Fetty Wap

Drawing from Gucci Mane alongside other Southern hip-hop acts, New Jersey rapper Fetty Wap cultivates a melodic rap-sing approach that layers sufficient pop gloss over his trap productions to reach broad audiences. That strategy yielded mainstream breakthrough in 2015 through the blockbuster single "Trap Queen" together with his chart-topping self-titled album. Subsequent singles, mixtapes, and the 2021 studio effort The Butterfly Effect preserved the same sonic identity.

Willie Maxwell II, who grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, performs as Fetty Wap and sometimes adopts the Fetty Guwap alias that echoes Gucci Mane’s GuWop. He began his career inside the hip-hop collective Remy Boyz alongside Montana Bucks, Khaos, and P. Dice. During 2014 he issued the solo tracks “Addicted” and “Zoovier” while contributing to the group mixtape 1738, whose title receives an opening nod on the 2015 solo release “Trap Queen.” That song surged into the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart by its third week, received a French Montana remix that carried it into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100, and prompted Fetty’s signing to Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment alongside Young Thug and Migos. Follow-up “My Way” also entered the Billboard singles Top Ten and appeared on the 2015 self-titled debut album, which featured only Remy Boyz members as guests and opened at number one on the Billboard 200. Two mixtapes, Grammy nominations, and further singles such as the summer 2016 Top 50 entry “Wake Up” followed, capped by the sixth mixtape Zoovier later that year.

In 2017 Fetty issued numerous singles including “Way You Are” with Monty, “Flip Phone,” “Wonder” with Blackmagic, and “Feels Great” with Cheat Codes and CVBZ. The next year brought the collaboration “KEKE” with 6ix9ine and A Boogie wit da Hoodie, the track “With You” with KDL, and the mixtapes For My Fans and Bruce Wayne. Additional 2019 singles encompassed the Just Chase pairings “100K” and “Can’t Get Enough” plus the standalone cuts “History” and “Birthday.” The seven-song mixtape Trap & B, a Valentine’s Day set of romantic trap material, surfaced in 2020 and preceded further projects Big Zoovie and You Know the Vibes. Six years after his debut, Fetty returned with second studio album The Butterfly Effect in October 2021; the release adhered to his melodic trap aesthetic and contained no guest rappers. Standalone singles “Sweet Yamz” and “Tonight” arrived in 2022 and 2023, followed later that year by the combative “1738” featuring Coi Leray.