The coronation of Fivio Foreign has long been in the works. Since the death Pop Smoke over two-years ago, there has been a void within the New York music landscape and it seems as though Fivio Foreign has been handpicked to carry the torch.
This spring, his debut studio-album, B.I.B.LE., was delivered to the public as an inauguration of sorts. Executive produced by Kanye West, the album’s lead single — the West and Alicia Keys assisted — “City of Gods” attempts to create a moment in New York time. Similar to Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” also featuring Keys. Despite the records contrived feel, it charted at number 46 on the Billboard charts. However “Magic City,” the second single featuring Quavo, failed to do so.
Since the release of his viral hit — Big Drip— in 2019, Fivio has maintained cultural and musical relevance and is the latest bridge in the inevitable marriage between the drill music sub-culture and mainstream hip hop. His debut EP — 800 B.C.— was released in 2020 with features from Meek Mill, Lil Baby and Quavo. There was his guest-spot on Drake’s 2020 hit “Demons,” which charted at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that summer, he teamed with Lil Tjay for the anthemic “Zoo York,” peaking at number 65 on the Hot 100. A year later, he was heralded as having the best feature on Kanye West’s star-studded, Donda, album.
While not the most technically proficient rapper, Fivio has gotten to this point by wholeheartedly personifying New York. His charisma, flow and contagious dialect have made him the preeminent representative of New York hip hop culture.
The results? Well, it depends on what scale is being used. B.I.B.L.E. reportedly sold 29 thousand equivalent album units its first week. Not bad, but low enough for Fivi to remind detractors of his humble beginnings.
My Debut Album is #9 onna Billboards That’s in the whole world.. From where I came from that’s a Win 🏆 pic.twitter.com/W2vCcbMEnY
Nonetheless, it’s easy to see why he was next up on the mantle for New York supremacy. With Pop Smoke gone and Kay Flock in prison, he remains one of the few pioneers and recognizable faces of the drill scene and can steer the genre through its makeover.
This watered down version of drill that is B.I.B.L.E. shows upside as “What’s My Name” and “World Watching” are inviting records but leaves the project lacking an overall grimy-ness. Fivio’s captivating flow is enough to carry him on most songs (“Whoever,” “For Nothin“) but, his lack of variance in his lyrics leave him badly exposed on others (“On God,” “Through the Fire”). Did DJ Khaled need a nearly 2-minute interlude?
With the New York hip hop landscape lacking a leading-man, is Fivio Foreign was tasked with leading the charge for hip hop’s mecca? Are there now reservations after his heavily backed debut failed to make a dent on the Billboard charts?
Despite all of this, B.I.B.L.E. remains a personal success for Fivio. If the King of New York goes to the city’s most visible rapper, then Fivio holds the crown. With features from some of the music indsutry’s biggest names, he has now completed a shedding of the skin. While B.I.B.L.E. will be recognized as a drill album for those not familiar with the sound, Fivio has managed to outgrow that label and has become more of a gatekeeper than an active participant. If a rapper wants to get that New York City drill co-sign, they can go through Fivio.
Remove all context and this is a fine debut. But, just two years ago, Pop Smoke took over the world with the Woo movement. Prior to that, Tekashi 6ix9ine ran riot throughout the industry. There are certain expectations of grandeur that come with being King of New York that Fivio has yet to meet and if he wants that respect then it starts with the music.
In the introduction to her masterpiece on 1980s New York bohemia, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, the photographer Nan Goldin writes, “I want to show my life as it is. Without glamorization and without glorification.” This commitment to neither life’s imperfections nor its grandiosity is the driving force behind the upcoming debut album from Richie Quake.
Credit: Jesse De Florio
With the working title “Glam” and a tentative summer release date, Richie’s work is a treatise not on life’s extremes but on its regularity and consistency. Goldin’s work documented the simple act of being. To her what people did was less important than the fact that they simply were. Richie Quake, in his 21st century version of Goldin’s downtown New York lifestyle hopes to replicate the results.
I want to show what my world looks like, Richie says. Without glamorization or glorification, just kind of exactly as it is.
Who is Richie Quake?
Quake is a musician from Brooklyn teetering on the edge of industry success, having recently signed to Nas’ Mass Appeal Records. He has an effortless cool that either comes from, or led to, his musical upbringing as a New York nightlife DJ. Wearing a white hoodie and black bucket hat, from which peeked his dark brown curls, he has an unaffected nonchalance that oscillates between the warmth of a best friend and the aspirational distance of an older cousin you idolize.
