Chase Fetti Speaks on Growing Up in Jersey and Latest Music
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #13
A MESSAGE FROM CHASE FETTI:
“Intro” by Chase Fetti:
BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER TO HEAR:
$$$. THE AUDIO FROM THIS INTERVIEW
Yo, it's the Pope, 1000WORD$.
Chase Fetti is a dedicated artist hailing from Cliffwood, a small one-square mile town in New Jersey. His unwavering love for music, evident through the influence of his musically inclined family, has fueled his journey, which is filled with highs and lows. Chase Fetti's music is a reflection of his life experiences, making it a must-listen for fans who appreciate authentic hip-hop.
Chase Fetti's determination and grit have led him to collaborate with respected artists in the industry, including Conway the Machine and 38 Spesh. His ability to create genuine connections with fans worldwide, from Japan to South Africa, speaks volumes about his reach and influence.
In our exclusive interview, Chase Fetti and I explored his beginnings in music, his passion for performing, and his upcoming projects. He also opened up about the pivotal moments in his life that shaped his perspective on loyalty and the importance of communication.
Chase Fetti is an artist who stays true to himself and his music, consistently delivering powerful and honest hip-hop. Don't miss the opportunity to dive into his world and discover the depth of his artistry.
THIS IS WORDS WITH WORD$.
1000WORD$: Yo, what's going on man, It's 1000WORD$. I'm here with the motherfucking legend man Chase Fetti. Chase, what's going on my bro?
Chase Fetti: 1000, what's the deal my n***a?
1000WORD$: Chillin' man, you know. My man Chase Fetti calls me and shit, and he tells me... because today's my birthday... he calls me and says, "You know why I fuck with you? Because it's my mom's birthday. So shout out to Chase Fetti mom's birthday man, shout your mom out.
Chase Fetti: Hey Ma, Happy birthday, I love you. I know I put you through the most, but you ain't never leave my side.
1000WORD$: Fire. Chase, man, let the people know where you from, my brother.
Chase Fetti: I'm from Cliffwood, New Jersey man. Monmouth County, lived in Asbury, stayed in Baltimore for a while. I lived in Atlanta. Damn near lived in Harlem for like seven years, but I'm from Cliffwood, man, you know.
1000WORD$: I only lived in one place my entire life, bro, so I couldn't even imagine how it was bouncing around in all those different type of environments. What lead to you moving around like that?
Chase Fetti: I was 15. I started staying at Asbury Park. But essentially it was like... I started gangbanging. So it was like, I was going down there and fucking with the homies and through that process, you know, I was rapping with a couple of the homies and then I met a couple other n****s from the hood and I just stayed. During that time also, I met a couple of good n****s from Harlem shout out my n***a Dub Aura, my n***a GS. I started staying up there with them, you know one of the good brothers from Asbury Park he's like my big brother, he had two stores in Baltimore, so he was one of the dudes that was like, "Yo you better than this, like you too raw to just be sitting in the hood doing this nut shit." He would come pick me up and bring me to Baltimore for a month, two months at a time type shit, so it's like I got to move around. My mom's side of the family they from Savannah and Atlanta, so I was always back and forth there and there. So you know, it was rough because you know... A n***a play ball, a n***a rap, got long hair, the bitches fucking with me. You know essentially n****s didn't really fuck with me at first it was always some type of beef, so you know that's where... in Cliffwood, we grew up fighting. I move to Asbury and n****s start shooting. But, I always grew up around alpha males, so whatever the fucking bar is, I'm raising that shit. We gone shoot, we gone shoot. You gone stab, we gonna play knife games. I've been stabbed twice, I ain't never been shot, you know, but it's like... life n***a. The decisions that you make as a man you stand on them, so what I'm coming through all these n****s hoods, believe I'm coming through with honor and respect. And I'm not trying to overstep my boundaries. But you know, I appreciate all those times because I got great relationships in everywhere I lay my head I can still go there right now. Still go there and lay my head. Still go there and eat at a n***a mom's crib.
1000WORD$: At what age did you start gangbanging?
Chase Fetti: 14.
1000WORD$: What lead to that lifestyle?
Chase Fetti: Two of my older cousins had came home from jail. Them n****s was Blood. Mind you, this is '99. This them years when shit was super active outside, so it was like... not for nothing. I was getting all my work from my cousins. I was getting coke from them n****s, so they would give me the coke so cheap. And then my cousin had gave me a blick, so you know, it just was like, "N***a, I'm always with ya'll. Fuck it, dog me in." It was just that type of thing, like I'm getting the work for cheap, I'm always with y'all, so essentially the enemies that don't fuck with ya'll, they don't fuck with me anyway. You dig what I'm saying? It was just like that. It was just like, "These are my favorite cousins." And n****s was giving me the work and I was with them.
