21 Savage, the self-proclaimed Saint Laurent Don, caught some flak on Twitter after using his platform to encourage people in Atlanta to chill out with the gun violence.
“Atlanta We Have To Do Better Put The F****** Guns Down !!!!!” the London-born rapper tweeted early Monday morning.
Atlanta We Have To Do Better
Put The F****** Guns Down !!!!!— Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) August 8, 2022
While people primarily appeared to agree with this sentiment, many felt that 21 Savage, a well-known public figure with songs like “Glock In My Lap,” “No Opp Left Behind” and “My Choppa Hate N***as,” was one of the last people who ought to be speaking out against gun violence due to the subject matter of his music.
“Pull up to your mama house keep shooting there till somebody dies” pic.twitter.com/XRcxK8Sfvl
— Cole (@Cole_man_slatt) August 8, 2022
Nigga??? pic.twitter.com/b8k7ipMc9j
— II Nitrite II (@Nitritebih) August 8, 2022
The comments not lying 🤥🤷♀️ idk how to help u with this one, I kno u gotta go heart tho and the right mindset…but you shoot at least one person in every song 😂🤣
— Koriander (@ImaGoddessT) August 8, 2022
You gotta switch up your content then
— Sido (@bigsido_) August 8, 2022
Niggas host one community outreach event and turn into MLK. Y’all niggas gotta learn that you can’t feed corruption to the culture and then think you can clean it up with a food drive in your hood.
— I’m That 🥷🏽 (@YallAintNobody) August 8, 2022
The rapper ultimately decided to respond directly to one of his critics on Twitter.
“A Song Is For Entertainment It’s Not An Instruction Manual On How To Live Life In Real Life I Give Away A lot Of Money And Spread Financial Literacy To My Community Stop Trying To Make Me 1 Dimensional,” he tweeted.
A Song Is For Entertainment It’s Not An Instruction Manual On How To Live Life
In Real Life I Give Away A lot Of Money And Spread Financial Literacy To My Community Stop Trying To Make Me 1 Dimensional— Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) August 8, 2022
That wasn’t the end, though, as 21 Savage proceeded to hop on his Instagram Story to further speak on the subject.
“If what I’m rapping about or all these rappers is rapping about is the reason that people are dying and young people are acting the way they’re acting, why ain’t the whole world dead? ‘Cause the whole world listens to our music,” he said, seemingly suggesting that this is an issue unique to America.
“Y’all want me to not express how I really feel about what’s going on and where I’m from?” he continued. “At the end of the day, I been through a lot, seen a lot, and I used all my pain and trauma. I found a way to turn it into fuel, and it motivated me to make a way for my family.”
Despite the messages in his rhymes, 21 Savage noted he is only rapping about subjects he is familiar with. His primary focus has always been supporting his family and community.
“I found a way to feed my family without doing nothing illegal, so I really don’t give a f**k how nobody feels about what I rap about. At the end of the day, I can rap about whatever, but when it comes down to what I do in real life, I give back. I look out for a lot of people, I take care of a lot of people, I help a lot of people,” 21 Savage shared. “I been doing this. This is me as a person.”
The 29-year-old artist slam people for viewing rap lyrics as literal while giving other forms of entertainment a pass.
“Y’all don’t do actors like that. Actors can get in a movie and kill the whole world and go hold a peace rally and y’all won’t say s**t. Kids get on video games and kill a million people every day. Do y’all rally against video games?” he quipped.
21 Savage reacts to people calling him a hypocrite for speaking out against gun violence while rapping about it in his music https://t.co/xUp8j9shNU pic.twitter.com/9GzCux5KVy
— Glock Topickz (@Glock_Topickz) August 9, 2022
In a separate clip, the rapper doubled down and said he has “never promoted violence.”
“They say, ‘You a hypocrite, you this, you that.’ [But] I ain’t ever promoted violence. I just rap about what I’ve been through, what I’ve heard about, what I saw. That’s not me promoting violence,” 21 Savage said.
21 Savage responds to being called a hypocrite by fans after asking Atlanta to put the guns down 👀 pic.twitter.com/LXroKH29ln
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) August 9, 2022
This is far from the first time that 21 Savage has used his platform to speak on the issue of gun violence in America.
In February, he penned a tweet expressing his intention to “give back and calm the violence.”
I’m doing everything in my power to give back and calm the violence until I’m gone !
— Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) February 23, 2022
He also appeared to comment on the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, as he tweeted about school safety shortly after the tragedy went down.
I really can’t believe kids really have to worry about being safe at school that sh*t is crazy to me very crazy !!!
— Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) May 25, 2022
What do you think about the situation, and do agree with the backlash 21 Savage caught?