21 Savage

Shayaa was born in Dominica, an island in the Caribbean, on October 22, 1992 to a Haitian father and a Dominican mother. His father was a crack dealer. After moving to America, his mother, Heather, reared him alongside his four brothers and six sisters. Spending his early years on the rough streets of the town, his life had been defined by violence and crime. While in seventh grade, he was expelled from Stone Mountain Middle School when he brought a pistol to protect himself from bullies. After he was kicked out of every school in Dekalb County, his mother put him into a school in Gwinnet County. He thrived there for the first few months, enrolling in their football program both as wide receiver and as cornerback. But then the streets came calling again and his education came to a full-stop. Besides dealing in drugs, Shayaa was also involved in multiple robberies. He and his friends would sell then the loots to local drug dealers and pawnshop owners for profit. They adopted the number 21 as their gang name, and at 16 he tattooed it on the side of his face. He was arrested several times, including once with 22 grams of marijuana, 89 hydrocodone pills, a Glock .40 and a .9mm Ruger in the vehicle he was driving at the time.

At 19, he was already a father of two children who, according to him, were the main motivation for him to seek out a better life through hip hop. The passion to change for the better was brutally driven home on his 21st birthday. He was shot six times by two assailants during a drug deal that turned into an attempted robbery. His best friend, Johnny, was killed in the incident. The same year, he also lost his brother Tayman. In an ode to him, Shayaa got a dagger tattooed between his eyes; Tayman had got the same tattoo shortly before his death.

Tired of his life as a thug, Shayaa started looking for a way out of the streets. He approached record producer Metro, whom Shayaa had known for years, to see if he (Metro) could help him launch his career as a rapper. Metro was interested, and soon Shayaa’s first mixtape ‘The Slaughter Tape’ was released. He was named as one of the ‘Freshman Class’ of 2016 by ‘XXL’, the famed hip hop magazine. His second mixtape was ‘Slaughter King’. His first EP, ‘Savage Mode’, also a collaboration with Metro, was released on July 15, 2016. It garnered him international success, and reached no. 44 on the Billboard 200. The single ‘X’ which featured megastar rapper Future went platinum. Famous by now under the pseudonym “21 Savage,” he proved his mettle as a rapper by working with both Drake (‘Sneakin’) and Meek Mill (‘Offended’), who had been involved in a much-publicised feud with each other. Over the recent years, he has also worked with Young Dolph, Lil Yachty, Rich the Kid, Lil Uzi Vert, Ralo, Dreezy, PnB Rock and Lil Durk. He performed his single ‘X’ at the ‘2016 BET Hip Hop Awards’.

21 Savage is an active practitioner of Ifá faith, an Afro-American religion with the roots in West Africa.

He and his crew call themselves ‘Slaughter Gang’ and it includes rappers Lotto Savage, Mookie Madri Gra, Young Nudy and Freaky D$MG.

Since his youth 21 Savage has been an avid fan of rapper Gucci Mane, whose influence is clearly evident on his body of work. His most favourite album is Gucci’s ‘Sun Valley’.