D Savage Shares How He Got His Rap Name From 21 Savage

Sometimes a career path falls at your feet. For 20-year-old rapper D Savage, he didn't really have any desire to make it as an artist before a random night at a friend's house solidified his future. The Queens, N.Y.-born, Los Angeles-raised rapper was left in the studio by himself, which inspired him to create a song as a joke. As it turns out, his friends liked the final product; D Savage now had a new calling.

Skip ahead to 2019 and he now has a deal with Capitol Records. Before the new year arrived, D Savage dropped his D Phoenix mixtape in October, led by the single "No Smoke" featuring Lil Yachty. With millions of streams to his name, it's only right that D Savage sits down for an episode of Who Am I? with XXL.

Growing up, D Savage's musical tastes were quite varied. "My mom played a lot of different music," he shares. "We coulda been listening to Jamie Foxx, that "Blame It" on the alcohol shit, and I'd listen to bands like Chicago." His favorite rapper? Just a certain guy from Detroit. "Eminem, I liked his don't give a fuck, fuck you type attitude," D Savage reflects. Now, his current favorite rapper is Kodak Black, alongside artists outside of the rap spectrum like Mac DeMarco, MGMT and Florence and the Machine.

The origins of D Savage's career are pretty interesting. Before rapping, he spent his time making beats. "I was producing when I was like 14, off my phone," the rhymer shares. "I'm downloading apps, how to make beats apps. I'm making them at lunch, in school." While everyone else was eating or starting food fights, D Savage was putting in work.

Once he started rapping, he needed a cool rap name and took a cue from a former XXL Freshman. "After I made '30 Round Clip,' I was just like, I gotta come up with a name for myself," D Savage explains. "At that time, that was when 21 Savage was first starting to come out, so fuck it, I'm D Savage."

Learn more about D Savage's come up, his favorite food and more in his Who Am I? interview up top.

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