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Aaron J. Thornton / Contributor via Getty Images and Matthew Baker / Contributor via Getty Images
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Lola Brooke attends the 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards at Drai’s Beach Club – Nightclub at The Cromwell Las Vegas on October 08, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada and Denzel Curry performs on the Chevron Stage during day two of Leeds Festival 2024 at Bramham Park
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Key Takeaways:
- Lola Brooke reacted to Denzel Curry’s claim that commercial rap is “dead.”
- She highlights her track “Pain,” which samples Mary J. Blige, as a nod to Hip Hop’s roots and evolution.
- Her response adds a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about the future and authenticity of mainstream rap.
Lola Brooke is weighing in after Denzel Curry claimed commercial rap is “dead” last week.
In a story published by TMZ on Tuesday (Nov. 18), the outlet asked the “Don’t Play With It” rapper about Curry saying, “OGs got no respect for the younger generation,” while the “new generation [doesn’t] care ‘bout the craft.” Brooke stressed that she’s “living proof” that isn’t necessarily true, as evident in how she approached her Mary J. Blige-sampling record, “Pain.”
“Mary cleared my sample for ‘Pain,’ and I made sure that I gave that woman her props, and I gave that woman her space to clear the record,” she explained. “I’m learning from her and she’s embracing me.” Brooke went on to acknowledge that Curry’s comments “could be true,” but at the same time, “two things can be true at once.”
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Gilbert Flores / Contributor via Getty Images
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Lola Brooke at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena
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For anyone who missed it, the “Ultimate” rapper argued that music just isn’t “interesting anymore” on Wednesday (Nov. 12) in a string of Instagram Stories. “I may sound like a hater, but s**t, you need a hater to tell the truth,” Curry wrote. He also claimed Hip Hop doesn’t need “another Big Three” (Kendrick Lamar, Drake, J. Cole).
Rap fans were understandably divided, as they usually are whenever someone dishes out a “Hip Hop is dead”-type argument. That said, artists like JPEGMAFIA, Lil Yachty, and Travis Scott have previously shared similar criticisms about the genre’s supposed lack of originality.
As for Brooke, she released her sophomore project, iight bet!, last Friday (Nov. 14). It housed “Get Money,” a lone feature from N3WYRKLA on “Invest,” and “Pain.”
Reflecting on the last track, the New York native said, “Mary got so much music about pushing through and overcoming, so her words in the ‘No More Drama’ sample — and just who she is in general — really brought a special layer to the song.”