Rapper 21 Savage had a world-weary tone when he brought his new single “A Lot” to The Tonight Show Monday. The track appears on his latest album, I Am > I Was.
21 spent most of the performance on a stool, striking a lethargic pose that contrasted with the energy of his band and backing vocalists, brightly cooing the song’s hook, which samples East Underground’s 1971 cut “I Love You” (which, in turn, is a cover of the Fuzz’s “I Love You For All Seasons”).
Still, the exhaustion and introspection 21 Savage invoked made it all the more captivating as he unspooled bars like, “My brother lost his life and it turned me to a beast/My brother got life and it turned me to the streets.”
21 Savage released I Am > I Was last December, earning his first Number One album. The record features a variety of guests including Post Malone, Offset, Childish Gambino, J. Cole, Travis Scott and Schoolboy Q. The record follows 21 Savage’s 2017 collaboration with Offset and producer Metro Boomin, Without Warning.