His indie pop music features down tempo synths, a penchant for lyrical simplicity and a prevalence of rock instrumentation, all of which forge a unique sound. A promising start for an artist heading into their debut label release. More than his music what Richie possesses is a direction, a certitude in his artistic vision. He knows what stories he wants to tell. They’re about him, his life, his acts of being—just like Goldin.
Crawl is the latest single from Richie Quake’s upcoming debut album “Glam”.
There’s no songs about having a million dollars and being at the club and there’s no songs about something that’s like extremely dramatic, or extremely high, or extremely low, Quake relays.
Richie Quake’s Debut Album “Glam”
When I asked him about the new album, he was unusually hesitant to share. His answers suddenly interrupted by long pauses mid-sentence, a wandering gaze away from the Zoom camera, and a –for once — slightly awkward, but still endearing, nervous tilt of the head. He finally cut himself off to say “he had a whole thing” for the album but was unsure how much he wanted to share.
The “whole thing” was Goldin, the Ballad of Sexual Dependency, and New York art scene’s past and present. As soon as Goldin came up, Richie’s mannerisms reverted back to his usual quiet confidence, his knowing eyes and light smile perennial etched on his lips. It was clear he was sharing a long thought about ideas and that these ideas were the organizing principle of his work.
This is my life, Richie says with a deliberate sincerity. This is my friends. This is my relationships. Really what I’m trying to show is really raw humanity in a way that’s not trying to posture as anything else.
Or as Goldin would say, “This is not a bleak world but one in which there is an awareness of pain, a quality of introspection.”
If the vision for Glam is an introspective, yet expository, examination of Richie’s own life then it must also include the people he shares it with; the friends with whom he shares his own self, which ultimately comprises the album’s creative spine.
These pictures may be an invitation to my world, writes Goldin, but they were taken so that I could see the people in them.
Again, Goldin’s work reverberating throughout Richie’s. “How I relate to my feelings, you know, is by characterizing them in in a relationship,” Quake analyzes.
The new New York Music Scene
The self-described “emotional guy” needs the other people in his life to tell the story of himself. It’s a beautiful sentiment, that were it not said with self-effacing honesty, earnestness — and frankly, charm — it might indicate a lack of self-actualization or even co-dependency. Instead, it showcases an artist who is deeply in touch with the core themes of his inspirations. Goldin once said her photography “[came] out of relationships, not observation.” Her talents and creativity extended beyond her work, much like Richie’s. Both contributed to the artistic milieu of New York. Goldin through her almost radical openness and Richie through his own natural gregariousness. In other words, he’s such a cool dude that he’s building a whole scene around him.
“Richie really started to cultivate the scene,” explains Morning Silk, one of Richie’s producers and friends.
Morning Silk is a slightly spacey, experimental musician whose talent as a producer is only exceeded by his admiration for Richie. The two connected through digital happenstance after Morning Silk commented on a Tik Tok Richie made. Richie then took the initiative to scroll through Morning Silk’s profile, get a feel for his music and invited him to a studio session. The two met for the first time at Morning Silk’s makeshift recording studio in Ridgewood, Queens, where they recorded “Never See You”. The song would make its way onto Richie’s latest EP, Voyager. Within two months of meeting one another they would record the entire EP.
Richie Quake released the EP “Voyager” in 2021.
As Richie’s stature in the New York music scene grew it brought a newfound drawing power, allowing him to handpick his creative partners. He never cared about their industry status, or even if they were talented—that was table stakes—he cared about their commitment. That is the true entry price to the nascent “alternative rock, indie pop scene.” And it is a price that must be paid daily.
“I float around with a scene of New York creative people who are just all artists,” Richie explains.
I don’t really know anybody who has a job, a nine to five, like a career. Everyone I know is kind of just always in the pursuit of making art and in the pursuit of being creative.
Another of Richie’s frequent collaborators and recent friends is Middle Part. A long haired, slightly schlubby artist whose “super fresh friendship” with Richie regularly consists of “three-day sleepovers.” If Richie is the scene’s guide, then Middle Part is its compass, pointing towards artistic integrity. His disheveled bedroom has the words “Middle Part” spray painted in giant black letters above his bed as if the constant presence of his stage name were a daily reminder of the of the artistic commitment his adopted identity entailed. His gruff attitude belies his deeply emotional music (his superbly crafted single “&Cry” surpassed one million Spotify streams in March) and infectious dedication to an artist’s life. “[Posers] don’t live their art,” Middle Part inveighs.
They don’t actually work hard enough to be considered an artist. You can make music, you can be a painter, you can be a photographer, whatever the fuck but, if you’re not living and dying by it, then what’s the point?
