# 21 Savage 21 Savage is the Atlanta rapper whose February 2019 ICE arrest triggered a viral wave of jokes when fans learned he was actually born in London. The reveal that a hardcore trap artist had British roots turned into a Twitter-wide meme run during Super Bowl LIII weekend. ## Overview 21 Savage, born Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, is an English-born rapper based in Atlanta known for tracks like 'Bank Account' and his guest verse on Post Malone's 'Rockstar'[3]. The meme attached to his name blew up on February 3rd, 2019, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him for allegedly overstaying a visa that lapsed in 2006[1]. The idea that a rapper famous for gritty Atlanta street music was actually born in Newham, east London, sent Twitter into a full weekend of jokes[4]. The gag was built on the mismatch between his hardcore trap persona and a British birth certificate obtained by the MailOnline the same day[1]. Users cranked out fake tea-and-crumpets rewrites of his lyrics, posh-accent overdubs, and Big Shaq mashups pulled from his 2016 XXL Freshman cypher[4]. Because the arrest happened during Super Bowl LIII weekend, the meme run pulled in comments from other rappers, pop stars, and R&B singers[2]. At the time of the arrest, 21 Savage had roughly 1.2 million Facebook likes, 2.88 million Twitter followers, and 9.1 million Instagram followers, giving the joke thread a massive built-in audience to bounce through[4]. The story also fed straight into mainstream pop coverage from outlets like the Evening Standard and Fox News[1][2]. ## How It Spread Twitter grabbed the story and ran within hours of the ICE announcement. User @tcibs posted an early joke that pulled over 7,200 retweets and 24,000 likes, setting the template for the wave[4]. Other tweets recast his lyrics in the voice of a Cambridge undergrad, dropped his face onto photos of the Queen, or matched his mugshot with images of tea sets and cricket bats[4]. Multiple subreddits picked up the joke thread the same day[4]. During Super Bowl LIII that evening, Demi Lovato tweeted, 'So far 21 Savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl,' which flipped the joke run into a backlash cycle[2]. Rapper Wale fired back, 'Why is somebody freedom funny ... I don't get the joke,' a reply that pulled over 3,600 retweets and 7,500 likes[2][4]. Migos rapper Offset piled on with, 'ALL THE MEMES AND S—T AINT FUNNY WHEN SOMEBODY GOING THROUGH SOME PRAYING FOR MY DAWG'[2]. Lovato deactivated her Twitter account soon after and argued on Instagram that she was joking about him being a 'closet Brit,' not about the deportation itself[2]. The feud then jumped again when Chris Brown posted a video of 21's 2016 XXL Freshman cypher redubbed with vocals from Big Shaq, the U.K. rapper-comedian behind 'Man's Not Hot,' mocking the deportation angle[4]. Offset commented 'Meme's ain't funny lame' under the clip, and Brown answered with a long profane reply, sending the beef spiraling into a second news cycle[4]. His lawyer Dina LaPolt told press, 'We are working diligently to get Mr Abraham-Joseph out of detention while we work with the authorities to clear up any misunderstandings'[1]. ## How to Use The template typically pairs a photo or clip of 21 Savage with something stereotypically British: tea, the Queen, a top hat, cricket, or a posh accent overdub. Common versions rewrote lines from tracks like 'Bank Account' as Downton Abbey dialogue or matched his XXL cypher with Big Shaq's 'Man's Not Hot' vocals[4]. Text tweets often opened with '21 Savage voice' followed by an exaggerated posh line, or swapped his gang references for cricket scores and boarding-school slang. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 21 Savage? 21 Savage is a British-born Atlanta rapper whose February 2019 ICE arrest sparked a viral Twitter wave of jokes about his hidden London roots[1]. ### Where did 21 Savage come from? The meme kicked off on February 3rd, 2019, after ICE detained him in Atlanta and press reports confirmed he was born at Newham Hospital in east London[1]. ### What does 21 Savage mean? As a meme, it's Twitter shorthand for exposing a persona-versus-reality mismatch after his UK birth certificate leaked[1]. ### How do you use 21 Savage? You pair his image or voice with British stereotypes like tea, Big Shaq, cricket, and posh accents[4]. ### Is 21 Savage still popular? The British-reveal meme peaked around Super Bowl LIII weekend in February 2019, though the arrest and Grammy timing kept it in pop-news rotation for weeks after[1][2]. ### Why was 21 Savage arrested by ICE? ICE said his visa had expired in July 2006 and he also had a 2014 Fulton County felony drug conviction[1]. ### Who is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph? That is 21 Savage's legal name, listed on the birth certificate from Newham Hospital in London dated October 22nd, 1992[1]. ### What did Demi Lovato tweet about 21 Savage? During Super Bowl LIII she tweeted, 'So far 21 Savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl,' then deactivated her Twitter after backlash from Wale and Offset[2]. ### What was the Big Shaq mashup? Chris Brown posted 21's 2016 XXL Freshman cypher redubbed with U.K. rapper Big Shaq's vocals to mock the deportation angle, which sparked a beef with Offset[4]. ### Did 21 Savage get deported? He was placed in deportation proceedings in federal immigration court after the ICE arrest[1]. ### Was 21 Savage nominated for Grammys during the arrest? Yes, he was nominated for two Grammys at the ceremony a week after his detention, including Record of the Year for 'Rockstar' with Post Malone[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/atlanta-rapper-21-savage-arrested-after-it-emerges-he-is-british-and-never-left-america-a4056406.html?amp]() 2. [https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/demi-lovato-deactivates-twitter-after-mocking-21-savages-ice-arrest]() 3. [https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/21-savage-seth-rogen-interview]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/21-savage]() 5. [https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/2017-07-29]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=21%20Savage]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/21-savage Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library