�***This page is meant for mobile viewing only, if you are on Desktop we recommend viewing the article here*** The neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant is lined with indelible legacy �... ...Read more
�***This page is meant for mobile viewing only, if you are on Desktop we recommend viewing the article here***
The neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant is lined with indelible legacy � locals like Biggie Smalls, Jay Z and Lil Kim throw staggering shadows over the dreams of up and coming artists below. It�s a lot to live up to in this bubbling cul-de-sac in New York�s Brooklyn, where 90s Rap and R&B made history through raw and honest lyricism that narrated the stories of the once-touted �ghetto�.
You�d think for an artist like Lola Brooke, who is walking in their footsteps in the same neighbourhood and whose vocals trapeze modernity but also the rousing nostalgia of the 90�s� that connection would be innate to her success. But living up to those standards didn�t come until much later.
As a kid in the suburbs, music came as a way to cope with loneliness. She had a childhood that sounded painful, but as a by-product, character-building. She grew up with a single mother who worked in shelters and a deadbeat dad who came in and out of her life. But music was always there. When she was 6, 50 Cent�s �Wanksta� video sparked her love for hip-hop. At 8, she told her grandma she�d be a rapper, and throughout school, Nicki Minaj and Foxy Brown influenced her taste. It�s a story that�s laid out on her debut album Dennis Daughter.
�[It�s about] a runaway girl raised by a single parent, dealing with a dad abusing drugs,� she says softly over a call, �And she�s a star. And she�s trying to flourish through all of that and not wear her pain on her sleeve.�
It�s a far cry from the music that introduced Brooke to the scene in the 2010�s. Her hard-hitting, ferocious raps like �2017 Flow� � a track that ultimately garnered her early attention � posited her as an aggressive femme fatale with no fucks to give. From a few tracks uploaded to Myspace in 2009, throughout the 2010�s the 4 foot 10� titan established herself in this vein. Myspace quickly became Soundcloud, and she established a sound and lyricism that rapped most male artists under the table. In 2016, having caught the attention of Eugene �80� Sims, the founder of Team Eighty Productions, she was signed. Since then, she�s gone on to release songs with Coi Leroy, Latto and Bryson Tiller, with 2021�s �Don�t Play With It� shooting her into the limelight.
This year�s project Dennis Daughter is her debut. An encapsulation of her life in a new and vulnerable way.
�I wouldn�t say it�s a reintroduction of myself because I�ve never told this story to the world,� she says, �it just happened. I didn�t mean to tell the world my entire story. When you�re in the studio as an artist, you feel vulnerable; you feel comfortable. So the studio is my diary. And I think I told my story by accident.�
The most telling track plays like a letter to her Dad, who passed away in 2015. �Dear Dennis,� she spits, �It�s your daughter/ Grandma just passed and I�m not home, I�m out in Florida/ I�m breakin� down and I�m too far from Allen�s daughter/ Can�t even fuckin� grieve, I�m travelin� across the border/ Just breathe/ I�m in pain right now.� Other titles that lay the way to her story include �Shelter Baby� and �I am Lola.�
While her sonics have always been diverse, her album culminates her influences to date � taking references from not only her hometown of Brooklyn but also the Midwest and West Coast. Some of that inspiration she can thank her dad for but it�s also because of music she describes as from �Gangsta roughneck girls� (she laughs as she says this).
�My dad was a big fan of Tupac and Snoop Dogg. So that alone just made me want to be interested in them because I was wondering why he was so interested,� she says, �So I love the West Coast for sure. And then Biggie did a collaboration with Bone thug � the flow that he did on that beat was just so flawless. So when I tap into it, I understand why he did it as well. I love tapping into the Midwest because on �Don�t Play With It�, the bass is a Detroit type of beat.�
But like most artists these days, who readily have music from all areas at their fingertips through the internet, Brooke�s isn�t as interested in the genre as she is about �having something to say�. In fact, she�s open to interpretation.
�Everybody has their opinions. If somebody feels like I�m a hip hop artist, or somebody feels like I�m a hip hop artist and R&B artists, that�s on them,� she says �I don�t feel like I�m here to judge anybody that�s judging me. I�m putting my life on the platform. And I gotta expect people to have opinions. So whatever they feel is how they feel? I�m just here to just make music.�
In a long-ago interview Brooke had said that she didn�t want to be seen as just a rapper. For her it�s more about being a multifaceted entertainer. The last few years have seen her take the stage with artists like A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Future. It�s her favorite part of the fame game. No matter the size of the stage it�s where expressing herself comes to a tee.
�It don�t matter where it is. It could be a real small room. It could be a little platform in somebody�s living room. Me just performing is the best thing for me. It�s not so much the platform. It�s just me being an artist,� she says.
And as her profile has grown the terms of the industry have made themselves apparent. Aside from her ultimate goal being to win a Grammy (�How far away do you think that is?� I ask. �Pray Soon,� she says) the money isn�t something in her periphery. It�s about expressing her story, to take care of her family and having some type of legacy with her team.
It�s where the legend of her hometown finds its way back.
�Now that I�m in the game, I think it is important to live up to those standards,� she says of her 90s hip hop alumni, � I�m learning the business, and I�m learning the algorithm of being an artist, and industry, I do feel it is important to live up to them standards, but I don�t want to pressure myself. There�s no pressure.�
But Lola is well on her way. She�s had a huge year and nods from the best, including from Cardi B and Meek Mill. She was also nominated for Best New Artist and Best Breakthrough Hip Hop Artist at this year�s BET awards. Yet she doesn�t seem too interested in that acclaim, even though she�s obviously appreciative. Instead, she seems more interested in being:
�..consistent, doing it for a reason and not doing it just for money. Always standing up for something. Something that you believe in.�
�I finally got a good platform to express myself. I�m gonna express myself whatever way I want, whether they like it or not; they have no choice,� she says, �I�m a Brooklyn girl. I can�t be nothing but a Brooklyn girl.�
Follow Lola Brooke here�and�Stream the new project �Dennis Daughter� here.
