Bree Runway - 2000AND4EVA [Mixtape Review]
Hackney-born Bree Runway doesn’t want to be a successful artist - she intends on being an icon. Just like the MTV pop stars and hip-hop artists who Bree (real name Brenda Mensah) soaked up during her childhood, the draw of Bree Runway is that she’s the full package - a multi-talented performance artist who can sing, produce, rap, dance and pull off a seriously out-there look. Bree’s bold fashion and onscreen persona are an important part of her impact. Watching the emerging star’s outlandish and exuberant music videos, it’ll come as no surprise that as a teenager, Bree was so taken by Lady Gaga’s sartorial antics that she began wearing a leather glove and carrying a teacup wherever she went too.
Bree Runway’s project ‘2000AND4EVA’, described by the artist as a mixtape, is a raucous clash of sounds celebrating what Bree Runway has become, five years since her first self-released EP dropped. Featuring her rocky-rap hit ‘APESHIT’ that attracted love from Missy Elliot and acclaim from critics plus other big tunes such as ‘LITTLE NOKIA’, ‘GUCCI’ feat. Maliibu Miitch and 90’s vibe ‘DAMN DANIEL’ feat. Yung Baby Tate, this project does indeed have a big mixtape feel - craftily mish-mashing the best of Bree Runway in a way that feels eclectic, but never jarring. Led by rap first and foremost, ‘2000AND4EVA’ merges bold freewheeling hip-hop with electronica while being influenced by a multitude of other styles such as rock, dance, trap and reggae. The project is a stage on which Bree lets simply loose, unleashing bold lyrics spanning cheeky hip-hop braggadocio to on-the-money social commentary via infectious yet idiosyncratic flow styles. Notable features of the project include Rico Nasty’s input on bonus track ‘LITTLE NOKIA’ and Missy Elliot’s appearance on the snappy slice of classic hip-hop, ‘ATM’. The similarities between Bree and her idol-turned-accomplice demonstrates why they’re likely such big fans of one another.
Amidst ‘2000AND4EVA’s excitement, Bree makes room to pause and reflect with her soulful tribute ‘4 NICOLE THEA AND BABY REIGN’, a subdued song dedicated to her late friend and YouTube star Nicole Thea and her unborn child, who lost their lives this year. It’s here that she proves her versatility and vocal power, showing that taking the straight and narrow pop-singer route is well within her capabilities - but that simply wouldn’t do. For Bree, creative freedom reigns supreme.
Check out ‘2000AND4EVA’ by Bree Runway right here: