whole public persona is false. He actually came to the U.S. from the U.K. as a teen and overstayed his visa.

A birth certificate surfaced showing that 21 Savage was born in Newham, London on October 22, 1992, which indicates that he had been 12 years old in July 2005 – not "a teen" when he overstayed his visa. 

He was released from ICE's custody on February 13, 2019. An immigration hearing for his case was scheduled for April 9 of the same year but it was postponed indefinitely due to court backlogs.