The son of Heather Carmillia Joseph and Kevin Cornelius Emmons, 21 Savage was born Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph on October 22, 1992, at Newham University Hospital in the Plaistow neighborhood of London. His mother’s family hails from Dominica, and his father’s comes from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Both of his parents are British citizens with Caribbean ancestry. His father still resides in London, where he works for Westminster City Council, and his twin sisters, dance choreographers Kyra and Jayda Davis, are from Haiti.

21 Savage’s parents divorced when he was seven years old, and he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, with his mother. He traveled to the United Kingdom for his uncle’s funeral in June 2005, stayed for a month, and then returned to Atlanta on an H-4 visa on July 22, 2005, which supposedly expired a year later.

21 Savage’s mother then had a relationship with Dr. Amsu Anpu, a British expatriate, and endocrinologist, with whom she produced more children.  Quantivayus (“Tay-Man”), his brother, was killed in a shooting following an attempted narcotics deal.

21 Savage children: Meet Kamari, Ashaad, Rhian

The rapper has three children, Kamari, Ashaad, and Rhian, but his baby mothers’ identities remain unknown to the world.

21 Savage was permanently barred from all DeKalb County Schools in seventh grade for gun possession.

As a result, he began attending schools in the Atlanta metropolitan area before being sent to a juvenile correctional institution. After being released from the juvenile detention center, he completed eighth grade through an alternative program before completing a semester of high school but dropped out in his first year due to several exclusions that “exhausted” him.

After skipping out, he joined a small street gang that was part of the larger Bloods group and became a full-time drug dealer, primarily dealing cannabis.

He reportedly engaged in other criminal activities such as robbery and car theft on a regular basis, yet he was only detained once when contraband was discovered in a car he was driving.

Larry, his “right-hand man,” was slain in a firefight in 2011, when he was 19 years old. 21 Savage was shot six times by rival gang members during an attempted heist on his 21st birthday in 2013, and his best friend Johnny was slain.