Few newer acts have had the run of Brooklyn drill frontrunner Fivio Foreign. Since rising to prominence in 2019 with his breakout single “Big Drip,” he’s been an in-demand collaborator, working alongside new school heroes such as Lil TJay and the late Pop Smoke as well as cultural behemoths such as Drake and Kanye West.
Most recently, his Grammy Award-nominated feature on Kanye West’s “Off The Grid” showcased his abilities to a wider audience, going down as one of the most acclaimed features of the year. But that moment also came with a dark side. Since then, Fivio has been used by everyone to capitalize on drill’s sound. The problem is he has no barrier for entry. Like So-Ho House, just seem somewhat important and they’ll probably get in.
As a result, some cringeworthy attempts to surf the wave have allowed tracks such as Mary J. Blige’s much-meme’d and maligned “On Top” and, even more heinously, “Champions” by former All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown, to exist and water down the sub-genre under Fivio’s watch (with his verses acting as de facto hall passes).
Kanye West’s Ego Overshadows Glimpses Of Hip Hop Excellence On Bloated 'Donda' Album
Two things feed this paradox: a desire to be more than a “Brooklyn Drill kingpin” and drive to make the sound more accessible and lucrative. Why allow R&B singers and pro athletes to get their woo off and bask in his glow? Fivio Foreign wants to become a full mainstream rapper.
His 17-song debut studio album B.I.B.L.E. does less to push the full-blown drill sound that birthed his fame and more to put him in a position to attain overarching success from audiences who may typically shy away from its rawness.
“Through The Fire” sees Fivio fully in his pocket, teaming up with Quavo to skate over a drill-hearted gospel affair with the ferocity of Nathan Chen. The album opener “On God” with KayCyy captures this airy, minimalist feeling allowing the Brooklynite to show he can rap, something that can’t be overstated. The reflective “Can’t Be Us” is another excellent example of the ability to stand on his bars, not just his production: “They wanna rap too ’cause they see how rap changed my life/But, lightning never strikes in the same spot twice,” he cheekily raps.
While the drill roots are unmistakable on this album, listeners will notice they’ve been manipulated, tweaked and smoothed out with a grand vision of pushing Fivio past the proverbial ceilings of the sub-genre’s echo chamber.
B.I.B.L.E. isn’t necessarily a bad album; there’s a lot to love. But Fivio attempting to continue widening the drill audience leads to lulls where the music is neither for his core audience nor interesting enough to hold long-term attention spans in a fast-paced mainstream media cycle.
“Love Songs,” a Ne-Yo-featured flip of the singer’s 2005 platinum hit “So Sick,” hops on the ever popular sample trend, adding not much more than mildly catchy fluff to an already bloated tracklist. The Destiny’s Child-sampled “What’s My Name” with Queen Naija and Coi Leray is similarly neutral, not really pushing the needle either way. The R&B vibe of “Hello” featuring Chlöe and KayCyy is yet another attempt at giving women fans something to get excited about—to stream worthy results.
That ultimately feels like the point of the album: crossover, use flashy features, gather streams, get paid. The ultra skip-worthy “Left Side” featuring Blueface and the cringe-y DJ Khaled feature on “B.I.B.L.E Talk” don’t help change the narrative.
It would be a bit too far to say Fivio is riding the coattails of Pop Smoke’s memory and drill’s popularity for his benefit. However, it’s quite glaring how he unabashedly holds the torch while declining to share the moment with anyone else from the bubbling scene. The Kanye and Alicia Keys-featured “City Of Gods,” a youthful take on the energy created by JAY-Z and Key’s “Empire State Of Mind” 13 years prior, feels like a missed opportunity to put on the next wave of drill rappers.
Fivio can spit and has painted himself as a go-to feature if artists want to take advantage of the worldwide drill phenomenon. Drill makes New York Mayor Eric Adams, oblivious gentrifiers and record labels nervous. There can’t be squeaky profiles when rough-edged up-and-comers such as Kay Flock are getting arrested. It’s a scene threatened by street violence, police meddling and the overall lack of support from every governmental institution of New York. It’s clear these institutions haven’t learned anything from the trials of Chicago drill, where bright glimpses of superstardom extinguished at alarming rates. Brooklyn drill is being met with the same challenges.
