Lola Brooke

Although she began rapping as a child, Lola Brooke's hip-hop career truly took flight in 2022, when her single "Don't Play With It" began climbing its way up the Rap Airplay chart. A native of New York City, she was born as "Shyniece Thomas" in Bed-stuy, Brooklyn, where hometown heroes like Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown once honed their skills. Lola Brooke followed in their footsteps, building a reputation on the city's freestyle circuit and eventually partnering up with producer Reefa Slater, who launched his own record label, Team 80, in 2016. Lola Brooke became one of the label's first artists and released her debut, "2017 Flow," the following year. She continued building momentum with "Bipolar" and "Not the Same," both of which appeared in 2018. Over the next four years, she released singles like "Boy!" (2019), "Cash Out" (2019), "Shittin' Me" (2020), and "Back to Business" (2021). Together, those songs showcased her music's unique mix of boisterous attitude, high-pitched rapping, and female empowerment themes. Her breakthrough single "Don't Play With It" was released during the final stretch of 2021 and found a wide audience online, where the song earned more than eight million digital spins. "Don't Play With It" proved to be equally success on the charts, reaching number 21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and going gold. It also appeared on Lola Brooke's debut album, Dennis Daughter, which was released in November 2023.