Drake says that 21 Savage has received a green card amid years of immigration-related headaches.
The In My Feelings rapper, 36, announced the news about 21 Savage, 30, in new material he released Thursday titled 8AM in Charlotte.
The single includes the lyric, ‘Savage got a green card straight out of the consulate/Where I go, you go, brother, we Yugoslavian.’
The revelation comes just before Drake plays a pair of shows in his hometown of Toronto on his Drake: It’s All A Blur Tour slated for his Friday and Saturday at the Scotiabank Arena.
With a green card, 21 Savage would be able to enter Canada to perform on the shows, and re-enter the United States.
The latest: Drake, 36, says that 21 Savage, 30, has received a green card amid years of immigration-related headaches
The update marks the latest chapter in what’s been a four-year long battle for 21 Savage in regards to his immigration status, as Georgia’s DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court officials told TMZ Thursday that an immigration case the rapper was involved in has been closed.
The London-born musical artist on February 3, 2019 was detained by authorities with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid allegations he had resided in the U.S. illegally following the expiration of his visa in 2006.
Officials said that a handgun was retrieved from the vehicle that 21 Savage, whose real name is Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was in; and that he attempted to dispose of a codeine bottle at his time of detainment.
21 Savage turned himself into authorities with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office in September of 2021, and bonded out soon after.
Prosecutors in DeKalb County in January of 2022 formally charged 21 Savage with possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance, according to TMZ, almost three years after he was initially detained.
Sources told TMZ at the time that no court date had been slated in DeKalb County, which would continue to delay the immigration case, which was also significantly stalled by the pandemic.
The Grammy winner has been permitted to travel within the U.S., his immigration lawyer Charles Kuck told the outlet last year, but he could not leave the country, as he had no visa to return.
The My Life performer gave his thoughts on immigration with the Associated Press in October of 2019 prior to receiving honors from the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles.
With a green card, 21 Savage would be able to enter Canada to perform on Drake’s upcoming Toronto shows, and re-enter the United States. Pictured last year
The update from Drake marks the latest chapter in what’s been a four-year long battle for 21 Savage in regards to his immigration status. The musical artist was snapped in Atlanta March 25, 2022
The Grammy winner was seen at the 2021 Soul Train Awards in NYC
The My Life performer was seen onstage during a concert in Austin, Texas in October of 2019
He said that children who were in the country unlawfully should have been automatically granted U.S. citizenship.
‘When you’re a child, you don’t know what’s going on,’ 21 Savage said. ‘Now, you grow up and got to figure it out. Can’t get a job. Can’t get a license. I’m one of the lucky ones who became successful. It’s a lot of people who can’t.’
21 Savage, who was held in a Georgia detention center for 10 days in 2019, was born in the U.K. and brought to the U.S. at the age of seven.
He told the AP he felt he ‘should be exempt’ under the circumstances, as he didn’t have a choice as a child.
‘It’s not like I was 30, woke up and moved over here,’ 21 Savage said. ‘I’ve been here since I was like seven or eight, probably younger than that. I didn’t know anything about visas and all that. I just knew we were moving to a new place.’
21 Savage also said the process of obtaining a visa was too drawn out for undocumented immigrants, as it ‘hangs over your head forever.
‘They just lose hope,’ the Mr. Right Now performer said. ‘I feel like kids who were brought here at young ages, they should automatically be like, “Yeah, you good to stay here, work and go to college.” It should be nipped in the bud before it gets to a point before you come of age.’
