Fetty Wap was recently on the cover of XXL as a member of its 2015 Freshman class, and today, he's popped up on the cover of another big-name publication. He's the cover star of VIBE's new issue. Read excerpts from his interview below, check out the cover in the gallery above and read the full thing here.
VIBE: Your grandfather had a church and some of your family members played in the choir. But where did music start for you?
Fetty Wap: Well, my mother, little sister and brother sing, but I liked to play drums. I started playing when I was three years old. Back then, I was watching my uncle play drums and my father play the keyboard in church.
There’s a lot of R&B influence in your music. But was it rap music specifically that caught your attention? Or were there other genres that you were into?
It was rap, definitely. I didn’t listen to music that much when I was young. It wasn’t until I found out about Gucci Mane. That was really when I got into music. My first iPod just had Guwop’s Chicken Talk mixtape on it at first. I remember when I got it, the first song I heard was “Chicken Talk” with DJ Burn One. Ever since then I was hooked.
Were there any other rappers that really influenced you?
Not really. You know… people still call me Gucci back where I’m from in Paterson. Now, they call me Wap, though. They’d be like “Gucc,” not Gucci all the time. That used to be my Facebook name — Fetty Guwap. One of my proudest moments in music was being featured on a Gucci song this year.