Stori Brooks has been a lot of things in her career: producer, poet, conflicted rapper, scenic storyteller. While her versatility keeps her afloat, it’s tough to get a bead on exactly who Brooks is and what she stands for—is she the conscious backpacker or the straight-talking street girl? She embodies the urban alternative, and she’s working on an album, to be entitled, “EVERYTHING IS GR8”, that offers her full narrative. The first single, “Parachutes”, taken off the upcoming album offers insight into her essence, finding the rapper at her most reflective. Maybe she’s assessing her current status and how she arrived at this moment.
Stori Brooks is one of my favorite rappers. She is also one of my favorite people. I’ve always seen Brooks as one of the genre’s moral compasses. She has never shied away from stances that might be seen as controversial or topics that weren’t popular. She manages to balance the underground sound, with the sound of the street and mix it with a more alternative and experimental sensibility without sacrificing her vision or sound. It is one impressive juggling act.
Judging by the new single produced by, SampleLov – a female artist and producer from the Bay Area – the potential for greatness with her upcoming album is an exhilarating thought, and if anyone deserves greatness it is Stori Brooks. The Atlanta-based artist has been building and hustling for a while now, putting together a relatively successful catalog simply by scrapping and staying true to her vision. Talk about a novel idea.
With “Parachutes” and SampleLov, I think Brooks has found the lid to her pot. The two just mesh so perfectly together. The production is thick, it’s powerful and it’s crafted around Brooks’ voice in a way that past collaborators only dreamed of. Whether it’s the wonderfully lush synths, the echoey vocal flavors, or verses like: “I decided to drop out the sky / Right on my way to a record high / Heard it was easy that I could fly / But coming downs harder I wonder why” – the two are perfect sides to a wildly shiny coin. My guess is that this will be one of the most talked about tracks on the upcoming album.
As I mentioned earlier Stori Brooks is a moral compass and has a way of shedding light on issues that most would avoid or approach awkwardly and heavy-handedly. Lyrically “Parachutes” leans towards being fairly cryptic, but you could easily fit these lyrics to your own personal story, and still feel the emotion.
OFFICIAL LINKS: WEBSITE – SPOTIFY – LYRICS – FACEBOOK – TWITTER