Fivio finds himself simultaneously able to be a leader of his cohort and give acts with no business on drill beats the opportunity to share in the glory (without losing any market share). While B.I.B.L.E. doesn’t break any new or exciting ground and lacks any song of the summer contenders, it is solid enough to command streams and further prove his commercial viability. Hardened listeners may not appreciate all the pivots, but it’s difficult to deny the album opens many doors, even if it’s doing it for the benefit of Fivio and not the culture that helped make him.
Just because he’s a drill rapper doesnt mean everything he does needs to be drill. He raps well throughout and overall the production is solid. The album was good, better than a 3.3. The reviews this year have been weak. They claim they are trying to make the scores mean something but when someone this site likes drops a project its instantly a 4 at least. All politics. Seems like anyone associated with Ye gets wack reviews.
Playboi Carti got a 4.4. Kanye worked on Whole Lotta Red. Only three albums that came out this year have received a 4.0 or higher.
A solid album, from a skilled artist, showing substantial growth.
Shit is fire
If you ask me, NYC drill should NOT EVEN EXIST…the Big Apple is the birthplace of hip-hop, and that should mean something
Can’t wait ’til the day when the Five Boroughs leave the trap/drill ish behind and go back to spitting BARS.
White people run this site yall. This album was pure fire. I was surprised to hear drill music actually be dope as music instead of just the shouting and bow bow. Yall are haters and white editors. Propaganda at its best on this site yall. I be tweeting out and screenshoting yall comments.
This album is trash regardless of race religion or gender. I tried to listen to most of it and it literally made me mad it was so trash. I love rap old school some new school. This album is a painful listen. Don’t waste your time or will u regret it. Suit yourself tho. I think 3.3 is a very generous rating and u say it’s racist hahahhahHhHhHahahaha. Maybe u can be right about other points but not this one. 3.3 is a crazy good score for a terrible album.
I’m not white…
ALBUM IS BELOW AVERAGE. I CAN APPRECIATE THE ENERGY HE BRINGS IN HIS FEATURES, BUT THIS ALBUM IS NOT IT. HE IS A STRUGGLE VERSION OF POP SMOKE AND LACKS IDENTITY TO HOLD DOWN A FULL LENGTH. ALBUM ALSO FOLLOWS THE MODERN TEMPLATE TOO CLOSELY WITH THE MEEK MILL INTRO AND ALL.
shits awful.
It should be called NY Grime if you ask me.
That sound is basicly Grimebeats and sound nothing like chicago drill
Politics at play here, seems like anything with Kanyes name attached is poison. This album was a decent showing and has promise for Fivio who’s shown tremendous growth in the past year. And those giving it a bad rating bc NY drill “shouldn’t even exist” can get on they knees and suck it
if the album is just decent, then 3.3 reflects that.
This review paints the Kanye featured joint as one of the best on the album…
Fivio has come a long way and now he’s making a name for himself those who say the album is trash obviously don’t know the amount of work, time and dedication put into such a body of work for an artist. It’s a really good debut……
Ayy ayy ayy???
I gave it a 4… Unfortunately I was reluctant on doing so. Which is sad because I legitimately listen to music word for word and I related to a majority to his tracks… But wasn’t enthused I was like a kid on Christmas day anticipating on some bomb ear flow but pushing play on the album… I wasn’t happy. I initially gave the album 2.5 which is half of 5, then I said to myself that shit was more than half though… So I stood on 3.2… but being that’s my boy and I grew to liking him and listened to everything he dropped, then rethinking and counted all the good tracks I (with feelings of regret [I hate] ) gave the album a 4… He gone grow from here though especially with the teeth grit’n critiques. I’m wit him all the way. We need the hard Fivio though too.
Thanks for the detailed analysis!
j