FETTY WAP
THURSDAY, MARCH 17
THE RITZ, RALEIGH
8 p.m., $32.50
Aware of hip-hop fandom’s fickleness, Fetty Wap clearly intends to get as much from his fifteen minutes as he can. In addition to the quartet of radio and club smashes that led to his eponymous debut, he’s guested on songs from dozens of other artists, adding his human soundboard of catchphrases and grunts to tracks from most everyone who can afford his feature. From Selena Gomez remixes to Zaytoven one-offs, Fetty’s ubiquity has yet to wane, even as the limits of what he can offer become painfully clear.
It’s premature to count out an artist like Fetty, given that he caused such seismic shifts in his genre in such a short time frame. His first album is barely six months old, and there’s already talk of a follow-up, with new Fetty singles now worming their way through formal and informal channels. He’s appeared on at least two songs in the Billboard Hot 100 during most of the last fifty-two weeksat present, four.
While Fetty didn’t invent the rapper-turned-singer model, he’s the best iteration since Akon. Much of that has to do with perceived sincerity. You hear Fetty’s come-ons and believe them. “Trap Queen” served both as a paean to women who stand by their men and women who rightfully look for ones worthy of attention and love. While the annoyingly omnipresent sidekick Monty isn’t cut from the same romantic cloth, he gets to bask in the aura simply by standing next to Fetty. Not a bad glow, while it lasts.
