When reflecting on the recent killings within the hip hop industry, one of the hardest things to grasp is the fact that we will never be able to see what else the slain artists had in store for the world. If JAY-Z would have died at an early age, there’d be no 4:44, and if 50 Cent would have succumbed to the injuries of his nearly fatal shooting, “Power” probably wouldn’t be the same.
Fortunately, we are also still blessed with 21 Savage’s presence. The “Bank Account” rapper has been praised for his music, his taste in R&B classics, and most recently, his ability to mediate some pretty tense conversations, but he also had a near-death experience. During an appearance on T.I’s “Expeditiously” podcast, he recalled being shot the same year his first son was born.
“I got shot the same year I had my first child, so I feel like that was just one of them experiences that just was like, ‘Bruh this shit real,’” 21 explained. “Basically I’m with my best friend Johnny B, we in the car … it’s my birthday. He tell me we going to pick up some women. We in the car, somebody open the back door and draw down… He start shooting. He ain’t say nothing, he…just start going, whole bunch of shots go off. I end up shot, he end up dead and another one of [my friends] end up getting shot too.”
Despite catching a few bullets, 21 Savage managed to call 911 and get help from emergency responders who immediately rushed him to the hospital.
“The ambulance pull up – it’s a lady nurse and the man who was driving,” the “A Lot” star recalled. “They put me on the stretcher, cut my clothes off. She say, ‘Let’s take him now because if Sarge get here, he’ll fuck around and die because they’ll be trying to ask us questions before letting us take him away,’ type shit. That shit fucked with me.”
21 Savage was shot in his collarbone, arm, hand, finger and neck, but he fortunately survived.
Check out his interview with T.I. below.