The Atlanta rapper 21 Savage has wrapped up his first ever European headlining tour in London, the city where he was born and lived until he was seven years old.
His 90-minute set at the O2 Arena on Nov. 30 included appearances from local rappers Central Cee and J Hus, Rolling Stone reported. The tour also included shows in Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin.
Atlanta rapper 21 Savage returned to his native London to end his first ever headlining European tour on Thursday night.
The rapper, real name Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, hadn't been to Europe since he was 12. Both of his parents are British citizens with family roots in the Caribbean. The musician's immigrant background came to light in 2019 when he was detained by ICE in Atlanta shortly before the city hosted Super Bowl LIII. Officials said he was living in the US illegally on an H-4 Visa that expired back in 2006.
ICE took the rapper into custody for 10 days and scheduled a deportation hearing for him in 2019. But 21 Savage was later granted bail and had the hearing delayed indefinitely as his legal team fought to keep him in the US. He was deemed a "lawful permanent resident" on Oct. 7 and made his first international public appearance since 2019 at a Drake show in Toronto that night.
The trip to London also included a stop at an Arsenal Football Club game, where 21 Savage was gifted a custom jersey as part of a pre-match celebration.
The rapper has been nominated for five different Grammy awards this year. His November LP Her Loss, a collaboration with Drake, is in the running for Best Rap Album. The track "Rich Flex" was nominated for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. "Spin Bout U" and "Sittin' on Top of the World" were both nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Although collaborative albums have been a big part of 21 Savage's career (he's had hits in collaboration with Metro Boomin and Quavo, and his guest verse on Post Malone's "Rockstar" won the rapper his first Grammy in 2019), he emerged as a chart-topping solo artist in his own right with his 2018 second LP I Am > I Was, which made it to the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200.