1000WORD$: What age did you figure out you could put words together?
Chase Fetti: Yo, listen right? I think I was in the seventh grade or the eighth grade. And I wrote a poem for this girl. It was about our relationship about and I remember when she read it in class, bro, she started like... When she read it in class, another girl in class started crying. And I was like, "Oh, shit. Maybe I could fuck around." And then you know, after that I was at White Castle, I'm talking about, I was probably 14 or 15. I was in White Castle and it was like three, four in the morning. Mind you, I'm the youngest n***a out of all the n****s I'm with. So now, there's a city called my town named Perth Amboy, so it's some n****s in White Castle was from Perth Amboy. So now you know, rap became the topic. One of my older n****s, his name was Special, he the one who taught me... I don't wanna say how to rap, but he really made me nice. We in White Castle, n***a I'm 14. I'm about to battle for n****s, they all 18, you know what I'm saying? But, I flamed all of them. It's crazy cause them still my n****s to this day.
1000WORD$: And you just met them that day.
Chase Fetti: I was 14 that day. I've been fucking with them n****s since.
1000WORD$: Where has hip-hop taken you throughout your journey?
Chase Fetti: Man, listen, been around the country a couple of times for sure. When I was growing up, I was a diehard Roc-A-Fella fan. So that fact, I got to meet Jay-Z face to face as a grown man and he was to me who I thought he was in my mind. Rawest shit ever bro.
1000WORD$: That's legendary shit. To be where you from and to be at that level, to be an artist and see Jay-Z as an adult in the shits.
Chase Fetti: Rest in peace to Prodigy, bro. That's one of my favorite rappers. Right, I used to have sponsorship from Super. They used to just send me boxes of clothes and shit. I wasn't wearing that shit I was giving it to the homies and shit like that, but when I used to go to the Super events, it was really like three black people: Q-Tip, me and Prodigy. So you know, I got fly with Prodigy n***a and I sent that n***a a track. He sent that shit back the next day n***a, gangsta. When I met the n***a, we got to rappin the first time... no Hollywood shit bro, that n***a took my phone and called his phone... like not no, "Yo, take this number take that. Nah." That n***a took my phone and called his phone. So yeah, that was another in life when it was like... P one of my favorite rappers, so it was like, "Damn, is this for real?"
1000WORD$: Damn, that's legendary shit bro. Rest in peace to Prodigy.
Chase Fetti: Yeah that hurt my feelings when he went out, but you know, we spoke about it before... he was just like... P was a strong individual, man. That shit fucked me up. I went to his funeral. I was just like, "What the fuck?" I couldn't believe that shit, bro.
1000WORD$: How much have you sacrificed?
Chase Fetti: Me? Blood, sweat, tears relationships. Yo, bro listen, man... everything. I sacrificed everything for this shit. Went broke multiple times just for the dream, n****s don't even have a clue. And then they figure out I'm from Jersey, so I gotta go five times as hard as a n***a from New York. There's nothing here, everything is in New York. That mean everybody in this tri-state area shares one fucking radio station. So I didn't get a chance to grow up where it was like, "Oh, Cam live down the street, and them from over here and them from over here." Nah, I'm the only n***a from my county. Ain't nobody from the whole Central Jersey ever did this shit that I'm doing. And I'm doing it by myself, no help. I You got n****s in Jersey now like, you know free Surf and my n***a Alby. But it's like, I ain't never had a team that was fully commited with this shit ever. Most of the time n****s fuck with me, and even though I know I still let it rock cause I'm selfless, but n****s be fucking with me tryna see what they can get from being around me. It's never a team effort.
1000WORD$: Word.
Chase Fetti: So I lost, gained it, lost it, gained it, lost it. Blood, sweat, tears, relationships. But like, man, I love music. My pops, my uncles all them n****s play instruments. My pops play the guitar. My uncle Ace play the guitar, the bass. My uncle Tony play the drums. So it's like, I've always been around this shit.
1000WORD$: What was your first time performing? Can you remember your first time stepping on stage?
Chase Fetti: You know I think all that shit come from the era we grew up in n***a, battling n****s at parties and shit like that. I was probably 14 or 15, you know what I'm saying? I'm trying to think when I started really performing I was really...
1000WORD$: Like your name on the flyer type shit?
