Review: 2000ANDEVA x Bree Runway
Black women have always been important contributors to music whose work is often a blueprint beyond music that has an endless influence on pop culture. Perhaps an even greater overlooked talent of black women is there ability to fluidly merge and bounce between genres, breaking boundaries of sound while being the architect for new ones in the process. This talent in someways comes as a natural by product of the evolution of music in general, being that pulling from multiple genres or varying influence is not particularly new. Yet for black women it can also be a needed skill for success and recognition, especially for main stream success. The twice as good mantra, rings true—in this case it is often necessary to also be twice a good at being multifaceted. While much can be said about why that is, this emergence has led to multitalented genre bending artists who do so effortlessly and authentically. Bree Runways Be Runway EP and follow up mixtape 2000AND4EVA serve as strong evidence of this.
Of course genre bending/blending artist are hard to place in a box, so the best way to define Bree runway is a rising star (insert pop, punk, rap, whatever fits best at the moment). Although her sound has no set boundaries, Runway may be best described as a singer and raptress. The lines of pop and rap have long been intertwined, but they’ve been increasingly blurred in the last decade. Although genres such as pop rap and melodic rap are certainly not new suddenly pop stars love to drop bars too. Female rappers are clearly having a moment, and included in this moment is the emergence of a new wave of rap girls that can easily incorporate rap, pop, and R&B in unison. Hip-Hop and its female rappers are not new to pop — especially with collaborations (how iconic was Lady Marmalade and Blow Your Mind?!?), but the majority of female rappers solo content has been significantly less pop. The exception may be the icon that is Missy Elliot (an R&B queen in her own right) but even then, at the height of her career was more Hip-Hop than anything else although it often shared the spotlight in pop. During Nicki Minaj’s domination as the standout female rapper of the 10’s she moved closer to pop (a move that garnered a lot of success and critique), this effort opened the door and ushered a new group of girls making rap a bit more fun and pop aligned. Reminiscent of a pop version of Azealia Banks, Runway fits in among this group with peers such as Doja Cat, Yung Baby Tate, and Dai Burger just to name a few. Hailing from London with Ghanaian roots, she also serves as a reminder that music is more global than ever.
While it’s clear that Bree Runway pulls from multiple musical influence and genres, she may be best described as a singer and rap-tress with the makings for a pop star. 2000AND4EVA leans more into raps skills, but her vocals are still present for a unique twist of R&B and pop in every song. The allure of 2000AND4EVA is that while you can clearly hear musical influences on each song, it feels like the updated 2021 version. Runway kicks off the album with the high energy APESHIT talking her ish, a theme that continues throughout the project. LITTLE NOKIA sounds like a mash up of Rico Nasty’s punk and Rina Sawayama’s alt pop. ATM is a standout track and visual (who doesn’t love an anthem about using men for their money?) in which the legendary Missy Elliot plays along following Runways lead by tapping into different accents throughout her verse. DAMN DANIEL is a perfect match with Runway and YBT feeding off each others energy with amusing yet comical story book rhymes. Runway stunts on ROLLS ROYCE delivering some of her sharpest bars (and gives loves to the dark skin queens) before teaming up with Maliibu Miitch for the catchy hot girl pop track GUCCI. 2000AND4EVA closes out with contrasting tracks, Runway sings a sincere tribute to the late British YouTuber Nicole Thea and her baby Reign before ending on the opposite spectrum rapping with rage on the NO SIR freestyle. Although the tracks are vastly different they also feel the most authentic to Bree Runway and underscore the capacity of her versatile sound.
On 2000AND4EVA Bree Runway is the past, present, and future with her ability to dip into multiple sounds with originality and simple but captivating hooks paired with solid vocals. Although tapping into musical influences is a clear talent, she shines brightest on tracks where the sound is original and authentic to her. If future work is tailored to her own unique creativity and sound she’ll have grounds to be an influence other artists pull from. 2000AND4EVA proves that Bree Runway deserves the spotlight and is ready to be a star. It’s time we all pay attention to talent when its right in front of us.
Favorite Tracks:
APESHIT
ATM (feat. Missy Elliott)
DAMN DANIEL
ROLLS ROYCE
GUCCI