The intensity and matter-of-factness with which he issued his proclamation felt like this was a shared sentiment among the members of New York’s newest music scene, even if the words may have been his alone. It was hard not to feel inspired by his assuredness.
Morning Silk learned to adopt that same dedication from Richie; who was, yet again, guiding his peers, shaping the burgeoning scene in the image of his own values. “Don’t ever do something musically that you don’t want to do,” said Morning Silk, recounting Richie’s advice. “Don’t work with artists you don’t want to work with. It’s a waste of time. Even if you get paid it doesn’t matter. [Richie] was on the brink of being super broke because he did that.”
It’s a classic mark of the creative lifestyle, to believe in an artistic vision even when tangible, everyday realties such as money risk compromising it. If that’s the norm for passionate artists, then being enough of a visionary or talent to spearhead a movement is not. Especially in New York where, since before even the days of Goldin, creatives aspire to participate in an arts scene much less establish one.
“When he’s in a space, you feel comfortable, cool,” confessed an adoring Morning Silk.
Whenever he’s around you it feels right. It feels like you’re doing the right thing, like you’re in the right place. I feel like that’s the best way to describe it.
Richie did so because, aside from his obvious talent, he’s charismatic to the point of inspiring devotion.
It’s a testament to Richie’s qualities as an artist that his collaborators have so fully invested themselves in his own creative vision. But equally an endorsement of the person and his ability to inspire their personal lives as well as their musical lives. The unglamorized “self” that Richie is so fixated on transfusing into his music is of an individual so brimming with confidence that it permeates those in his orbit. Through sheer surety he’s able to alter the self of others. Were Goldin able to photograph Richie and Morning Silk in the recording studio her camera might also capture the invisible shedding of one man’s insecurities through camaraderie alone.
Richie’s Distinct Sound
This indescribable quality he possesses saturates his music, with a distinctiveness as palpable as the one that characterizes the musician. Simply put, it is a vibe.
Not in the contemporary sense, co-opted to describe life’s mundanities “that latte gave me bad vibes” or “this outfit has good vibes.” But in the genuine literary sense: it’s an emotional state felt by, and shared with, others.
The melancholy infused pop listenability of Richie’s music is the observable, corporeal manifestation of this vibe. But it comes from his talent for identifying the best qualities from different musical genres—R&B’s crooning, pop’s capacity for earworms, rock’s dramatic guitar riffs—and combining them into a cohesive sound. This genuine genre-blending makes his music not a hodge-podge of influences but a distillation of inspirations. He highlights the strengths of his source material without ever weakening his own originality, making his music more Six Million Dollar Man than Frankenstein’s monster. As a result, Richie’s music contains not just uniqueness but a novel uniqueness. Something so new that as of now, it cannot be accurately described. In fact, it will likely be used to describe other music in the future.
Chedda, Richie’s energetic sound engineer on Glam and Voyager once described Glam’s first single, “That’s Not Love”, with an oddly specific but apt comparison—a love story gone wrong but that he, nonetheless, longs for.
I feel like it’s one of those movies that the whole plotline is based on this dysfunctional love between two people in New York City smoking cigarettes and staying up way too late and doing-some-reckless-ass-shit type relationship. But it works. And it’s beautiful in its own way. And in the end, it just, somehow works out. And [you say] ‘damn, I want that type of love.
Chedda, Producer
The familiarity Richie has with New York isn’t just lip service from his affable producer. For Chedda the source of the signature Richie Quake sound is precisely his ability to meld the culture of New York scene with his own music. Richie is a part of the vast talent and creativity that characterize the city’s melting pot—hip hop, Village bohemia, Brooklyn hipsters, and LES skaters—all of which are perfectly understood and delicately balanced by Richie in a two minute and forty-one second song.
Richie is so in tune with and indebted to, New York itself that for the release of Glam he’s considering issuing a magazine — also titled Glam — dedicated to New York life. The idea isn’t just to honor the scene but to pay homage to it as the source of his own work. In essence, “Glam” the magazine, would serve as an abstract for Glam, the album.
Glam is a love letter to creative collaboration and artistic liberation because it was birthed from it. Richie says he “feels like an executive producer” on the album, bringing artists together and guiding them towards a shared objective. By loosening the previously controlling and virtually secretive nature of his recording process he’s shed the insecurities that often plague young artists.
“That’s Not Love” is the first single from Richie Quake’s debut album “Glam”.
“The bouncing of ideas is what provides a lot of clarity,” Richie said stolidly. “I would say the best part is there’s not a lot of dwelling. You’re not like, ‘Is this good? Is this bad? What do I do here?’ You always have somebody to ask.”
