(Photo by AP)
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage says he didn’t talk about his British citizenship before because he didn’t want to get deported.
The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” for a Friday broadcast.
He was arrested Feb. 3 in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said was a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.
Now 26, he says he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. That visa expired in 2006. He says he “wasn’t hiding it,” but “didn’t want to get deported,” so he “wasn’t going to just come out and say ‘Hey by the way, I wasn’t born here.'”