Chase Fetti: 20s already, but I was nervous as hell. I still be nervous when I go out there, I keep it real. I still be nervous... Yo bro listen, Burden of Plugs tour, we was in Charlotte, right? Shout out my homie Ricky, my n***a 2G and shit right? He called me and started crying on the phone bro, that n***a was like, "Look at this shit. Look at the shit that you doing, like look at what the fuck you doing..." Mind you, this my white boy, he moved down by me when we was like 14. This n***a was in and out of jail our whole childhood, armed robbery, breaking and entering, assault. He one of them n****s. He a thorough ass white boy, like thorough. So he call me me like, "Yo bro, like look at this shit like n***a look at where we came from, like look at this shit." That shit almost broke me down, son. So when I go out there, I'm doing my shit. And it's this white boy in the crowd, bro, he rapping that shit like he's looking at my soul rapping my lyrics back to me and I forgot my words for a second because I chimed in on him like. And subconsciously I was thinking to myself like, "Yo is this real?" Like, you know, it still hit me like that. And I'm just scratching the surface, but it's like, people is fucking with me in Japan, Australia, and Europe. Yo, a n***a be writing me from South Africa, like every fucking week. This shit is so crazy to me, bro. I'm from a one-square mile town, my n***a.
1000WORD$: That's motivation. That's inspiring.
Chase Fetti: A one-square mile town. One middle school, one high school. And I'm running around the globe doing this shit.
1000WORD$: On your own merit.
Chase Fetti: On my own merit.
1000WORD$: What you working on next?
Chase Fetti: I got a project coming out, it's called "Blender Talk." It's really finished I just got to get it mixed down. First single I'm dropping with Conway the Machine that shit is called "Online" produced by my n***a Aesthetic out of Brooklyn shit is crazy, drums on that shit is crazy. got "Top of the Red" Part 2 produced fully by 38 Spesh. I got a tape with me and Boldy, fucking... no name yet. And "Mandatory Respect" Part 2 with Flee Lord, so I'm really working on all these shits at the same time, but you know I got some things in store.
1000WORD$: Did you watch wrestling growing up?
Chase Fetti: N***a, what bro? When Triple H crossed X-Pac I cried, bro. That was one of the moments in my life that taught me that n****s will cross you, you feel me? I couldn't believe it, bro, I couldn't believe Triple H. I never fucked with him again after that, bro, ever. But Stone Cold was awesome. Stone Cold had the whole package. That I don't give a fuck package. That if I see you I'm fucking you up in the supermarket.
1000WORD$: It's on sight.
Chase Fetti: You feel me? Stone Cold was that n***a.
1000WORD$: Who was your favorite wrestler?
Chase Fetti: Stone Cold.
1000WORD$: Okay, so if you picked a wrestler to be, you'd be Stone Cold?
Chase Fetti: Just because he had the attitude. I'm drinking beers, I'm smashing beers on n****s heads. I'm telling n****s, "Fuck you." Stone Cold was different, bro.
1000WORD$: Stone Cold was getting it popping.
Chase Fetti: I'm saying what I want, "N***a, fuck Vince McMahon. It's all type of shit when Stone Cold is on deck, man."
1000WORD$: I appreciate you for this conversation, man. This was a dope one, bro, thank you for tapping in with me.
Chase Fetti: Thank you my brother for everything just for even fucking with a n***a how you do man. Because you know, n****s like us, it's slim out here.
1000WORD$: You know, but we gone keep it the way we know how to keep it.
Chase Fetti: Always sturdy. Always solid. It's always integrity in everything I do.
1000WORD$: What codes and morals do you live by?
Chase Fetti: Honor, respect, and integrity. You got to have some morals with this shit, bro. Like your your word got to mean something. You can't just be putting broken promises in the air, you can't be doing whatever you want to do to n****s. Communication. You got to be able to communicate and that's the problem. I feel like... even taking it back to the streets, there's mad people that died because they didn't know how to communicate, you know? A n***a could fuck up a pack, but in his mind he like, "I'm not answering the phone because I'm trying to work this out." So you're not answering my phone call, n***a you owe me ten thousand dollars... it's like "Oh, I'm a bitch?" When you could have just picked the phone up like, "Yo, bro. It was a raid I had to flush the shit," or like, "Yo bro, I had to help my mom, just give me another pack I'm gonna work it off." N***a woulda smoke you, just for a man time. So n****s got to know how to communicate.
1000WORD$: Communication is key.
Chase Fetti: Honor, respect, integrity. Every man should live like that.
1000WORD$: I appreciate you Chase. We're gonna link up soon.
Chase Fetti: Yeah, man you already know.