What happened to Fetty Wap?

Willie Maxwell II describes his style as "ignorant R&B." Commonly hailed a rapper, much of Fetty Wap’s artistry features vocals. Most of his albums, EPs, and singles feature clean baritone trills from a rich and raspy voice.

Fetty Wap didn’t singlehandedly pioneer trap music, but he brought it to the mainstream. The genre was derived from Atlanta artists like Future and Metro Boomin.

New Jersey hasn’t been known for its rap scene since the likes of Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, Ice-T. But was Patterson artist Monty who put Fetty on the map. Alongside Monty and P Dice and, Nitt the Gritt banded the Remy Boyz, a reference to the 1738 Remy Martin cognac. Both songs initially released on SoundCloud, but didn’t make a lot of noise outside of local Patterson until Bobby Shmurda posted a video of himself singing along, followed by a French Montana Remix, a shoutout from Rihanna, and an opportunity to perform with Kanye.

Trap Queen didn’t actually reach the billboard until 2015, and by then other singles were picking up traction–most notably My Way. My Way was Monty’s song to begin with and was being held for his debut alongside Fetty, until something totally predictable happened.

Drake reached out to Fetty wanting to use the song. Monty’s verse was removed.

Despite every song sounding the same, they were all catchy.

2016 was spent featuring on singles with Lil Dicky, KCAMP, and Fifth Harmony. From then until 2020, Fetty Wap released various singles and features.

Beyonce, Future, and Justin Bieber all wanted to take Fetty on tour, but Nitt allegedly refused as the acts weren’t interested in the other Remy Boyz.

Whatever went down, P Dice and Fuzz ran Fetty from his hometown by filming a diss video on his block to prove he didn’t run anything. A TMZ video also revealed a robbery where three people were shot and Fetty was robbed of his chain. Fuzz was later seen touting the 1738 chain on Instagram, leading to his arrest.

The rapper struggled to capitalize on his initial success and remained dormant until his sophomore album The Butterfly Effect. TBE was mildly successful upon release in 2021 and featured mostly slow jams as opposed to the party tracks years gone by. While fans of mainstream hip hop largely dismissed the album, it goes a long way in constructing the Fetty Wap narrative.

// N***as always ask me "Why you back in the field?" I'm like, "I just went back to what's real // Many fans speculate that The Butterfly Effect was never intended to be a smash success, but instead to pay tribute to his late daughter who passed earlier in July of the same year.

In October 2021, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging Fetty Wap with conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. He was arrested at Citi Field following Rolling Loud and pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in a New York court.

Fetty had been arrested in 2017 for drag racing while under the influence–a petty offence in terms of his future financial investments. But nonetheless, he's continued to make music even into 2023.

So what happened to Fetty Wap?

In the end, it was poor decision making and reckless spending that stalled and potentially ended his music career. But on a moral level, maybe he was too real for the rap game, or his circle was simply too large. He allowed people to take advantage of his generosity.

There's probably more to the story. Mabye the world is still holding out for Fetty. His latest album "King Zoo" dropped late 2023 to moderate success, and is full of the R&B jams he's settled into creating.