Lola Brooke: the Brooklyn MC making New York rap tough again

“I just want a roughneck n**** on the tongue,” proclaims Lola Brooke on her sleeper hit ‘Don’t Play With It’. Not only has it become the Brooklyn MC’s signature introduction but, alongside the likes of the Bronx’s Ice Spice and fellow Brooklynite Jenn Carter, it’s another statement that proves women are firmly running rap in New York. NME’s conversation with Brooke leads into this territory, to which she replies, “women have been leading music in general for a very long time. It’s just been going unnoticed.”

That opening bar is the perfect example of how Brooke separates herself by rapping about love in a typically masculine way. When we throw the thought out to her, she responds immediately with a nod to NYC’s own 50 Cent. “It was so crazy how people were like, ‘Oh he’s so gangsta!’ But he’s singing on tracks talking about ‘Are you mad that I’m asking you 21 questions?’”. Just like 50, Brooke’s come-up is defined by perseverance since quitting her job as a residential shelter aide in 2017 to pursue music. Similarly, she could bully other rappers off their own track with her gruff vocal presence and barbed romantic talk.

Being away from the studio and put in front of a Zoom mic shows a different side to Brooke – one that’s giggly and excitable, evident from the very start of our chat as she exclaims, “Let’s get it!”. Part of that excitement could be off the hype of touring the UK last month with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and premiering the remix of ‘Don’t Play With It’ featuring Latto and Yung Miami of City Girls, which is currently scaling the Billboard Charts. Dialling in from her hometown, NME lets her fly on her hit single, learning to balance a day job and passion, and her hidden love for RuPaul.

NME: Congrats on the success of ‘Don’t Play With It’ after an incredible two-year campaign. Has that steady rise given you time to plot your next big move?

“I’ve been plotting my next big move since before ‘Don’t Play With It’ even popped off. I believe in [the philosophy of] ‘even if it’s not in front of your face, it’s there’. ‘Don’t Play With It’ is not the song that motivated me to go bigger, it was just one of my motivations I wanted to share. But if that song wasn’t the biggest thing right now, I still would be the person I am today. Numbers don’t move me, and hype doesn’t move me.”

Your nickname is ‘Big Gator’, where does that come from?

“The ‘Big Gator’ thing came from a freestyle. I had a punchline, “My skin is bulletproof, I’m big gator”, and my fans just kept saying it and kept putting gator emojis. Before I went with the name, I asked myself, ‘Do I actually relate to the animal?’. Alligators are very patient, and I’ve been patient throughout my whole career.”

You rep Brooklyn to the fullest. Have you thought about how you’re going to give back to the borough?

“Of course! I wanna buy the block so bad! That’s why I won’t have $100,000 until I own some type of property. I don’t care how much money I’ll have seen in my life, I’ve gotta own something.”

“I’ve been plotting my next big move since before ‘Don’t Play With It’ popped off”

That sounds like a financially wise thing that Jay-Z would say…

“You know what’s crazy? I’ve always been tapped into Jay-Z, but recently I’ve been tapped into him as a businessman more than an artist. I’m influenced by him in terms of the way of life, your image and how you approach things. Being mature about things, you know? That’s something hard to do and he did his big one and he’s still doing it.”

Your BlockWorkTV performance where you jumped off a quad bike during ‘Here I Come’ is incredible. There’s got to be a story behind that…

“I always wanted to jump off the bike but I didn’t know how I was gonna do it. I’m a daredevil, I like to do wild things. I jumped off it twice and the second time, I did it so perfect. I didn’t even stumble as I got off, I just ran up to the mic. I was like, ‘Let’s go with the first one’ because I didn’t want to look like a stunt guy where everything was so perfect like in the movies. I wasn’t trying to send out the wrong message to any kids.”

You’ve said before that you need as few people in the room as possible. How does collaborating in that environment work?

“A lot of people think being in the studio is like lollygagging. You can lollygag [your way] into a hit but at the end of the day, this is what artists use to feed their family. So there are days where you challenge yourself to figure out how to put songs out there that have substance. The best studio is really in a hotel. You can go to a hotel, set up, or pick a room in the house and set up. Those are the best studio sessions.”

It’s like the Lil Wayne documentary [The Carter] where it showed him recording most of his stuff in hotels…

“It’s a vibe, yeah. You get to be more vulnerable because you don’t have to worry about who’s coming in and out of the building.”

How did balancing a full-time job with music put a roadblock on your creativity?

“That’s the only reason I left my job. It was messing with my creative space, my time. I would be in the studio and clock the time because I had to be at work at one time, which wasn’t cool for me because if you’re thinking about the time so much, what are you thinking about putting on this record that’s actually meaningful? You’re just getting something done, and there’s a big difference between getting something done and completing something.”

We hear you’re a big fan of RuPaul. Where did that come from?

“How you know that? [laughs]. The first time I ever saw RuPaul was in a movie called Crooklyn. That stuck with me as a kid because that movie encapsulated a lot of cultural New York things that I didn’t get to see because that was around when my mom was young. I saw RuPaul and remembered staring, thinking, ‘That person is so interesting’. So then he’s got a show called Drag Race and I would catch some seasons. I got to see him on the big screen then see him have his own show.”

Have you had time to explore the drag community in New York?

“Yeah! When I was younger, I was in this dance group called Pretty Kitties. The choreographer of the group was transgender – shoutout to Courtney! I was so fascinated, I was a curious kid, you know? I love gay people, man, I love the trans community – everything about it. I’ve watched Paris is Burning and Pose. I didn’t get to watch the last series because I’ve been so busy but I’m gonna tap in.”

Where do you think your ambition can take you?

“Lola Brooke will go global.”

Lola Brooke’s ‘Don’t Play With It’ remix with Yung Miami and Latto is out now

The post Lola Brooke: the Brooklyn MC making New York rap tough again appeared first on NME.