GOAL: Fetty Wap partnered with his friends Montana Buckz and P-Dice to form Remy Boyz 1738. “We create tracks together and as individuals. We started out with the intention of taking over the world through our music and this objective hasn’t changed.”
By Geoffrey Rowlands
Queen Latifah, Redman and Wyclef Jean are some of the hip hop artistes to emerge from New Jersey. But it has been quite some time since America’s Garden State produced a major star.
The void could perhaps be filled by a 24-year-old Paterson native named Willie Maxwell. Adopting the stage name Fetty Wap, he has taken the music scene by storm with Trap Queen, his debut single as a lead artist. The track has topped the Hot Rap Songs chart, hit second spot on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart and matched this position on Billboard’s Hot 100.
“I’ve been pushing Trap Queen as hard as I could,” Fetty stated. “I made the song more than a year ago. It was actually a freestyle. The beat was created by Tony Fadd of RGF Productions. It was so infectious that I just started rapping and singing over this incredible beat.
“I immediately felt like it could be a massive track but I had no record deal so I posted the original rough version on SoundCloud. This attracted a lot of attention. I then made an extended version which I put on my ‘Up Next’ mixtape. This sold locally in Paterson and we also made it available online.
“I then made a shortened version for radio but added another rapped verse. This is the version which was signed by 300 Entertainment and has become such a big hit.”
The song lyrics were written from personal experience.
“I was with a female at the time who provided the inspiration for Trap Queen. She was helping me to bring in the money and we were good for a while. But she’s an ex now, apart from when I perform the song.”
Unlike so many hip hop artists who begin rapping in childhood, Fetty was a latecomer to the music scene. He became genuinely interested in performing as recently as 2011 and has only really taken things seriously for the last two years.
“I joined with my homies Montana Buckz and P-Dice to form Remy Boyz 1738. We create tracks together and as individuals. We started out with the intention of taking over the world through our music and this objective hasn’t changed. I’m lucky to be the first of us who has made it big but Monty and Dice will soon have their time.”
That time may not be long in coming. Although Fetty is still heavily promoting Trap Queen, he is already pushing 679 as his next single. While the track is credited to Fetty as lead artist, it features both Montana Buckz and P-Dice.
“The video was posted on YouTube a few days ago so I hope everyone will go check it out. 679 is like Trap Queen in that it’s a song we originally made last year and got a lot of hits on SoundCloud. It’s really a Remy Boyz 1738 song but we needed a great track to follow Trap Queen so 679 was the obvious choice.”
Despite the popularity of his music, there is one question which Fetty is asked in every interview.
“Everyone wants to know about my eye rather than my songs. I guess I am pretty unusual in the sense of only having one eye and actually feeling comfortable about it. I used to just dodge the question because I wanted to talk about my music. But I finally told the truth about what happened so I now tell everyone who asks.
“I used to let people think I’d been shot or stabbed in the eye. As a hip hop artist, it was good for my image. But I actually got glaucoma when I was a child. I could have lost both eyes but the doctors were able to save one so I was blessed to still have my vision.”
With one smash hit single and another looking likely to follow, Fetty has taken at least a few steps along the road towards world domination through his music.
“We (the Remy Boyz) set out with the goals of putting Paterson, New Jersey, on the musical map and becoming the youngest billionaires in hip hop. People know about Paterson now but we have a way to go before we become millionaires, let alone billionaires. We’ll keep working at it though, you just watch us.”
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Courtney Love/Spirit Club
Courtney Love announced herself to be “not that interested in doing music right now” during an interview last February. It didn’t take long for her to have a change of heart. She is currently on a US concert tour with Lana Del Rey and has just released a new single, Miss Narcissist.
Released on Ghost Ramp, the label founded by Wavves singer songwriter Nathan Williams, the song is posted at (no www.) soundcloud.com/ghost-ramp
Also here are all ten songs on the self-titled debut album by Nathan’s side project band, Spirit Club.
Miss Narcissist and Spirit Club’s album can be purchased from the store section at (no www.) ghostramp.com/
Chinx
New York rapper Chinx, formerly Chinx Drugz, has become the latest hip hop artist to die in violent circumstances.
Born Lionel Pickens, 31-year-old Chinx was driving with a friend on New York’s Queens Boulevard at around 4am after hosting a gig at the Red Wolf nightclub in Brooklyn. His car was approached by another vehicle the occupants of which sprayed multiple gunshots into Chinx’ Porsche Panamera 4. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Jamaica Medical Centre.
Witnesses insist Chinx had no problems with anyone at the nightclub. It remains to be seen if there had been recent trouble within the hip hop community.
His friend, Antar Alzaidi, survived but is in critical condition. Hopefully, he may be able to assist police investigations.
A member of French Montana’s Coke Boys group, Chinx had recently dropped Drugz from his name and was working on the solo material which was set for release on his debut album, “Welcome To JFK.”
He had already issued a number of solo mixtapes. The last of these, Cocaine Riot 5, can be heard and downloaded for free at www.datpiff.com/Chinx-CR5-mixtape.674373.html
Links to the other four mixtapes in the “Cocaine Riot” series are posted on this webpage. They can all be heard and downloaded for free.
Grace
Lesley Gore, who died recently, enjoyed a US number two hit in 1963 with her women’s anthem track, You Don’t Own Me. The original arrangement was rather different from the cover recently created by 17-year-old Australian singer/songwriter Grace Sewell.
Produced by Quincy Jones, who also produced Lesley Gore’s recording, and featuring additional verses by American rapper G-Easy, the song peaked at number two in Australia. It is now being used to launch Grace on the international market.
Surprisingly, no music video has been made. An audio posting can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DosIvd-FdhI
Bullet For My Valentine
Welsh metalcore quartet Bullet For My Valentine will release “Venom,” their fifth studio album, on August 14.
In the meantime, the band have issued a lyric video for lead single, No Way Out. It can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKK5L0IYheQ
Links to older songs and full albums are also posted on this webpage.
Singer/guitarist Matthew Tuck, lead guitarist Michael Paget and drummer Michael Thomas have been constants since the band formed in 1998 under their original name of Jeff Killed John. But they recently recruited their third bass guitarist. Nick Crandle quit in 2003 while Jason James left this past February. His replacement is former Revoker bassist Jamie Mathias.
Bullet For My Valentine will promote “Venom” through an extensive world tour beginning in July with seven gigs across South America.
