Earlier this year, Fetty Wap was sentenced to six years in prison for federal drug charges.
In a new interview with XXL, the New Jersey rapper details how he arrived at these circumstances in the first place, explaining that much of it had to do with providing for his family.
“Nobody made me do it. Nobody forced me to do it,” he explains. “When I put myself in that situation, I ain’t really think for the long run. I’m thinking I could just run up a few million dollars, and I’m gon’ be good forever.”
“When I wanted to start doing shit, this is what I know how to do. It was like, ‘I’m being honest with myself.’ Like, ‘Aight, the music wasn’t really doin’ that good’…. Instead of pursuing my career harder or going harder to make people listen, I was a coward… and I was just like, ‘I can’t let my family down.’”
Even though Fetty has been incarcerated since May, he feels like he’s held up his end of the deal—that he’s still taking care of his family from afar.
“It was like, ‘Man, like, I got y’all [my family]. I’m never gonna let y’all fail.’ But if I gotta be away for however long, y’all gon’ be good no matter what. Personally, I feel like I stuck to my word. I tell people all the time I’m in jail. I’m locked up, but I’m not fucked up. I’m takin’ care of my whole family from jail still. That shit don’t stop. I mean, what I was doing stopped. Let me clear that up. But as far as takin’ care of my family, I found different outlets in here. Different people that helped me.”
One of the “different outlets” seems to be 50 Cent, whom Fetty said has “helped” him out: “He started showing me different ways, like shit to invest in.”
Fetty concluded the interview with a message to fans, telling them, “Choose a different life ’cause this shit wack, man. I hate being here. I hate being away from my children.” He continued, "I can’t do the one thing that I love more than anything else and that’s record music. I’m on they time.”
Fetty was arrested in 2021 in connection with an alleged drug trafficking ring. Prior to his sentencing earlier this year, he pleaded guilty in Aug. 2022 to conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
