21 Savage’s father disputed his son’s account of the breakdown of their relationship after the “Knife Talks” rapper said they fell out after his father stopped sending him money for a cell phone.
21 discussed the falling out during a 2018 Breakfast Club interview, explaining that he had asked his father, Kevin Cornelius Emmons, to send him $100 a month to pay for a cell phone.
“He sent $100, and then he just stopped sending the s###. So, I started selling weed to get me a phone,” 21 Savage claimed. He said he “used to be hurt” over their lack of relationship but hasn’t spoken to his father since sixth grade.
21 Savage “Never Phone Me” Says His Father
Nonetheless, Emmons disagreed and gave another version of events during a recent interview on the U.K.’s RTM Podcast Show.
“He’s never phoned me. But I can tell you about the phone,” Emmons said. He explained that he agreed to pay for the phone to call his son without having to address his son’s mother.
He claims once 21 Savage got the phone, he agreed to pay for credit to avoid his son bearing the cost of international calls when calling his father. According to Emmons, he sent three monthly payments of between $20 to $40, but his son never phoned him, despite that being the sole reason for the phone.
Emmons stated by the fifth month, he was sending 21 Savage $100 monthly and continued to do so for another two months, but his son still would not call him.
“I had this conversation with him plenty of times,” he said when asked why he didn’t visit his son in America. “We had an agreement that he would come back every six months. He came back once in 2005.”
He continued: “The emphasis is put on why couldn’t I send him money or fly out there and visit him. I wasn’t expecting [his mother] to pay,” Emmons added, explaining that he was working to pay for 21 Savage to return to the U.K. every three months. Once his son was regularly flying over to the U.K., he would travel to the U.S. to visit him.
However, Emmons claims that because 21 Savage did not fly over often, as planned, there seemed little point in visiting him in America.
Full interview out on Sunday at 2pm!!
— BIG BAD SPRAY (MR RTM) #WhyMinister (@Young_Spray) December 21, 2022
“He’s lying!!” 21 Savage’s biological father Kevin Emmons | RTM Podcast … https://t.co/gsKFYLvLVJ via @YouTube Cc: @rtmpodcastshow @21savage 🗣®️™️ pic.twitter.com/MQOnwu2aIq
21 Savage Says His Father “Abandoned” Him
21 Savage has discussed his relationship with his father, or lack thereof, in a series of interviews. He told Math Hoffa that he lied about his father having substance abuse issues after he “abandoned” him. The “Rich Flex” hitmaker also explained he felt “kinda jealous” and left out when his cousin received visits and gifts from his own father back in the U.K.
According to 21 Savage, he tried to make amends with his father following the death of his younger brother Terrell Davis. The 27-year-old was killed in a fatal stabbing in London, where he lived, in November 2020. However, 21 says the reconciliation attempt wasn’t “really genuine.”
“I made myself a man, your job really done. You missed the window,” 21 Savage said of his father.