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‘This is The O21!’ 21 Savage yells, closing his marathon two-hour set against a waterfall of cascading fireworks, combining his name with the venue he’s staking a claim to… close enough! His stoic exterior has dropped to reveal genuine elation for a homecoming that’s been a decade in the making; to mark the occasion, his fans are sporting tees emblazoned with the words ‘legal citizen’.
31-year-old Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph is now a stalwart in the Atlanta rap scene, but was born in London before moving to the US at age seven. In 2019, his undocumented status meant he was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and threatened with deportation. After a lengthy legal battle, Savage was declared a ‘lawful permanent resident’ in October – hence the merch.
Tonight (November 30) Savage is finishing a victory lap around the country. He’s performing for the first time in London with a whopping 33 song setlist, split loosely into three sections. For added extravagance, he enlists J Hus, Central Cee and Popcaan to do minute-long performances of their biggest songs.
Savage’s hypnotic flow and ominous instrumentals make him particularly captivating on records, though this doesn’t necessarily translate to his live performances. He’s practically shouting throughout the set, more like a traditional MC than the breathy wordsmith we’re used to: the whispering verse on ‘Don’t Come Out The House’ is delivered, strikingly, at full volume.
Nevertheless, he is a natural showman. His rapid delivery of guest features, like Nardo Wick’s ‘Who Want Smoke??’, gets a rapturous response despite being just 30 seconds long. The same goes for a crowd-pleasing stint on Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ and cult favourite ‘Peaches & Eggplants’, where the comical line of, “She got a tattoo right by her bikini that says, ‘Eat me’’’ gets joyously propelled off the walls by the 20,000-strong crowd.
While ‘ball w/o you’ and ‘Out For The Night’ showcase his prowess as a lyricist, the atmosphere in the crowd falls flat in the second act. To salvage it, a hat-trick of Hus, Cee and “Poppy” – as he referred to Popcaan – fire up energy levels for the closing act. Their appearances, combined with visuals of the capital and head-to-toe looks in local designer Mowalola, reinstate this idea of Savage being welcomed home with open arms.
Despite two chart-topping solo albums and a Grammy for Best Rap Song (‘A Lot’), it feels like he’s never quite been taken seriously. His issues with ICE were first seen as a joke – but look who’s laughing now. The closing song ‘Rich Flex’ has the crowd breaking into moshpits and screaming, “21, can you do somethin’ for me? / Can you hit a lil’ rich flex for me?’”. It’s so powerful he does it twice. Savage’s chance to perform in the UK has been robbed for so long that just to be here, celebrating his career thus far, feels like a deliciously anarchic triumph.
21 Savage played:
‘Runnin’
‘Glock in My Lap’
‘Don’t Come Out the House’
‘No Heart’
‘Who Want Smoke??’
‘Many Men’
‘Dip Dip’
‘Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)’
‘EA’
‘Red Opps’
‘Broke Boys’
’10 Freaky Girls’
‘ball w/o You’
‘Ocean Drive’
‘out for the night’
‘Privileged Rappers’
‘Mr. Right Now’
‘Spin Bout U’
‘X’
‘Peaches & Eggplants’
‘a&t’
‘On BS’
‘TOPIA TWINS’
‘Creepin”
‘m y . l i f e’
‘a lot’
‘Rich N***a Shit’
‘rockstar’
‘Major Distribution’
‘Jimmy Cooks’
‘Knife Talk’
‘Bank Account’
‘Rich Flex’
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Ronnie Radke has claimed that Max Georgiev was dismissed from Falling In Reverse due to allegations of sexual misconduct, accusations that Georgiev has firmly rejected.
Georgiev exited the Las Vegas metalcore group in 2024. Last week, the band’s frontman Ronnie Radke shared an Instagram post stating that the guitarist was removed after allegedly admitting to a sexual relationship with an underage girl.
“For those that are wondering why I fired the guitarist,” Radke wrote, according to Lambgoat, “it’s because he admitted to sleeping with a minor ten years before he [was] in my band [when] he was 27 years old. Have fun with that.”
Georgiev, who joined Falling In Reverse in 2018 and now performs with metal outfit Vio-lence, responded shortly after, denying the allegations. “To the fans, I have never done anything illegal with a minor,” said Max Georgiev. “Fifteen years ago, when I was 23, I still lived in Quebec, Canada.”
“Since then, I have played for several bands who never mentioned inappropriate behavior on my part,” he continued. “I have always had great respect for the fans. I have strived to play my heart out for you.”
Radke’s Instagram account has since appeared to be removed, something he addressed during a livestream. “Maybe me talking about my old guitar player getting fired for finding out he was hooking up with minors, I think that AI might’ve caught that and was like, ‘You gotta go’,” he suggested, as reported by Loudwire".
“This man not only did that, [but] the parents of the minor ten years before he was in my band found out, they confronted him, he lied about his age so he could continue doing that with her. He wasn’t 23, he was older. He’s lying about that,” Radke went on to claim.
In a subsequent statement shared on Thursday January 8, Georgiev again rejected Radke’s accusations, calling them “delusional”. “I met someone who turned eighteen a few months later while I occasionally dated her,” he said. “This was fifteen years ago, when I was 23 in Quebec, Canada.”
“Her parents never confronted me because the girl only had a mother. I never lied to her or her daughter about anything.”
Georgiev later suggested that his departure from Falling In Reverse may instead have been linked to him “taking the initiative to learn nine songs of another band”, which he identified as Disturbed.
Elsewhere, Radke has reportedly filed a temporary restraining order against Brittany Furlan, citing alleged harassment connected to a catfish controversy from last year.
He has repeatedly alleged that Furlan, the estranged wife of Tommy Lee, was involved with someone impersonating him online. The filing asks that she be required to remain at least 100 yards away from him. Representatives for Furlan have said they are “aware” of the request and maintain that the allegations are “not accurate”.
Radke also saw his defamation lawsuit against Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop dismissed last year.
