On July 7, 2017, 21 Savage unleashed his debut album Issa Album, and this week, the project celebrates its four-year anniversary. Since the album was preceded by life-changing projects like Slaughter King and the Metro Boomin-assisted Savage Mode, there were a lot of high expectations for 21’s official studio debut, and upon its release, Issa Album was met with warm reception.
“Can’t believe it’s been 4 years man thanks to my fans slaughter gang don’t play…,” 21 Savage writes in the post’s caption. “I love y’all 4L y’all turned a meme into 8 figures…what was y’all favorite song ???”
Although its title was derived from 21 Savage’s viral “Issa knife” moment during a 2016 interview with DJ Vlad, Issa Album wasn’t a joke of an album. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, and as 21’s recent post reveals, the platinum-certified album spawned several commercially successful singles as well. “Bank Account,” the album’s second track, went on to reach sextuple platinum status, and there were several gold-certified singles on Issa Album as well, including “Numb,” “Bad Business,” “Facetime,” “Famous,” and “Whole Lot.”
Listen to 21 Savage’s meme-inspired debut album here, and check out “Bank Account,” the biggest song from Issa Album, below. Four years later, what was your favorite track from the project and how does the 14-track effort compare to 21’s more recent work?