The rapper wrote seven tracks for his new 17-song album entirely from memory while serving more than three years in federal prison, repeating lyrics until he could not forget them.
Music made without paper or a pen
Fetty Wap has never written down a single lyric in his life. Every song he has ever made started as a thought in his head and found its way to the microphone without anything in between. That process works well in a recording studio. It is significantly harder to pull off from a federal prison cell.
The rapper, 34, was released from prison in January after serving more than three years of a six-year sentence following a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. Within weeks of his release he announced a new album. On March 27, Zavier arrived.
Seven of the album’s 17 tracks were written entirely in his head while incarcerated. With no way to record himself and no habit of writing anything down, Fetty did the only thing available to him: he repeated the songs over and over in his mind until they were locked in permanently.
How he kept the music alive
Speaking with The Fader ahead of the album’s release, Fetty described the process in simple terms. He would come up with a song, then run through it continuously in his head until forgetting it was no longer possible. It was the only form of storage he had access to, and it worked.
The songs he identified as having written this way include Right Back to You, White Roses, I Remember and Fool for You, the last of which samples Linger by The Cranberries. Taken together, they represent nearly half of the album’s full track listing and were composed entirely through repetition and memory over the course of his incarceration.
He also credited his time away from performing with preserving the quality of his voice. He did not sing or rap a single time during his years in prison. Not once. He believes that complete rest is what kept his instrument intact when he finally returned to the studio.
Zavier as an alter ego
The album’s title is not just a name. Fetty describes Zavier as an alter ego, a version of himself that is older, more considered and more aware of his surroundings than the public persona that made him famous a decade ago with Trap Queen. He describes the project as a full body of work that covers multiple moods and emotional registers, from records meant for dancing to quieter, more reflective tracks.
The shift in tone is intentional. Fetty says his priorities have changed. He is more focused on his mental space, his energy and protecting himself and his family. He is more alert to the people around him and more willing to walk away from relationships that are not growing in a healthy direction. He frames this not as a loss but as a natural progression. At some point, he says, everyone has to grow up.
Looking ahead
Since his release, Fetty has spoken publicly about his plans to give back to the community he came from in Newark, New Jersey. Through his foundation he is focused on expanding access to education, early technology skills and vision care for young children and students. He has described those efforts as central to how he wants to move forward.
Zavier is available now. For Fetty Wap, the album is proof that three years behind bars did not take the music out of him. It just changed the way he had to hold on to it.