Fetty Wap Joins Russell Dickerson for Surprise CMA Fest Appearance

The rapper and the country singer teamed up for their collab "Boots"

Over the last year or so, Russell Dickerson has found his lane. A singer of country music love songs when he first launched with ballads like “Yours,” the Tennessee native has broken through by following his whims. If that means adopting a pro-wrestling aesthetic (his “RussellMania” branding is particularly inspired) or teaming up with the rapper Fetty Wap, so be it.

Dickerson indulged the former idea last month when he recruited Fetty for the earworm spelling bee “Boots,” a 80/20 mix of trap and country music. “Girl, where’d you get those Lucchese square toes?/ You floating like an angel with a neon halo,” Dickerson sings, providing the song with its lyrical rural signifiers. Onstage at CMA Fest on Sunday, Dickerson performed the song live, with a surprise appearance by Fetty Wap himself.

The rapper’s cameo wasn’t remarkable because it happened at a country music festival — we’ve seen plenty of those by now — but because Fetty has been under house arrest since January. After pleading guilty to a 2022 drug charge, he was released from a Minnesota federal prison at the beginning of this year. He’s now under home confinement in New Jersey, which is slated to end in November.

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Born Willie Junior Maxwell II, Fetty, who lost his left eye to congenital glaucoma, made his official CMA Fest debut on Sunday during Dickerson’s set at Nissan Stadium. Along with “Boots,” the duo tackled the rapper’s own 2014 hit, “Trap Queen,” a song that Dickerson has been covering for years.

“I’ve been a Fetty Wap fan since the beginning and his music has influenced mine probably more than I even know,” Dickerson said in a statement upon releasing “Boots.” “So to have a song coming out with one of my biggest modern musical influences is one of the best feelings and what I think music is all about, creating something special with artists you love.”