Rapper Anik Khan On His Time As An Undocumented Citizen

“They never tell you how much money it costs to become a citizen,” says Anik Khan. The NYC-based rapper is cutting a frustrated figure via video call, describing the tenuous immigration status he lived with in the US for 20 years.

When Khan released his 2017 record Kites, it was a commercial success. In response, he was inundated with tour offers: London, Amsterdam, Porto, Berlin. Europe was calling out for him. However, the Queens rapper, who has over five million streams to his name, had to pass on all of them. Because, despite the fact he had lived in America since he was four years old, Khan was still an undocumented citizen.