21 Savage was looking out for 21 Savage when he pulled out a gun at that party, so cut the kid some slack for trying to protect himself ... says his friend and fellow rapper, BlocBoy JB.
We got BlocBoy at LAX and asked him about the intense showdown at a pool party he attended in Georgia last weekend. As we reported ... a group of people crashed the shindig and rubbed Savage's crew the wrong way. It got heated, but things escalated when someone from the crashers' crew pulled out a gun, prompting Savage to do the same.
BlockBoy -- who has a track featuring Savage -- says, hell nah ... there ain't no shame in 21 arming himself. Gotta look out for No. 1.