In an alternate universe, Hip Hop fans get to hear Fivio Foreign and Jay-Z (aka Hov) on a song together. That all-NYC scenario was actually talked about coming to fruition in this dimension.
Fivio Foreign made an appearance on Apple Music 1’s Rap Life Radio with Ebro Darden. The interview included the Brooklyn-based rapper discussing the making of his “City of Gods” single featuring Kanye “Ye” West and Alicia Keys.
“When I went to LA, I played it for Ye. He was like, ‘This s### is fire. We got to get Hov on this s###.’ I’m like, ‘What? We got to get Hov?’ He said, ‘Watch this. Tomorrow,'” recalled Fivio Foreign.
The B.I.B.L.E. album creator continued, “But then tomorrow, next day came, he’s doing a thousand things. He’s like, ‘Yo, Alicia Keys is on her way. I want to make her sing it.’ I’m like, ‘What? Are you serious? Then we going to give it to Hov?'”
According to Fivio Foreign, he and Kanye West both agreed “City of Gods” should come out as soon as possible. West ended up putting his own verse on the track. They added R&B legend Alicia Keys as well.
“We did it right in the room. It wasn’t a studio. It was a room with a mic,” Fivio explained to Ebro Darden. “[Alicia Keys] was singing that b####, and it was fire. Then we removed the whole sample off because her voice was crazy.”
Fivio Foreign added, “Then Ye threw his verse on. The song was like fake-done already. It was like my verse, that part, my verse again in that part, and then Ye threw the rest of the verse on it. It was like that. That’s how it was like.”
“City of Gods” became the lead single for Fivio’s B.I.B.L.E. studio LP. The collaboration also lives on West’s Donda 2 project. An official music video for “City of Gods” collected over 12 million YouTube views since its premiere on February 18.