NME Magazine - Lola Brooke
Erica Campbell writes -
Inside a downtown New York City loft, and Brooklyn’s very own Lola Brooke is sitting in a makeup chair balancing a salad in one hand and a cell phone in the other. There’s an excitable buzz in the air as everyone preps her NME Cover photoshoot, arranging strips of metallic tape for a backdrop while tying her into a pair of platform heels. Despite having just signed a major label deal with Sony Records imprint Arista [Princess Nokia, KennyHoopla] earlier this year, Brooke is completely comfortable amidst the chaos, handling it all with the poise of a seasoned pro.
It wasn’t too long ago that Brooke was working shifts at a men’s shelter in Queens and days like this one felt more like a dream than reality. “My position was residential aide,” she tells NME. “I would get home at eight in the morning and I’d go to the studio after work. I was so tired.” During those long shifts, music became an escape for her. “It kept me sane,” she says. “I was going through a lot in life and music helped me express myself. It was more me chasing therapy than just chasing a career. It’s what kept me going throughout the day.”
One of the challenges Brooke cites was living with her mother during that time, a single parent who was “independent and about business” and fostered a strict home environment. However, it was her mother’s faith in Brooke’s career that ultimately led to her becoming a full-time rapper in 2017. “I used to doubt myself so much,” she says. “But once my mom told me it was cool to resign, I started believing in myself more. I had reassurance.”
It was during that same year that Brooke released her first music video, a clip titled ‘2017 Flow’. The freestyle drew attention from rap fans, who noted her wickedly fierce delivery and the juxtaposition of powerful, larger-than-life verses flowing from her barely five-foot frame. She kept the momentum going with a string of follow-up tracks: ‘Bipolar’ the next year, ‘Cash Out’ in 2019 and ‘My Bop’ in 2020. Though none of those led to immediate success, it didn’t stop Brooke from pushing forward. “I’m a small package, but I come with the baggage though,” she says with a laugh. “I know myself and I built that confidence within myself through self-knowledge. I don’t stop.”
Five years after the release of her first video, Brooke’s perseverance paid off. In 2021, ‘Don’t Play With It’ a gritty, sharp and boisterous track featuring fellow Brooklyn rapper Billy B took off on TikTok when more than 600,000 users lifted the line “I carry bitches like I’m preggo (Pop-pop-pop-pop)” to soundtrack their videos. The song pushed Brooke onto the world stage, spun a remix featuring fellow female emcees Yung Miami and Latto and even got her on the lineup for Rolling Loud New York City’s festival. Amassing 100 million streams (and counting) is no small feat, but as the rapper told NME earlier this year: “Numbers don’t move me, hype doesn’t move me.”
So, what moves Brooke? “I want to have a big impact on people’s lives more than numbers,” she says. “When I first started doing music I did it because I was encouraged and inspired by other artists to tap into my feelings. That’s what keeps me going. The numbers are just the rewards.”
If her ultimate goal is to impact the community she grew up in, she’s well on her way to achieving it. “I’ve been getting random calls from back home saying, ‘You’re doing great, the hood is inspired’,” she says with a bright grin. “That alone makes me feel the impact.”
“I want to have a big impact on people’s lives”
Photos by Sam Keeler