Move Like A Boss: Fivio Foreign Is At New York Drill's Front Line
"You’re almost born into it..."
Over the past couple of years, the Brooklyn Drill scene has been at the forefront of representing New York. The tragic death of *Pop Smoke *put the future of Brooklyn Drill in jeopardy, but *Fivio Foreign* has been one of the main figures that’s carried the flag since.
Fivio brings an undoubted amount of energy and grit to his tracks; the beats are minimal, atmospheric and accompanied by menacing lyrics. His biggest tracks ‘Big Drip’ and ‘Wetty’ have reached international audiences, and he featured on Drake's recent compilation tape.
Clash spoke to the rapper over the phone, to discuss his experiences, his ambitions, and what lies ahead.
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The rapper dropped his mixtape ‘800 BC’ in March “It was just something I was throwing out there, I had a couple of songs I wanted to put out, but they got leaked, so I used that mixtape to put them out”.
The mixtape featured the likes of Meek Mill and Quavo, who in turn tried their shot on the Brooklyn Drill genre, and it shows how popular the scene is becoming. Fivio is glad that artists are taking influence; “Obviously the sound belongs to us, but to hear people I look up to Jacking it and jumping on, that’s crazy”.
Whilst the mixtape only dropped a couple months back, Fivio Foreign is already pulling together the next album. He talks about how creativity has been “going good, I’ve been in the studio all week, working with different producers like Murda Beatz and Kenny Beats. The album is fire man, I just can’t wait till it really goes crazy. I’ve put a lot of work into this album”.
The first tease from the new album is a release with fellow Brooklyn rapper Young MA titled ‘Move Like A Boss’. The track is high energy, something that Fivio brings to all his tracks, whilst Young MA adapts well to the drill type beat. Fivio felt fortunate to have the chance to work with her, “She never really works with other people, normally stands out alone”.
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Drill itself as a genre has evolved in the past 10 years, from Chicago it’s spread across the globe and morphed into different lifestyles and cultures. It’s something that Fivio was naturally drawn towards, he comments “It was relatable to the life that we were living at the time, that’s kind of the wave of my generation. You’re almost born into it”.
This is something to be said for all Drill scenes, most of these artists are telling their story in the only way they know how to. Whilst the genre is raw to say the least, overall, it’s the product of their surroundings.
Still in the process of creating his debut album, he said it’s also likely to be his last. Fivio told us the reasoning: “I want to do one album and get out of there and get some other artists going. This stuff is time consuming; I want to get people in the position to get lit and get paid”.
Lastly, we touch on the UK, with it sonically having such an influence on current the Brooklyn drill scene “I want to work with some of the DJ’s out there, the likes of DJ Semtex, and I want to work with Skepta”.
Even if it's just the one album Fivio ends up making, he’s already helped extend the Brooklyn scene further than the city of New York. When you see what happened to his friend Pop Smoke, it could make you want a quick getaway from the limelight.
Brooklyn drill is taking over and isn’t going anywhere soon, and Fivio Foreign is making sure of that.
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Words: *Joe Hale*
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