“I didn’t find music, music found me.”
Hailing from the Steel City, rapper
Fedd The God wants to use his gift of music to
connect with people and spread positivity. Born James William Fedd Jr, the 26-year old grew up in the rough and less than ideal Northview Heights section in Pittsburgh, PA.
“Growing up in Northview Heights, on Penfort and
Manchester’s 1200 block, man, I’ve
seen it all. The environment was rough and sadly what is now typical for so many young
black males to see; murder, drugs, guns. We didn’t know anything else. I tried to keep to myself, for the most part.”
Fedd’s musical journey began in 2005. He and a friend were jokingly making music on a
computer. “Me and my boy Rico made a song called “Shoplifting” on Giant Eagle. As a
joke. We were just fucking around. I didn’t really think anything of it. But I found myself
going back to making music and writing raps, almost as a form of therapy whenever
something happened or I saw something on the block.” But it took a real-life experience
to light the flame inside of the Pittsburgh native to take music seriously. “It wasn’t until
the death of my friend Trillzee that I started to take music seriously. He was making
music and was about to crack off, so I felt the responsibility to pick up where he left off &
keep this shit going.”
Fedd’s inspiration to make music came from listening and watching Master P growing
up, with his motivation coming from his mother. “I didn’t have a musical bone in my
body, shit, I can’t even dance. But sometimes your purpose finds you in the strangest
ways.” What started as a mission to honor his late friend, quickly became a blessing in
disguise. “The more I started making music the more I realized how much I genuinely
love to move people. It’s like a high when I can hear and visualize people of all ages,
races, ethnicities, sexes moving to my music, my art. That’s what drives me. That’s
where my passion comes from. My mom told me that this passion and drive is a gift. It’s a gift to be able to connect with other humans with vibrations and emotions.”
After deciding to take music seriously as a career, Fedd stepped on to the music scene
officially as Fedd The God, a play off his last name combined with a popular Dragon
Ball Super Sayian transformation. His early days in music were with a collective NWS, ‘N****s Wit Swagg.’ “My start in the music scene was with NWS. I was in the studio and Icey2Times left me the password to his SoundClick profile so I
could go through beats. Back then, I didn’t know shit about rap or what to listen for in a beat. I just waited until I found something that spoke to me. There was this one beat called ‘Pittsburgh Nightmare’ and from the second I heard it knew that was the one. I loaded it up, recorded myself and made an anthem for my city called NFL.”
It wasn’t until an ironic encounter that Fedd was about to align with a Pittsburgh legend.
“I first linked up with Will because I got into a fight with his boy Jr. Will gave me his number to reach out if ever needed anything. We linked up a few years later in 2018 and started talking about the music business. He had so much knowledge and I just wanted to soak it up. He really put his arm around me, coached up on the industry, put
me on game to how things worked. He sent me books about the music business. I really just wanted to learn.” Fedd credits Will for introducing him to Taylor Gang head honcho
Wiz Khalifa at a show in NYC, which was followed by time spent in Pittsburgh and LA.
“I’m really the type of person that feeds off energy and a vibe. That’s what I loved about
Wiz and Will and the whole Taylor Gang family…
it’s a family. They weren’t trying to
push nothing on me. It just flowed well. I knew that being Gang would come with music
benefits but the fact that they were stand up dudes before anything else had me sold.
They were willing and wanted to teach me about
the game. Most artists wouldn’t know
half the shit they taught me. It’s a blessing.”
With his first single coming this Summer, followed by his Taylor Gang debut project,
with more videos and content to follow, Fedd The God easily describes the future:
“world domination is the plan; nothing less!”