Atlanta’s 21 Savage celebrates new album with High Museum art exhibit
When British-Nigerian visual artist Slawn was contacted by 21 Savage about a collaboration for his upcoming album, Slawn didn’t immediately answer.
“I’m so bad with my phone” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I didn’t have it when he contacted me, but when I finally saw him, I told him I’d love to do it.”
The 25-year-old, known for his graffiti designs, created the artwork for 21 Savage’s latest album, including the cover, “What Happened to the Streets?”.
The first-time collaborators celebrated the album, released Friday, with a private, one-night-only exhibit at the High Museum. The rapper was not available for interviews at the event.
Fifteen pieces of Slawn’s work were displayed at the pop-up — all inspired by 21 Savage and his recent music. One design included a prominent painting of a question mark. Another featured a collage of menacing figures with crowns. There were also caricatures of the guest artists on 21 Savage’s album, including Latto and Drake.
Slawn used spray paint, oil sticks and multisurface paint on canvasses to bring the art to life. All the designs had red, white and black themes, representing “sirens, concrete and danger,” per the exhibit’s description.
The album cover is the premier piece in Slawn’s collection. It’s inspired by Kerry James Marshall’s seminal 1980 design, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self.” Marshall’s original features a nearly invisible Black man (dressed in all-black against a black background) with a wide smile — confronting racist perceptions imposed on Black Americans.
Slawn’s iteration of the work, which he made six versions of before finalizing, includes a question mark in the background and a knife on the figure’s forehead. It centers the pain and fury associated with 21 Savage’s trauma-plagued childhood in Atlanta’s eastside.
In honor of the design, Slawn got a tattoo of a question mark on the left side of his face. He described the partnership as a “huge dream come true.”
Slawn found similarities in respective upbringings of 21 Savage and Marshall (mainly the violence that marked both artists), which inspired the reimagined art.
“That’s the last one I did,” Slawn said of the pieces he designed for the project. “I was in my head the whole time. I didn’t want to disrespect Kerry James Marshall, but I figured if I don’t try it, then it won’t happen. And that’s the one (21 Savage) connected with, so I’m just happy he liked it. Sometimes I get a lot of impostor syndrome because I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time.”
The last statement completely undersells Slawn’s immense talent, best revealed as he freestyled two other works on blank canvasses during the event.
Slawn created all of the art at the exhibit in only four days at his warehouse. He didn’t leave until he completed the works.
“I wanna make something you see and don’t understand it but relate to it. Art that I’ve understanded immediately, I never relate to. When I don’t understand it, and I see it, then I’m like, I don’t like this, but something is dragging me to it. … I want people to have mixed emotions about it more than anything.”
The artist, a longtime 21 Savage fan, said he digested everything the rapper told him about his vision for the pieces, although he’s a “man of little words.”
“He’s got this, I don’t want to use the word aura because everyone uses it, but when he’s in the room, you know he’s there even though he’s not talking.”
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, of DeKalb County and serving Georgia’s Fourth District, attended Friday’s exhibit. The Democrat is an avid supporter of 21 Savage, from helping the rapper with his 2019 ICE arrest to amplifying his financial literacy initiative in DeKalb County School District.
“Bringing art to our young people is so very important because that empowers them to bring their uniqueness out.”
Europe Angelique, who owns Prime Culture, an Atlanta-based creative agency, took several pictures with the art. The 35-year-old was invited to the event by a friend. A longtime fan of 21 Savage, Angelique noted that her favorite song on his new album is “Pop It,” with Latto.
“I think we need more of this in Atlanta, which is why I was excited to pop out tonight,” she said. “There’s live paintings, you can look at the art, there’s video, so there’s all type of different mediums.
Other artists featured on “What Happened to the Streets?” include GloRilla, Lil Baby, Young Nudy, Metro Boomin, G Herbo and Jawan Harris. It’s his first album since last year’s “American Dream.”
About the Author
DeAsia is a music and culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She focuses on the intersection of arts, culture and diverse communities, as well as how emerging social trends are being expressed through the lens of the Atlanta aesthetic. DeAsia's work can be seen in Pitchfork, Essence, Teen Vogue, Elle and more.
