Early in the month, the air buzzed with chatter about 21 Savage’s latest stunt. He dropped a trailer, glossy and dripping with cash, for a film titled “American Dream: The 21 Savage Story.” In it, stars twinkled; Donald Glover and “Stranger Things” prodigy Caleb McLaughlin played older and younger versions of the artist. Fans and critics alike were left scratching their heads, wondering if it was all real.
Then, in a twist that had everyone talking, 21 Savage spilled the beans. On Shannon Sharpe’s podcast “Club Shay Shay,” he chuckled about the trailer being “a parody.” Sharpe, caught off guard and not privy to the joke, prodded further. Could 21’s life be movie material? “I feel like it could be,” the rapper mused, “One day.” Their exchange, ripe with potential, can be caught at the 01:38:13 mark.
But the trailer? It wasn’t just for laughs. It doubled as a music video for his new track “American Dream,” the namesake of his first solo LP since the hit 2018 “I Am > I Was.” The video was a mosaic of his life, nodding to his 2019 ICE arrest and his bond with beat maestro Metro Boomin. Jabari Banks even stepped in, embodying Metro’s cool in the teaser.
The brains behind the clip? A dream team: Donald and Stephen Glover, Jamal Olori, and Fam Udeorji. And the cast? A kaleidoscope of talent, featuring Natasha Lyonne, the ever-hilarious Druski, Gail Bean, Chad Lindberg, Victoria Pedretti, and Young Mazino. They all played their part in this elaborate ruse, a faux movie that had us all fooled, if only for a moment.
