INTERVIEW | RAPPER LAFAYETTE STOKELY DISCUSSES NEW SINGLE ‘ABUNDANCE’

By Rishma Dhaliwal • On Interviews
I wrote “Abund­ance” dur­ing a time where I did­n’t have much inspir­a­tion so the line “I needed motiv­a­tion so I put it in this song” is me push­ing myself to make some­thing out of noth­ing. This is a record for those who feel as if there isn’t a light at the end of the tun­nel. It’s proof that it is. And I’m here to give you your flowers.

Lafay­ette Stokely, an MC born in South Car­o­lina and raised in Flor­ida, began hon­ing his craft as a lyr­i­cist at 17. Over the years, he’s dropped five solo pro­jects, delivered count­less free­styles, and opened for artists like Raek­won, Curren$y, Saba, and Oddis­ee, among oth­ers. His latest release, “Abund­ance,” has been gain­ing trac­tion, earn­ing him new fans world­wide. For the past year, Stokely has been tire­lessly per­fect­ing his fol­low-up to the “Such Is Life” EP, which he plans to share with the world soon. We catch up with him to find out more. 

You’ve been hon­ing your craft since the age of 17. What ini­tially drew you to music and made you want to pur­sue a career as an MC?

Grow­ing up some of my favor­ite memor­ies were centered around HipHop. Like see­ing the “More Money More Prob­lems” video for the first time to hear­ing The Block Is Hot for the first time and find­ing out that Wayne was only a teen­ager (at the time). My broth­er and dad would have free­style battles but I was always too nervous to join in. Then in High School when guys like Wale, Kid Cudi and J. Cole hit the scene I finally saw myself in rap­pers. So I con­nec­ted with some of my hom­ies who had been rap­ping for a while and I told myself if I’m going to do this then I’m going to have to get good fast. And I haven’t looked back yet.

Your latest release, “Abund­ance,” has been gain­ing a lot of trac­tion. Can you talk about the inspir­a­tion behind the pro­ject and what mes­sage you hope listen­ers take away from it?

Little do people know, this song was ori­gin­ally writ­ten and recor­ded dur­ing quar­ant­ine in 2020. Me and Ross Mon­roe went over Jafé house and built the record from scratch. When I said “I needed motiv­a­tion so I put it in this song,” I truly meant that. Because for me I get inspired by things and people around me. But dur­ing quar­ant­ine it was hard to depend on get­ting inspir­a­tion from out­side sources. So I wrote this song to motiv­ate myself when I felt as if I was at my low­est and to inspire the people closest to me. I hope listen­ers are able to real­ize that even when you feel like there isn’t a light at the end of the tun­nel, there is. And I’m here to give you your flowers.

You’ve opened for some big names in the industry like Raek­won, Curren$y, and Saba. How have those exper­i­ences shaped you as an artist?

Those exper­i­ences shaped me by show­ing me that I can hold my own no mat­ter the stage. As you know when it comes to HipHop shows it’s a lot of show and prove when you’re an act that the major­ity of the crowd doesn’t know. But when you win the crowd over it feels as if you’re the head­liner because they’re going to show you so much love.

You’ve released five solo pro­jects and numer­ous free­styles over the years. How do you feel your music has evolved from your early work to now?

Over the years my music has evolved in many ways. The way that sticks out the most to me is the pro­duc­tion. In my early days I leaned more towards boom bap style pro­duc­tion but over time I’ve expan­ded my range which I feel has had a pos­it­ive impact on my artistry.

Your EP “Such Is Life” res­on­ated with many fans. What can we expect from your upcom­ing fol­low-up pro­ject, and how does it dif­fer from your pre­vi­ous work?

You can expect the same hon­estly. “Such Is Life” is a snap­shot of how life is going for me at any giv­en moment. So the next install­ment of it will dif­fer because life at this moment is dif­fer­ent for me. Dif­fer­ent stor­ies and emo­tions but still the same honesty.

As someone who was born in South Car­o­lina but raised in Flor­ida, how have both regions influ­enced your sound and style as an artist?

I take pride in being an MC from the South because the south is a melt­ing pot when it comes to sounds. When I would go to SC dur­ing the sum­mers my dad would be listen­ing to artists like The Geto Boys, Pas­tor Troy and would switch it up with Al Green lol. My broth­er would be listen­ing to Young Jeezy, Young Buck, Gucci Mane, OG The Juice Man and also NY artists like 50 Cent and Fab­ulous. So all of those artists would inspire me because at their core they’d always find a way to tell their stor­ies. It also inspired me to be ver­sat­ile because I per­son­ally feel like South­ern MC’s can rap over any type of beat from trap 808’s to soul samples to boom bap. Like Andre 3k said “the south has some­thing to say” and I feel like I’m con­tinu­ing that story.

What’s your cre­at­ive pro­cess like when you’re work­ing on a new pro­ject? Do you have any rituals or habits that help you stay inspired?

When it comes to work­ing on new pro­jects my cre­at­ive pro­cess is kind of back­wards. I like to think of my pro­jects as movies. The title of the pro­ject usu­ally comes to me first and from there I’ll start think­ing of the over­arch­ing story that I want to tell. Once I have a rough idea of that, then I’ll start look­ing for the pro­duc­tion that speaks to me the most. I’m very hands on when it comes to work­ing on pro­jects because I’m cre­at­ing the art­work, the visu­al con­cepts and the rol­lout. It’s work that I enjoy doing but I do plan on col­lab­or­at­ing more through­out the pro­cess because I know bet­ter will be the res­ult of it.

As an inde­pend­ent artist mak­ing waves glob­ally, what advice would you give to up-and-com­ing artists who are try­ing to find their voice and audience?

My advice would be to make the music that YOU love. Don’t worry about trends because they come and go. Find your sound/identity and your audi­ence will find you. Also don’t neg­lect net­work­ing. Either in per­son or via social media. Because you can make long last­ing rela­tion­ships and find new sup­port­ers just by con­nect­ing with people.

If you had to pick a line-up for the ulti­mate Hip-Hop gig, which 3 artists would you have headlining?

Easy, it would be Jay Z, Lil Wayne and J Cole. 3 of my biggest influ­ences when it comes to HipHop. Can Col­lege Dro­pout Kanye be an hon­or­able mention?

Finally, where can we fol­low you?

You can find me on all social media plat­forms @LifeOfStokely. Also my web­site LafayetteStokely.com

Listen to ‘Abund­ance’ 
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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.