Establishing herself in each the New York drill scene and among the many prime tier of Hip Hop’s mainstream expertise, Lola Brooke delivers an autobiographical debut that strikes a steadiness between her uncooked sensuality and avenue grit. Dennis Daughter is a tribute to the ideas her late father instilled in her at a younger age, and the story of how these ideas guided her to the success she enjoys at the moment.
The 29-year-old rapper sounds comparable in tone to her New York foremothers Cunning Brown and Lil Kim. However her theatrical, drill supply is deliberately paying homage to one other of her idols, the late Pop Smoke. By way of content material, Brooke can also be a little bit of a mashup of these two influences by devoting almost as a lot time to flaunting her magnificence and sexual prowess as she does depicting darkish and violent imagery impressed by life earlier than her come up.
The viral recognition of “Don’t Play With It” in 2021 hinted on the Brooklyn rapper’s business potential. And Lola Brooke ups the ante on Dennis Daughter by remixing the observe. Instead of fellow New Yorker Billy B, the up to date observe consists of two members of the style’s higher echelon: Atlanta’s self-proclaimed first girl Latto and Metropolis Lady Yung Miami. The verses are sufficient to clean up a music that continues to be buoyed by Brooke’s raunchy hook.
It’s not the final second of Dennis Daughter that unabashedly appeals to Brooke’s new mainstream viewers and the corresponding label assets at her disposal. She’s joined by fellow rising star Coi Leray and R&B singer songwriter Nija on the menacing New Jersey membership banger “Don’t Get Me Began.” And she or he efficiently reworks the Sarah Vaughan basic “No matter Lola Needs” as the inspiration for drill anthem “I AM LOLA.” She additionally recruits Bryson Tiller for an applicable rework of Cunning Brown’s “Get Me Residence” that features simply the correct mix of recent college and nostalgia. Though she feels like Brown, she doesn’t imitate her stream, which proves she will be able to embrace her influences with out turning into overly reliant on them.
The arrogance and membership bangers belie the MC’s appreciable lyrical instincts, that are on show as she displays on her battle to go away poverty in opener “Intro (2023 Circulate)” and the turbulent streets she got here up in (“Vacant Coronary heart”). However one problem with Dennis Daughter is it alternates between these celebration moments and situations of deep introspection with out a clear idea to border it. Whereas it consists of an admirable stage of vulnerability for a younger artist, it additionally looks like Dennis Daughter lacks element that will make it really stand out. It looks like Brooke has much more to share that she’s nonetheless holding again.
New York drill is infamous for shedding the plot within the full-length format. And delivering a profitable debut LP after being designated an up-and-comer is not any simple feat. A mixture of creative selections and sheer drive of character assist Lola Brooke overcome these frequent pitfalls. In her debut LP, the New York rising star lays out her origin story, reckons with sophisticated household historical past, and flirts with the trimmings of her newfound stardom – all of the whereas staying true to household, the drill subgenre, and the musical influences that information her.