The Triangle
Towards the end of our interview Richie explained, with great sincerity and a few laughs, what he called the triangle analogy. He said that often in an artist’s life the people they work with can either be their friends, be successful, or make great music. The conventional thinking is that it’s only possible to obtain two of the triangle’s three sides, a compromise always looming. For once though, Richie feels he has all three and when something so rare and potentially fleeting crosses an artist’s path — especially right before their debut album — it’s worth safeguarding. Like Goldin with her camera in her bohemian enclave, it’s a lifestyle that demands art be lived and shared not simply created.
“It’s a cool way to be,” Richie mused, with a distinct air of gratitude. “I hang out with artists every day. The only people that I see and hang out with are other artists that I like and that I’m inspired by.”
Glam is an endeavor that stretches beyond Spotify streams, venue bookings, or merch sales. It will leave behind something more eternal that will get stitched into the fabric of the city. Ultimately, Richie tried and succeeded at making New York a little more creative. “It’s kind of what I always wanted my life to be when I idealized the life of an artist,” Richie ends.
And if you have a life committed to, and supported by, art, then, at the end, does the industry success matter? Even if, judging by the music, it’s likely coming.
They say love is all-around. Sometimes the feeling is as palpable as an embrace. Yet, finding the accurate words to frame love into its proper context remains one of the world’s greater mysteries. Love can be all-encompassing, it can be selfless, it can blossom out of desire and it can even be fickle. Only one thing is certain, once love is in the air, it builds its own cocoon within the consciousness waiting to be explored. And on Winter Nights, we get a first-hand look into how Mo’ Love handles his ever-changing disposition.
Lately I’ve been f****d up, all these feelings got me worked up.
In five swift songs we see the enchanted crooner jostle between lust, desire, commitment and emotional weariness. Beginning with the anthemic “Pgp,” where he wastes no time addressing the point of contention. The record opens with voicemails from various women looking to get in touch demanding that he call them back. Instead, he makes himself readily available to all, where his promiscuous flair is captured.
She think I’m a player cause she like what I’m saying. I’m not into selling dreams, you should buy what you like. And if you don’t, you can return me after the night.
Mo’ Love – Pgp
While the project intros with an emotional free-for-all, the more tightly wounded “The Same” is the inverse of its predecessor. With his distinct singing voice and sultry delivery, the r&b singer confronts the feelings of complacency that comes from a long-standing relationship. From fighting about the same things, noticing changes in a partner’s feelings and behavior, while dealing the subsequent yearn for the person responsible for your pain.
Comparatively, “Slow Dance” is next on the queue and sees the South Bronx native do a complete 180. While “The Same” left him picking up the pieces of his dissolved relationship, on “Slow Dance” he goes from prey to vulture, picking at the remains of a woman’s freshly severed union as he looks to seduce her. As the third of five records on the project, the song placement seems to be indicatory of the middle ground between committed and spending time, as he lulls,
flowing through the vibes, I can it in your eyes, Oh I love.
– Mo’ love, Slow Dance
Mo’ Love shows his talents for performative arts with his thespian-like display of character arc, going from player, to sucker and back to the life of easy virtue in just three songs.
Won’t you slow dance for a n****a yea, if you want these bands from a n***a yea.
We keep fighting about the same thing, I need some space so I could maintain Since you left, I haven’t been the same.
– Mo’ Love, The Same
Winter Nights follows this ebb-and-flow throughout all five records, where each mirrors its predecessor and vice versa. It’s a Ying and Yang of commitment versus freedom and promiscuity, with an intermission to ponder giving up both on “F****d Up Anthem.”
Who doesn’t want to be in a nice healthy relationship? But then, also I like my peace. I’m on a journey, I’m trying to get somewhere and there’s distractions. A lot of people are distractions more than help. Me knowing that, I definitely battle with being in relationships, wanting to take one serious. It takes a big, big person to make that leap and I battle with that all the time.
– Mo’ Love
It can be played frontward or backwards and the same message still echoes, combine that with the concise length of the EP and it is a reflection of the fleeting emotions that we share with one another.
I’m losing myself. The only thing I want in this life is bad for my health.
– Mo’ Love, Dirty Diana
Such is the uncertainty that surrounds many modern-day relationships, with not only the number of options, but the availability of it all. Lust can turn to infatuation, which metamorphoses into commitment, yet can just as quickly transform into weariness.
I deserve more than this, hurt on my mind so it’s hard to reminisce.
I’m hoping they [fans] go through the rides of emotions that I felt when I made it and the attention that I put into it. I know I wanted people to dance to it, I know I wanted people to feel good to it, but also, I wanted people to understand that there’s always a message in everything that I’m saying. There’s a message in every song that I put out and that means the most to me.
