Point / Counterpoint
Point/Counterpoint: “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap
This summer, Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” demonstrated the power of new music distribution methods (the song first appeared on SoundCloud), riding a wave of momentum that began early in the year and drove the song into “song of the summer” contention. The song also sparked Fetty’s rapid ascendance, landing him two more top-15 hits (“My Way” and “679”) and a Drake remix. With Fetty’s debut album scheduled for a September release, Tyler Friedman, staff writer, and Kimberly Henrickson, film editor, debate the merits of the singer’s breakthrough hit.
Pro
Fetty, a girl and a dream
Kimberly Henrickson
Although “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap has been widely hailed as a “song of the summer,” others still proclaim their hatred for the hit single. However, those who classify this song as void of artistic value are obviously missing out on its real message, one that has nothing to do with bandos or crack pies. A sheep wrapped in wolf’s clothing, Fetty Wap’s song about cooking and dealing cocaine is really one about his admiration for his girl’s ability to turn crack into huge stacks of dollar bills. At its heart, “Trap Queen” is the story of a modern couple determined to make themselves rich.
“Trap Queen” is one of few male-driven hip-hop songs that is centered on a woman without gratuitous mentions of her appearance, clothing or sexual behavior. Instead, Fetty sings about his girlfriend’s keen business ability and how she is his partner in business and life. From the days in the bando until they are rich and successful, they share their profits and dreams. Fetty also supports his girlfriend’s desire to make money independently, respecting her job as a stripper. Rather than disparaging her choices, he uses her job as proof of her resourcefulness and savvy. He sings about repaying her love and loyalty for him by showing the same to her. His line in the final verse, where he says he’ll “f—” his opponent’s girl, is merely hypothetical, a way for him to express his newfound fame. He could get any girl he wanted, but he’s sticking with the one who’s been loyal since the beginning.
“Trap Queen” is obviously not a Grammy-worthy song, with superficial lyrics and an uninteresting backup track. However, summer songs aren’t supposed to be the meaningful ones that make us cry or even smile when we hear them in future years. Summer songs are the background music to our summer adventures, meant to be forgotten once fall comes around. “Trap Queen” is positive and loving with a beat that’s fun to dance to—what more can one ask for in a good summer song? As Fetty says, “Everybody hating, we just call them fans, though.” He and his girl are laughing all the way to the bank.
Con
Hey, what’s up, oh no…
Tyler Friedman
Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” is anything but royalty. It simply appalls me that a dim-witted and dull song like this has become so well-known and liked in pop culture. Fetty Wap’s incomprehensible vocals, boring and illogical rhymes and conflicting messages are the most prominent flaws behind the rap song that has dominated summer playlists.
To begin, it is apparent that Fetty Wap cannot sing. Instead, he decides to slur a bunch of words while struggling to keep his voice from cracking. Hearing a chorus like this makes me miss the days of T-Pain auto-tuning his voice all over the radio. It may not have been extremely soulful, but at least it was smooth, unlike Fetty, who sounds less like a recording artist and more like a tipsy 13-year-old boy trying to sound cool.
Meanwhile, a middle schooler could easily come up with a better rhyme pattern than what is featured in this song. Each line throughout the chorus attempts to rhyme with “ohhhhh.” Not just “oh,” but an obnoxious and unnecessarily elongated “ohhhhh.” Not only is it very repetitive and annoying to have every line end with the same sound, but it also does not rhyme! Yes, I admit that many artists have forced rhymes, but this is just absurd: “Go” should not even remotely rhyme with “door,” “roll” or “pole.”
As if the rhyme scheme of the lovely chorus wasn’t enough, the following bridge contains “with my baby” at the end of each of its eight lines, appearing each time after an average of five words. Not only is the rhyming of the bridge incredibly dull, but it may be the most repetitive thing since “Say” by John Mayer.
Now let’s move on to the idiotic lyrics of “Trap Queen” (if you can even understand them). I’ll begin by giving Fetty Wap a free pass for having the song be solely about drugs, sex and money on the basis that nearly every hip-hop or rap song is related to these things. Even though his lyrics become redundant after the first verse, it’s not Fetty Wap’s fault that hip-hop has evolved to this.
The line “I’m like ‘Hey, what’s up, hello’” is definitely one of the most significant lines of the song. For starters, it’s probably the only line that you can play in front of your mother. But, on second thought, you may want to avoid playing that as well because it is the most meaningless lyric in the whole redundant and meaningless song. I can almost imagine what Fetty was probably thinking when he wrote the opening line to the song: “Hmm, how should I begin this song. Ahh! I should say ‘Hi’ to my girlfriend. But I love her so, so much that I should say ‘Hello’ in three different ways. Genius!” Yes, Fetty, what an insightful string of phrases that all mean the same thing.
Back to the overall meaning of the song: an ode to a girlfriend Fetty loves because she can make drugs for a cheaper price. To those who say that “Trap Queen” is a sweet love song, I admit that Fetty does indeed acknowledge the independence, intelligence and sexiness of his girlfriend like any good guy should. However, he completely contradicts the entire song at the end of the chorus by proclaiming that instead of being in love with his “Trap Queen,” he is “in love with the money, I ain’t ever lettin’ go.” There you have it: in a whole song dedicated to telling everyone how great his girlfriend is, Fetty Wap concludes by rapping about how he is in love with his money. Classy.
“Trap Queen” indubitably tops my list of the worst songs of the year, due to Fetty Wap’s annoying and incomprehensible voice, rhyming patterns and contradictory lyrics. I wish that I could say that the song has the redeeming quality of being a good dancing song, but nope, it is slow and awkward. The widespread appeal of this song makes me wonder if our society has regressed to medieval times, because this musical plague seems to be killing music tastes by the play.