Fetty Wap is blowing up. All eyes are on the Paterson, New Jersey rapper whose single “Trap Queen” has been burning up New York airwaves since last summer. Since then, the video has amassed over six million views on YouTube and spawned remixes from French Montana, Fabolous, and Lil’ Kim. The labels started calling and the 24-year-old recently inked a deal with Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment, where he will release his debut album.
The Zoo Gang leader, whose mixtape Next Up dropped in July, has a fan in Rihanna, but it’s his four-year-old son who is his biggest admirer. “My son loves me. Soon as he hears me on the radio, [he says], ‘That’s my daddy’s song.” It’s like he knows already.”
Wap, who lost his left eye due to congenital glaucoma, credits his unique look for building his character. “Some people think I got shot, some people think I got hit in the head with a bottle,” he explains. “It’s just an appearance to me. A lot of people ask me why I don’t wear the prosthesis, and I tell ’em it’s because if you can’t accept this look, then you’re not really my friend. I’m not regular. Everybody wanna be normal and I don’t feel like I’m normal. That’s why I feel like I’m great.”
Right now, his sights are set on the future. “Whoever didn’t know is gonna know me now. When you think of Fetty Wap, just think that I never quit, never listened to what they said about me or what the critics say about me or what I look like or how people may take me,” he says. “I still won’t ever quit. I’m still gone smile and that’s how you gon’ remember me.”
Watch the rising star perform “Trap Queen” for “Next Up” presented by McDonald’s Our Food Your Questions.