Patrick Stump, ‘This City’ Feat. Lupe Fiasco – Song Review

Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump is embarking on his Pete Wentz-less career. FOB’s pop punk effervescence is only slightly detectable in Stump’s solo work, as he mines hip-hop and R&B for influence and comes up with his own cross-pollination of pop and urban sounds with the single ‘This City.’ The song appears on his forthcoming album, the aptly named ‘Soul Punk.’

‘This City’ is equal parts love letter to the Windy City and dance song, steered by Stump’s high, slightly feminine melodic vocals, set against club beats. His band’s assortment of diehards might be taken aback by this directional shift, but for the most part, the song is a celebration of one’s place of origin.
“This city/ Is my city /And I love it / I love it / I was born and raised here / I got it made here / And if I have my way/ I’m gonna stay here for life,” Stump sings. The irony lies in the fact that Stump has changed a lot musically – evolved, actually- but he sings about staying in one place.

Lupe Fiasco lends the assist with a hard hitting rap verse, upping the song’s rhythmic quotient. It also helps that Fiasco is also from Chicago, which is Stump’s home base of operations, which he sings about so believably in this song.
The song is laced with lots of studio effects and it ends with a fraternal sing-a-long, which is a bit lyrically distorted, but it sounds so good.
This could be another feel good hit of the summer, as Stump’s melodic sensibility has long defined FOB’s sonic output.


Listen to Patrick Stump, ‘This City’ Feat. Lupe Fiasco