Meet Fetty Wap: The Rapper Behind Kanye’s Favorite New Song, ‘Trap Queen’
A lot of Kanye West fans are walking around in their 2015 Yeezy running shoes, but few can say they received their pair via hand-delivery from the Yeezus rapper himself. Paterson, New Jersey’s Fetty Wap is one of the chosen few.
Fetty, who has been releasing mixtapes and began building momentum last year with his track “Trap Queen,” says his management surprised him when they arranged for him to meet West backstage at the Roc City Classic concert in New York City in February. Following the meeting, West brought Fetty onstage to perform his hit.
"They never really told me what was happening," Fetty tells Yahoo Music. "They were like, ‘Yo, come on. We’re going to go somewhere real quick.’" Fetty ended up in a dressing room, getting ready for the show. "As I got dressed, [the lady] said, ‘Did you bring all the shoes with you?’ I said, ‘No.’ He knocked on the door. She opened the door. He had the shoes," he adds, excitedly noting that he’s wearing the Adidas kicks as he speaks. "They right here."
Fetty was ready when West brought him onstage. When West introduced him, he said that “Trap Queen” was his favorite song. “I felt like it was time to show the world what I could do,” Fetty recalls. “To get introduced from Kanye, that was like…” he begins, before pausing to instead use hand gestures to convey the grandness of that moment.
The song was instrumental in helping Fetty secure a partnership with Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment; “Trap Queen” is now No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He attributes the song’s appeal to four different elements. “I took a love element,” he says. “I took a trap element, a party element, and then I took the illegal element. When you put it together, it just sounds good.”
But the fame isn’t what excites Fetty. When asked about his newfound success, he offers a humbling response. “I’m going to be able to support my family,” he says. “Everybody gon’ be good.”
Fetty has an optimistic outlook on life. He was stricken with glaucoma when he was a child and ended up losing an eye. He wore an ocular prosthesis until last year. “I felt like I didn’t want to be like everybody else,” he explains. “People thought I was cross-eyed. There were a whole bunch of rumors… I just felt more confident about myself. Before when I wore the prosthesis, [when I took] a picture, I try to look the other way. Now, it just don’t matter. I feel comfortable. It never bothered me. When it did, I used to fight all the time. Now, I’m just good, though.”
Watch Fetty’s interview above for the status of his forthcoming album, his Remy Boys crew, love for Gucci Mane, and more.
