Track Review: Fivio, Kanye & Alicia Keys Tribute the "City of Gods"

Fresh off of their seismic Donda standout "Off the Grid," which was named the #9 Best Song of 2021 by Black Boy Bulletin, Kanye "Ye" West and Fivio Foreign have reunited for the anthemic "City of Gods." A tribute to New York City, the song also enlists the help of New York-born and bred legend Alicia Keys. "City of Gods" serves as the lead single for Fivio's upcoming debut studio album B.I.B.L.E. From the anthemic hook to the tasteful incorporation of Brooklyn drill production motifs, the song consciously angles itself towards the mainstream in a way that we haven't heard Fivio attempt to before. Nonetheless, "City of Gods" doesn't quite hit every mark.

Immediately, the triumvirate of artists at the helm of the song and the booming "New York City please go easy on me tonight" hook invoke the spirit of "Empire State of Mind" and the melodrama of "Run This Town" — two songs that appeared well into the mainstream pop-focused arcs of Jay-Z and Kanye's careers. In that vein, it does feel a bit odd that Fivio is making a song of this nature before he's gotten a solid solo crossover hit of his own or even released his debut album. Despite the intriguing relationship between "City of Gods" and his career trajectory, Fivio sounds in complete control on this track. When you're a younger artist sharing space with icons like Kanye and Alicia, it's especially easy to fold under that pressure. Folding isn't in Fivio's vocabulary. He embodies the palpable grittiness of the city without completely glamorizing it; "Yeah, look, this is the city of money and violence / Everything we do is gon' come with a challenge." Some of his cadence is similar to what he used on his show-stealing "Off the Grid" verse, but with shoutouts to the creative innovation of the Greatest City in the World (Shmoney Dance, Woo Walk, Milly Rock, etc.), you can't be too mad at it.

Kanye's verse is similarly strong. His verse here is stronger than a sizable chunk of his verses on Donda. Respect for his icon status and praise for New York bookmark his verse, but one particular bar doesn't sit as well in light of recent events. Towards the end of his verse, Kanye raps "This afternoon, a hundred goons pullin' up to SNL / When I pull up, it's dead on arrival." Kanye has expressed his displeasure with SNL for the better part of the last decade, but with his recent tirade against Pete Davidson, the SNL cast member currently dating his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, the threat feels a bit more real. The bar also doubles as an allusion to the "Kanye clones" publicity stunt that took over Manhattan last November, so there's that. As for Alicia, she sounds great. The slight rasp in her voice adds some much-need conviction to the lyrically flat hook. In fact, the hook is an interpolation of the chorus from The Chainsmokers' "New York City." At the very least, The Chainsmokers are also from New York (albeit a much different iteration of the city). Regardless, the hook would have packed more power if it were completely original and more lyrically consistent with the other parts of the song. Furthermore, Alicia should have been given the opportunity to deliver a proper bridge to fix the drab pacing of the track. "City of Gods" has all the ingredients for a quality smash hit, but it's just not quite there.

Score: 67