21 Savage is hitting the reset on Atlanta’s pulse with WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS?, his fourth solo drop landing tonight via Slaughter Gang under exclusive license to Epic Records and Sony Music Entertainment, and ATLANTA TEARS with Lil Baby feels like that gut-check stare-down—two kings trading scars over a beat that bleeds hometown grit.
This duet drips with that signature trap introspection, but heavier: Keanu Beats, ChildBoy, MitchGoneMad, SADPONY, and DOPAM!NE lace brooding piano loops and sparse 808s that let the verses breathe, flipping Baby’s measured menace and Savage’s gravelly grit into a genre-blending confessional. It’s Southern hip-hop evolved—less flex, more fracture—grappling with loyalty’s erosion in a snitch-saturated game, the mental toll of thug life’s life sentences, and that pull between hood roots and high rises.
Thematically, it’s a street elegy: questioning what “solid” even means when fuck niggas flip scripts, forgiving God but not the flippers, all while nodding to the environments that forge soldiers from the starving. No hooks overload here; it’s dialogue-driven, like two OGs venting over late-night Henny, teased in Baby’s cryptic Insta clip last week that had timelines buzzing about “the definition of the G code.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS? rolls out 14 tracks deep, a no-singles surprise that dives straight into the chaos of trap life and legacy. It opens gritty with “WHERE YOU FROM” and “HA,” builds through collabs like Young Nudy on “STEPBROTHERS,” Drake linking on “MR. RECOUP,” GloRilla’s fire on “DOG $HIT,” and G Herbo’s edge on “CODE OF HONOR.” Metro Boomin tags in for “GANG OVER EVERYTHING,” an interlude breaks the stride, then it closes reflective with “BIG STEPPER” leading into this tearjerker and Jawan Harris on “I WISH.” The whole thing’s a love-hate letter to the A—cinematic vibes from that trailer of flames and shadows, pulling from 21’s East Atlanta roots to question how the game chews up its own. Socials lit up today with the official rollout, fans already mapping bars from snippets.
21’s been in beast mode since american dream kicked off 2024, stacking features that kept him everywhere from Baby’s sets to global tours. But this feels like him reclaiming the throne solo—less polish, more blade, evolving from the kid who shocked the world into the voice that’s seen too much and says it plain. Teaming back with Baby here? It’s family business, closing loops on a year where Atlanta’s sound stayed unbreakable.
Dive into the ATLANTA TEARS lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STREETS? tracks for more of 21 Savage’s street-worn truth.
| Lead Vocals | 21 Savage |
| Songwriter | 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Keanu Beats, ChildBoy & Antonio Rocco Zito |
| Music Producer | Keanu Beats, ChildBoy, MitchGoneMad, SADPONY & DOPAM!NE |
| Distributor | Sony Music Entertainment |
| Label | Slaughter Gang & Epic Records |
| Release Date | December 12, 2025 |
| Song Language | English |
| Copyright © | Slaughter Gang, Epic Records & Sony Music Entertainment |
| Phonographic Copyright ℗ | Slaughter Gang, Epic Records & Sony Music Entertainment |
Lyrics of ATLANTA TEARS by 21 Savage
[Intro]
[?] the Wrong Way
Um, It’s a Lot Shit, It’s a Lot of Shit Out That Way
A-a Nigga Don’t Even Know the G Code or What’s Going on in the Streets No More
Perfect Example
and He Just Got Just Nothin’ Do With the Rat [Party ?]
Don’t Nobody Know the Definition of the G Code of the Streets
As, As, as Long as Niggas Don’t Know That, the Defintion of That, Like
What’s the Streets?
What’s It Worth Being Solid in a World Full of Fuck Niggas?
