Fetty Wap Reflects On Music Career, Selling Drugs When Sales Were Low
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Fetty Wap opened up about his music career and how low record sales led to him selling drugs again. During an interview with XXL, the rapper gave his first interview since being locked up in early 2023. The entertainer, né Willie Junior Maxwell II, spoke about his desire to help his family when music money dwindled. Maxwell expressed that as fans stopped purchasing his music, he turned to the life he once knew.
The “1738” rapper also admitted that he was a “coward” for being scared of “looking” like he fell off. Supporting his family and negating the narrative surrounding his music career led him directly to drug trafficking yet again.
“A lot of people don’t say it to my face, but you know I hear the rumors. Like, ‘Oh, he dumb as hell. He had the world in his hands.’ And all this other sh*t, but people don’t understand the sh*t I was going through with the music sh*t. And like I always say, I never fought no labels. I didn’t fight 300. I didn’t fight RGF. I signed them contracts. Willie Maxwell signed them contracts,” he told the outlet from prison.
He continued, “When I put myself in that situation, I ain’t really think for the long run. I’m thinking I could just run up a few million dollars, and I’m gon’ be good forever. I ain’t never had no financial guidance, and a person to really guide me the right way. It was just like everybody didn’t care. As long as they got they money, they didn’t give a f**k.”
He then delved into how his initial low profile as an artist led him to believe his other hustles would go unnoticed by the public, saying, “It was like, I’m being honest with myself, you know what I’m sayin’? Like, aight, the music wasn’t really doin’ that good. I’m putting out music, but nobody’s payin’ attention. So… I’m a go back to what I know how to do. Instead of pursuing my career harder or going harder to make people listen, I was a coward. If I’m fallin’ off, f**k it, I ain’t about to look like it. I was a coward for that.”
Maxwell was sentenced to six years in federal prison on drug trafficking charges in May. According to The New York Times, the rapper received a sentence one year longer than the offered minimum. Ahead of the sentencing, the prosecution sent a letter to Judge Joanna Seybert arguing for a longer term. They claimed that Maxwell used his fame and visibility to “glamorize the drug trade” off his 2015 hit, “Trap Queen.”
In response, Wap’s lawyers argued for a lighter sentence, claiming their client turned to drugs to aid during his “financial struggles.” Billboard reports that the “679” artist’s lawyers insisted that the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed his capacity to earn funds touring on the road.
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