American rapper, 21 Savage blew up last year after his debut album Issa Album, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard giving him mainstream success. He got his first big break in his hometown Atlanta after releasing his debut mixtape The Slaughter Tape. Two years later Savage, born Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph earned his first top 20 hit with “Bank Account.” He recently won an MTV Video Music Award for song of the year with Post Malone.
At the beginning of this year, 21 Savage started the ’21 Savage Bank Account’ campaign in which he gave away 21 bank accounts to 21 kids with $1000 in each account. In collaboration with Get Schooled, the bank account included a digital badge, as well as digital resources to help teens learn how to open a bank account, create a budget, and financial literacy tips.
A 2015 study found only 53% of 15-year-olds in the United States had a bank account. Students from socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds are six times more likely to have bank accounts than those who are disadvantaged. Further, teens who have bank accounts scored significantly higher in financial literacy than those who don’t, according to the study.
As apart of a new documentary filmed by Mic, 21 Savage traveled to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia to meet an applicant that submitted a letter explaining as to why the $1000 would benefit him. The applicant, Bill Pongnon, was born in Haiti but moved to Atlanta when he was young. He’s fully independent just at the age of 17, no longer living with his parents and having to get a job while still in school just to support himself, TheSource reports.
21 explained his reason to help improve the financial literacy of teens:
They don’t teach you how to save your money or how to manage your money in school. I didn’t know anything about bank accounts until I was probably about 23. I didn’t know anything: how to operate a bank account, how to use a card, nothing. So I feel like if I would have learned that early on, I would’ve never made some of the mistakes I made.
Watch Documentary Below:
