Meet FWEY, the Haitan artist bringing freshness to the world [Future Sounds Interview]

According to FWEY, his love for music began at a young age. He began as a drummer and progressed to rapping and singing as a child. Along the way, between 2011 and 2012, he was affiliated with the Majors, having begun making music with his brother.

“My brother still works with me on this music. I’ve done records with Gucci [Mane] and Dre. Toured with a doobie, P diddy. You know, I’ve just been. Just been working. I come from a come from a big Haitian family. You know, so I represent Haitian everywhere. I come from Miami, Florida, born and raised in Miami, Florida”, he said.

FWEY eventually moved to Minnesota, where he adopted the infamous Minnesota swag. This complemented his Caribbean style even more.

“So I try to I try to mix all the coasts together. That’s why the sound is, you know, the sound is a little bit different because you get a sound of down South hip hop, Midwest hip hop and a Caribbean style. And I try to mix it all together to get audience something unique and different”, he continued.

FWey talked about his childhood, growing up with Haitan parents, and the impact it had on him. Growing up with a pastor for a father and a very holy woman for a mother instilled real life ethics in young FWEY. He compared his upbringing to that of Africans. “So we grow real strict”, he said.

“We grow up really like with them teaching us, and giving us a lot of good faith in God and the belief that following, you know, following the path of the church. Of course, we grew up in the streets as well. So we got caught up in a lot of street stuff. But with the foundation, my mom and dad left us. I grew up with real good morals in life. But, you know, we had our struggles, grew up very poor.” he added.

According to the vibrant and outspoken artist, one of his enduring childhood memories will be moving to Haiti as an American-born Haitan to reconnect with his foundation. When he visited Haiti, where he lived for a year and a half, the journey exposed him to the realities of life.

Narrating the lessons, he said, “So it opened my eyes up to see my cousins living that way. And we had to live that way as well, too, you know. So it gave me, you know, both sides of the world. You know, it gave me America and it gave me Haiti as well. You know, so I, I know struggle in the streets, in the hood of America. But I also understand that it’s still a privilege. Because I’ve been through the struggle in Haiti as well. So I’ve got a good balance of that. So that’s why I go real hard for my people. You know, I go real hard for my people to give give people opportunities that they don’t have.”

FWEY, who began making music professionally at the age of 13, was recording and making mixtapes before becoming well-known in Minnesota at the age of 19. Years ago, his band Hook Stars was one of the hottest music groups in Minnesota, giving him the conviction that music is a divine calling.

FWEY’s debut album, ‘just For You,’ was released in 2019. An eight-track project featuring Gucci Mane. FWEY, when asked about the project, denies making it for a lady.

In his words, “No, it was strictly for the fans. I was on tour. I did a 25 city tour with Doobie and, you know, everybody was asking for an album. So I said, look, I’m I’m going to really put this EP together just for you, you know, something that I cooked up just for the audience. Just for the fans. Something different. I believe we had like seven or eight songs, something like that. But yeah, both of them just just just strictly for the audience, for the fans. My job is to my job is to grab every emotion from the fans where there is club ready with love music, whether it’s music, battle, depression or anything like that. So everything is just for you, just for the fans.”

He went on to narrate how his collaboration with Gucci Mane happened. According to him, the collaboration happened when Gucci Mane was simply known as Big Gucci, just before he (Gucci Mane) went to prison.

“We met him in Atlanta, he checked out track, and fell on in love with it. You know, he went and went in the studio, laid down a verse in about 10 minutes. We had to do a whole mixtape together. We had labels, issues like that when it came to the mixtape and all that. But we, we had a good vibe, you know. So looking forward to hopefully working with him again in the future,” he added.

To shed more light on label issues, FWEY preferred to remain neutral in the debate over Indie and Labels. His point of view is that it depends on what the artist is attempting to accomplish, as well as their goals and aspirations.

“To me, it depends on what your goal is for me, because the independent route is about because the independent route, you got a lot of money into yourself. I spent a lot of money on my music. You know, I spent well over hundreds of thousands on my music. So the independent route is is a long route. I mean, but I would say make it independently, you know, all the coins, all that money. So, you know, you are 100% owner, but you also got to make sure you are 100% owner of something that’s worth something,” he said.

His most recent single, ‘Lost Control,’ is a dark, mid-tempo R&B song with Caribbean overtones. According to him, it is a remake of an old group. It is also the soundtrack to a film starring Vivica Fox.

FWEY admits that “the industry is tricky” when discussing his challenges as a musician and how difficult it has been to navigate through the industry. He claims that people are always out to take your money, run you down, and take advantage of you.

“So what this game is like, you just got to watch it because there’s a lot of folks that, you know, that do funny that do funny business. And then this industry is like and and plus with the industry is a lot of kiss ass. I’m not the type that kiss nobody else. [There are] a lot of egos, you know everybody want to be celebrated. It’s too much emotional business and stuff like that. So it’s not about talent, no more about the back you got in, the image you got, you know. So that’s that’s that’s the biggest challenge on making sure you don’t sell yourself short.”

FWEY talked about his branding and what he’s trying to sell to the rest of the world.

The FWEY brand is best defined by its freshness and uniqueness. The flavor brand aims to sell experiences to the rest of the world. “So the experience is fresh and unique,” he added. His music is indifferent, enjoyable, and has a fresh and enticing aroma that creates a one-of-a-kind experience. He avoids listening to music on purpose in order to avoid sounding like the last guy he heard his record from. This allows him to create magical new sounds out of thin air.

He also talked about his plans to visit Africa and why everyone should dream to visit the motherland. In his words, “I think that should be the goal of every black person from the US or from everywhere (Haiti, from Jamaica). [The goal] to visit and see what the motherland is like. But I plan on to come to Africa hopefully this year. If not this year, then next year.”