"A Lot" (stylized in

lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

) is a song by British-American rapper

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is an American-British rapper. Born in London and raised in Atlanta, he began his recording career in 2013 and released three independent mixtapes to regiona ...

. The audio of the song was released on December 20, 2018, a day ahead of the album's official release, via the rapper's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

account. It was sent to rhythmic and

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

radio on January 8, 2019, as the lead single from his second studio album '' I Am > I Was''. "A Lot" features fellow American rapper J. Cole, though he only appears in the streaming and digital versions, as well as later CD pressings. The song was written by the artists and its producers

DJ Dahi Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), known professionally as DJ Dahi or simply Dahi, is an American record producer, songwriter, disc jockey and singer from Inglewood, California. Working primarily in hip hop and R&B music, he has been ...

and J. White Did It. It samples "I Love You" by East of Underground, which is a cover of " I Love You for All Seasons" performed by The Fuzz; The Fuzz member Shelia Young is credited as a co-writer. The song received acclaim from critics, with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' ranking it as the 6th best song of 2019. It won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...

at the 2020 ceremony, marking both 21 Savage and J. Cole's first Grammy wins.

Background

Speaking to ''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American independent teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. The ensemble cast includes Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ring ...

'' radio show, 21 Savage recalled how the song came about after he and J. Cole first met at the

Made in America Festival The Made in America Festival is a two-day music festival held every Labor Day weekend on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was first announced by entertainer Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter at Philadelphia Museum of Art on ...

in 2018; the two exchanged cellphone numbers and a random text from Cole ended up in a studio session. 21 further elaborated:

He took the song with him back home to Raleigh, 'cause he drove ..and then he sent me the shit. And I was like, "Damn, this shit hard as fuck". That was just like some spur-of-the-moment shit. You know I had to go up there and fuck with Cole".

Composition and lyrics

On the song, 21 Savage reflects "just how much he's endured and how far he's come". J. Cole meanwhile "speaks directly on the dubious machinations of the music industry, the

justice system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four major legal traditions: civil law, common law, customary law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique hi ...

, media spin and his own place in the larger narrative". The lyricism was described by ''Billboard'' as "heady, honest lyricism that gives the song its timeless appeal". The song's video and the original CD edition feature an additional verse by 21, which included the line "Been through some things, but I couldn't imagine my kids stuck at the border", a reference to the

Trump administration family separation policy The family separation policy under the First presidency of Donald Trump, first Trump administration was a controversial immigration enforcement strategy implemented in the United States from 2017 to 2018, aimed at Immigration policy of the f ...

. The hook contains similarities to

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He is credited, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Jeezy, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music for mainstream a ...

's 2009 song of the same name.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released on February 1, 2019, and was directed by filmmaker Aisultan Seitov. It depicts 21 Savage having a family reunion in a luxurious mansion, with alternate shots intercut of his family members in dire situations such as being pulled over by police, in the hospital, refining cocaine, in jail, held hostage by

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

, being sexually trafficked, or mourning the death of a son. The video was influenced by the films ''

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

'' and ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic film, epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather (novel), The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cop ...

''. Both J. Cole's verse and 21 Savage's alternate verse from the album version are featured, with J. Cole also appearing in the video.

Alleged correlation to the detention of 21 Savage

After the arrest and detention of 21 Savage by

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

just days after the release of the music video for "A Lot", it was purported that besides his immigration status, the rapper was targeted due to his alternate verse for the album version of the song. Lawyers for 21 Savage, in addition to U.S. Representative

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

, all suspect that ICE targeted him for his views and comments including a certain stanza of the song that criticized issues with the Mexico-U.S. border, especially the

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Awards

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lot 2019 songs 2019 singles 21 Savage songs Epic Records singles Song recordings produced by J. White Did It Songs written by 21 Savage Songs written by J. White Did It Songs written by DJ Dahi Immigration-related protests Songs written by J. Cole Song recordings produced by DJ Dahi U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement