At long last, Fivio Foreign’s debut album has arrived. When Complex first caught up with the New York rapper two years ago, his breakout song “Big Drip” had taken over New York City, helping Brooklyn drill become the most explosive new sound in the country. Fast-forward to 2022, and Fivio’s ascent has continued upwards, thanks to major collaborations with A-listers like Kanye West, and more than a few viral moments.
That brings us to B.I.B.L.E., the long-awaited full-length debut from Maxie Lee Ryles III. With Kanye’s oversight, plus guest appearances from Quavo, ASAP Rocky, Lil Yachty, Polo G, Vory, KayCyy, and more, it has all the makings of a blockbuster debut. So, did it live up to the hype? What are the best (and worst) things about it? Members of the Complex Music team—Andre Gee, Jessica McKinney, and Jordan Rose—weighed in with first-impression thoughts.
Andre: “Through The Fire” is it for me.
Jessica: “Through the Fire” and “Slime Them.” They each stay true to the drill sound, but they’re also catchy with a lot of radio appeal (and the big features make things interesting).
Jordan: “Through the Fire” sounds like New York drill that went to church, and it works. Fivio and Quavo glide on the beat, which has a nice soulful touch, but still holds the core drill sound.
Andre: The “rap star initiation” thing on “B.I.B.L.E Talk” with Khaled. That was so melodramatic and unnecessary.
Jessica: “B.I.B.L.E. Talk” and “Left Side.” It’s time we let the DJ Khaled interludes go. And in 2022, there’s no need for a Blueface feature.
Jordan: “World Watching,” easily. Not only is the sample cringey, but it takes away from the verses on the song. It sounds like mall music with drill rapping over it, which I don’t think was the intention.
Andre: It’s dope that Fivio is rapping at his best here. There was a point after “Big Drip” where it felt like he was over-relying on half bars and ad-libs, but it seems like the reaction to his “Off The Grid” verse shook him out of that.
Jessica: You can tell that Fivio is on a mission to reach audiences outside of New York City. From the features selection to production choices, it’s clear that he’s looking for pop status, but at the same time, he doesn’t lose sight of where he came from and what his fans want to hear from him. There are more trap records on here than we’ve heard from him in the past, but it’s still a Brooklyn drill album at its core. I think Fivio does a good job of balancing two worlds.
Jordan: It sounds like a lot of the production on this album was influenced by the time Fivio spent with Kanye West while he was working on Donda, because these beats slap. It’s nice to Fivio rap ferociously on softer beats, too, which allowed him to be more vulnerable on some of these records.
Andre: It goes too far in the direction I feared after “Fear Of God,” which feels like sterilized drill. It’s the audio equivalent of seeing a knockoff item that just doesn’t look right, which is weird to say about a project from a drill originator. Maybe it’s the Kanye oversight. The percussion is there but as someone who listens to a good amount of drill, this overall sounded off to me. The synths and choir chants don’t have that edge, and it overall feels too glossy. It sounds like they were trying to make the sound more palatable, which may attract new listeners, but I don’t love it. Also, where are the New York drill features? I hope he doubles back with those for the deluxe.
Jessica: There is nothing outwardly bad about this album, but if Fivio Foreign’s main intention was to go viral with his debut, I don’t hear anything that will obviously achieve that goal. With the exception of the pre-released track “City of Gods,” there are no major standouts. That’s not to say there are no good songs on the album, because there are. There just aren’t any obvious contenders for “song of the summer” status or anthems that will dominate the rap space right now.
Jordan: The thing that bothered me the most about B.I.B.L.E. is the lack of other New York drill artists, especially given the number of samples on it. It would have been dope to hear someone like B-Lovee or Shawny Binland on a track like “What’s My Name.” Instead, Fivio opted not to include any rappers from the scene that he’s carrying the torch for, which was disappointing.
Andre: Blueface’s deadpan “last nigga tried to play with me…had a tough time” on “Left side” was perfect comedic timing. But as far as a solitary feature, I’ll say Polo G on “Changed On Me.” He jolted the end of the album and delivered a dope verse.
Jessica: Quavo (“Magic City” and “Through the Fire”) and ASAP Rocky (“Confidence”) are tied for me. They both did a great job adapting to Fivio’ style, and they blended in well with the drill production. I wouldn’t mind hearing more drill collaborations from them.
Jordan: It might be just because I really love “So Sick,” but Ne-Yo had the standout guest performance on this album for me. Even in his early 40s, his vocals still sound crisp, and they bolstered “Love Songs” and made it not rely so heavily on the classic sample.
Andre: To me, it says that artists feel like they have to graduate from the New York drill sound to assimilate into the mainstream. We saw it with Pop, but he was so talented he could do almost anything. I feel like Fivio excels in a certain pocket, and for me, this would have been more replayable if he just spammed tracks like “Big Drip” and “Fully Focused.” But that’s me being selfish. I’m aware that tracks like “What’s My Name” and “Hello” will probably help this album stream well nationwide, so what do I know?
Drill music is at an interesting point. Artists all over the world love the sound (and New York culture) so much that they’re going to run to Fivio and other New York acts for them to stamp their song with a feature. But then they’re only going to do that for a song. I don’t know if that’s worked commercially yet for a whole album. I think raw New York drill is an insular sound, and that’s not a bad thing, but it becomes a bad thing when songs have the drill percussion or a drill flow but the components don’t completely gel to create the right overall vibe.
Jessica: B.I.B.L.E. hints that the Brooklyn drill sound is growing past the limits of its hometown, and it’s looking for more global success. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a shift where drill songs become more dominated by mainstream artists, without the voices of the original New York artists that made it popular (case in point: Lil Uzi Vert’s new song “Heavy”).
Jordan: New York drill is in an interesting space right now. Pop Smoke made it a global phenomenon that departed from its Chicago drill roots, and after he passed, Fivio was looked at as the torchbearer of the scene. I think he succeeded at doing that in certain ways, like having Kanye adopt the sound and give it more mainstream attention. But the fact that there are no actual Brooklyn drill artists (besides Fivio) on an album that would have allowed them to thrive is egregious to me.
Andre: This feels like Fivio’s attempt at replicating Pop Smoke’s Reach For The Stars, Aim For The Moon approach, with a decent amount of features and plays at mass appeal, except he doesn’t quite have the charisma Pop did to carry a 50-minute project. There are great moments on here, but the whole body of work feels a little long and repetitive at points. It would’ve been dope to hear him switch up his flow more like he did on “Left Field.” I also would have liked to have heard more introspection on here, especially with all the scrutiny the drill sound is under. There’s no way you can be a leading figure in one of the most controversial, misunderstood art scenes in the world and not delve into it a little.
Jessica: B.I.B.L.E. is a decent album. There are some moments throughout the project that will likely grow on me as time goes by, but I’m not personally impressed with the list of A-list features, because it makes the album feel like it lost some of its New York soul (although there are exceptions and some of the features were very smart and added value to the record). Fivio has some more to learn if he’s looking to go viral every single time he drops, but for a debut album, I’m not mad at it.
Jordan: B.I.B.L.E has all the makings of a strong major label debut album: great production, big-name features, and songs that will likely do really well on the radio. Fivio also gets more personal than has on some of these tracks, giving us a closer look into his life, which I thought was refreshing. I just wish the album felt more like drill, and less commercial. But with the kind of 2021 that Fivio had, including delivering my favorite verse of the year on “Off the Grid,” I understand why he’d use his newfound resources and industry connections to make his debut album as star-studded as possible. On the album’s intro, he raps, “I got rich over saying ‘aye,’” but there was a distinct shortage of “aye’s” on B.I.B.L.E. Fivio Foreign has become a solidified star over the last two years, but hopefully the New York drill energy that made him so popular doesn’t get lost in the mainstream sauce, and he passes the success forward to burgeoning drill artists.