Poker Face on One Billion, I Can’t Lie, Know It Fuck With Me (I’m Kinda Stuck)
I Ain’t Blood or Being Cocky, Say What’s Poppin’, It’s Us, Really (It’s Really Us)
I Cut Off the Extra Baggage, Now the Jet Is Much Bigger
I Already Asked God for Forgiveness, He Must Get ‘Em
Cut My Hand Off if I Dap Them Niggas Up, I Can’t Feel ‘Em (Let’s Go)
When You Thuggin’, It’s Like “Fuck It” When the Judge Give Life Sentences
Fifteen Years in and I Guarantee You Feel Different (You Will)
I Can Move to Palm Springs, Say, “Fuck the Hood,” It’s Still in Me (It Is)
Really Stopped the Bros From Smackin’ That Boy Cold, He Still Trippin’ (Nigga [?])
We the Ones That Got the Money Back Then, We Still Gettin’ It
Went Legit and Tried to Take Care of My Guys, They Tried to Flip It (Fuck)
if the Judge Tryna Catch a Case, They Retain Lawyers With the Quickness
if My Niggas Catch a Charge, I’m Right There for ‘Em, What’s the Difference? (I)
They Can’t Fuck With Me at All, They Pay the Blogs to Tell You Different (Huh)
I Don’t Do This Shit for Fuckboys, So You Ain’t Gotta Listen (Cut Your Ears Off)
I Ain’t Gettin’ This Shit for Clout, I’m Tryna Leave Businesses for My Children
I Ain’t Pickin’ Sides With Rappers, if It Ain’t Us, It Ain’t My Business
I Done Doubled on My Grind, I Keep on Climbin’ Up for the Trenches
Get a Million, You Think Everything’s Alright, It Ain’t That Simple
Irritate Me, but if I Pop Up (Bop), It Get Worse, These Niggas Pimples
Really Gave This Bitch My Time When She Wasn’t Worth It, I Should’ve Pimped It (Trash)
Ready to Kill and Die for What I Believe, I’m Big on Principles (Standin’ on This Shit)
See Youngin Crashin’ Out, This Shit Be Fuckin’ With Me Mentally, Damn [Verse 2: 21 Savage]
Woah
Thinkin’ ‘Bout the Pain and the Trauma That I Done Been Through
Thankful for the Islands and Countries That We Done Been to
if It Wasn’t All My Accolades and Niggas Makin’ Rats Cool
Lil’ Boy, You Know I Would Drench You
Internet Nerds Tryna Tell Us How the Street Feel
Ten Years Strong, I Ain’t Even Reach My Peak Still
Fifty Million and I Keep My Masters, That’s a Sweet Deal
Yeah, Vvss Cover All My Scars Like I’m Meek Mill
Dre Got Life, I Paid a Lawyer, Damn, I Hope He Beat Pill
Take Me Out the Hood, but My Heart Is in the Streets Still
They Tearin’ Down the Real Ones
You Ain’t Never Had a Gangster, Baby, Come and Feel One
Say You Ain’t No Real Killer, Nigga, ‘Til You Kill One
I Came Out the Womb as One of Them and I’m Still One
the Syrup Runneth Over
I Pour Up All My Feelings and Emotions in a Soda
She Say That She Love Me, but I Fear She Got a Motive
Would You Suck My Dick the Way You’d Do if I Was Local?
21 4l, I Throw the Rock Up Like I’m Hova
Nigga Shot Me Up, I Put the Hood on My Shoulder
I’ma Stand on Principles and Morals ‘Til It’s Over
Thought You Had to Rap ‘Bout What You Live and I Got Older
I Come From the Trenches Where It’s Plastic on the Sofa
Thirty in His Britches, He Ain’t Never Seen a Holster
Mama Always Worked in His Environment and Coached Him
and by Five Thousand Dollars, Nigga, He’ll Toast You
Runnin’ ‘Round Hungry, Shit’ll Turn You to a Soldier
They Can’t Wait to Kill You and Kill Whoever Post You
He Fightin’ a Case, He Swear That Him and God Closer
Soon as He Get Free, He Turnin’ Right Back to a Vulture
[Outro: 21 Savage]
Thuggin’ in These Streets, Nigga, I Can’t Blame You
Tryna Feed Your Fam, Dog, I Can’t Blame You
Product of Environment, So I Can’t Shame You
Yeah, I’m Just Like You, but I Got Famous
if I Had a Superpower, I Would Save You
We All From the Ghetto Where It Ain’t No Favors