As Benny the Butcher and his Griselda cohorts further entrench themselves in the music industry and the lines between mixtapes and studio albums continue to blur, the Buffalo-bred rapper returns with another edition of his cult-like mixtape series. The array of Tana Talk mixtapes helped lead Benny’s ascension including his breakout third edition, which featured standout tracks like “Langfield,” and “Rubber Bands & Weight.”
Tana Talk 4 is officially Benny’s third studio album and the intro track serves as a reminder of Benny’s current standing within the industry. The lead single — “Johnny P’s Caddy”– features a strong J. Cole verse, while the rest of the appearances remain close to home in the likes of Stove God Cooks, Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, 38 Spesh and fellow Griselda signee, Boldy James. While Benny commands that street presence throughout his projects, the Tana talk series has always maintained a more personal feel and has seen the Def Jam signee at his most introspective.
This ain’t my story about rags to riches, more about how I mastered physics.
The records opening line sets the tone for the entire body of work as Benny weaves through street tales and the specific details of the drug game, while giving attention to his growth in the music industry and the supposed dissension between Conway and the rest of Griselda records after his departure from the label. Songs like “Johnny P’s Caddy” sees Benny flex his muscles in the rap game, as he went from making street dollars to legitimate rap money.
In the game, I used to train like Rocky catchin’ chickens. I was nice, but they was right when they told me that rap a business.
While once again flexing his loyalty to the ones he entered the game with.
Besides Con’ and West, tell me, who else I gotta respect?
Benny effortlessly exchanges his street and rap personas. His production is composed of Griselda in-house producer Daringer’s grimy, raw, slowed down beats, combining that with famed hip hop producer Alchemist’s soul-samples. On the 38 Spesh assisted, “Uncle Bun,” Benny is raw and unforgiving about his street dealings.
I sold dope to a fiend while she pregnant, emotionless. I’m not a case worker, that’s not the reason I sold the shit.
While the more soulful “Weekends In The Perry’s” featuring Boldy James, sees the Def Jam signee portray himself as simply an author to his own motion picture, which is the sort of bob-and-weave that is displayed throughout the 12-track, 40-minute long project.
Tana Talk 4 isn’t all drug and industry talk, as Benny also addresses the relationship between him, Westside Gunn and Conway The Machine. On “Tyson vs. Ali” featuring Conway The Machine, he addresses the media and fans attempts to pin the former label-mates against each other, while unbeknownst to them, the trio remain tethered.
So confused when ya’ll compare two n**gas from the same movement. Only for ya’ll amusement is funny to me. Ya’ll do it, truth is, while I’m killing shit Conway is somewhere rootin’.
Conway The Machine responds with his own salute to his cousin,
Ayo, Benny, I remember what we used to do to the fiends. That’s why it feel so good to see you doin’ your thing.
As the entire Griselda empire has grown within the past few years, they’ve maintained their model, even as they’ve ventured with bigger labels and entertainment entities. The making of Tana Talk 4 — a renowned mixtape series — into a studio album exemplifies just that. Benny The Butcher continues to elevate and flexes his industry connections with the J.Cole feature, while remaining true to his core fanbase.
Overall, fans of Benny can be left satisfied with this project, as it has plenty of rugged street talk, but more importantly growth, as fans can see the fruits of Benny’s ascension as he rubs elbows with the hip hop industry’s elite.
Queens crooner Kyngjo is back with his latest summer anthem with the Utopian single “Six in the Morning.” Featuring fellow afrobeat/hip hop artist, LAFROMNEWYORK, the Ghanian duo paint a blissful reminder of the entrapments of a passionate romance.
“Six in the Morning” is a catchy record that sees both artists showcase the kind of artistry that creates stars. Kyngjo starts off with his charmed delivery of a jaded womanizer.
“When she hit me on my line I can’t help but to count all me pesos. When she tell me she want diamonds I buy double cause I can’t really say no.”
“I could show you what it’s really like. 3 a.m. on the hill that’s my vibe. But baby I can’t stand the way that these girls lie,”
he whispers as he sets the tone for the well-known tale of men, women and money. LAFROMNEWYORK brings the afro inspired vibe full circle, seamlessly interloping with Kyngjo.
This is a strong effort as Kyngjo builds anticipation for his upcoming debut EP. The Lefrak native is hitting his stride, as he seems to be even more sure of his own sound. His best records have seen his show his most potential. Songs like “Need Em” and “I’m Good Luv” are both stolid records.
“Six in the Morning” has nice replay value as the summer nears.
