21 Savage is using his latest album, What Happened to the Streets, as a backdrop to speak honestly about the city that raised him and the forces that shaped his early years. During a recent episode of Perspektives with Bank, he described how quickly Atlanta exposes children to adult environments and how those experiences follow them well into adulthood. At about eighteen minutes into the discussion, he didn’t hold back as he tried to capture the reality he witnessed growing up. “This is how I really feel… Atlanta is really goddamn what’s the word? Atlanta really a pedophile,” he said. The reaction in the room was laughter, but Savage doubled down on the larger point he was making. “’Cause Atlanta really groomed us, bro, since we was kids.” After a brief pause, he reconsidered the phrasing, adding, “Maybe pedophile the worst word. Maybe pedophile the wrong word. Atlanta is a grooming ass city. Atlanta groomed us ni**as since we was ten or 11, 12 on club life bro.”
He described those early years in detail, remembering how he hustled for whatever income he could find. “When I was a lamb ni**a on my mama, I was taking out trash for 2 dollars in apartments. Just to goddamn get some Chucks and some Dickies,” he said. There was also a venue that handed kids pitchers of soda, an imitation of the bottle-service culture they’d later encounter in clubs. “So your ass is getting groomed for the club you goddamn in middle school,” he explained. “So now when you 30 ni**a I been going to the club since I was 11, 12 years old. Bro f**k the club. Atlanta groomed a ni**a bro. And ni**as banging out at these clubs.”
Savage also talked about the limited options he faced due to his immigration status. “‘Cause I couldn’t do nothing else, I ain’t got no green card. I can’t get no job. So how the hell else was I gonna survive? I don’t feel like I jumped in the street, I feel like I was kind of forced,” he said. With money tight at home, he sold candy at school, sold weed, and picked up whatever small jobs he could.
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