Atlanta rapper 21 Savage has been arrested by immigration officials who say he is actually from the UK, reports say.
The rapper, Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, came to the US in July 2005 aged 12 and failed to leave when his visa expired a year later, officials said.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman said he was being held for removal proceedings.
He has previously described a childhood in Atlanta during interviews.
In an interview with Fader magazine in 2016 he said he first saw a gun aged eight – although the article did not specify where this incident took place.
He is also quoted in the interview as saying he was expelled from school in Atlanta aged about 12 or 13 for taking a gun to class.
A CNN reporter quoted an ICE spokesman as saying: “His whole public persona is false”.
Other reports quoted ICE as saying that the rapper was being held in the state of Georgia for being unlawfully present in the US and for being a felon. He was convicted of drugs charges in 2014.
Officials were waiting for a judge’s ruling before deciding how to proceed, a spokesman said.
Atlanta shocked by arrest
Analysis by Kameron Virk, BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat reporter in Atlanta
21 Savage is at the peak of his career. He’s just released a hugely popular album that’s been praised for its introspection, storytelling, and maturity.
Atlanta is arguably the centre of hip-hop in the US, and by extension the world. He’s considered one of the city’s greatest – and Atlanta through and through.
The rapper is known in the city as a person who frequently donates to charitable causes – and he launched his own campaign promoting financial literacy in children on the Ellen show.
His raps have mostly painted pictures of a violent upbringing in Atlanta surrounded by drugs and guns – something which up until now nobody had questioned.
But his arrest by ICE and links to the UK have definitely left people in the city confused.
