Hip-hop artist, poet and activist Noname used to be lowkey in the underground, but now that she’s out of hiding.
The Chicago-based artist has become embroiled in two beefs. First, she and fellow hip-hop artist J. Cole got into it. Now, Noname has experienced the wrath of the beehive after mentioning Beyoncé in a tweet, Uproxx reported.
Noname, born Fatimah Nyeema Warner, is known for such mixtapes as “Telefone” and her self-funded debut CD, “Room 25.”
She recently tweeted, “I wish angela got the love beyonce gets.”
The tweet accompanied a retweet of a photo showing activist and former Black Panther Angela Davis speaking at Madison Square Garden behind a bullet-proof glass enclosure in 1972.
Noname seems to be calling out Black celebrities exploiting the Black struggle with capitalism — celebrities who have been quiet about the Black struggle but are now gaining attention for speaking out. She also seems to point to the public who follow such celebrities blindly, without being aware of what she considers “true” activism, like that of Davis in the 1960s.
Noname deleted the tweets after Beyoncé fans came after her. Among the online responses she got were these: “Beyoncé’s name should not have been a part of this, instead of bashing on this Black woman so much can people just let her live,” from Kara @KaraDitsie.
Swavey @Ojswavey tweeted: “The way she communicates and try to provide information is just poor!”
But others seem to understand where Noname was coming from and tweeted in her support, like deenaan @dinanigans, “…I’m saying NoName has objectively done more for the community and has always been outspoken and is being constantly vilified when her mates who are men are being shown love. Relax.”
This latest Twitter attack on Naname follows an online run-in she had with J. Cole fans when she criticized his song, “Snow On Tha Bluff,” on which he raps about how the tone of a young woman activist comments bothers him.
Some saw “Snow On Tha Bluff” as a backhanded references to Noname’s work.
The song came after Noname’s tweets called out “top-selling rappers” for their silence on the ongoing protests against police brutality. She tweeted, “Poor Black folks all over the country are putting their bodies on the line in protest for our collective safety and y’all favorite top selling rappers not even willing to put a tweet up. N****s whole discographies be about Black plight and they no where to be found.”
J. Cole also went to Twitter. “Morning. I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night,” he began. “Right or wrong I can’t say, but I can say it was honest. Some assume to know who the song is about. That’s fine with me, it’s not my job to tell anybody what to think or feel about the work. I accept all conversation and criticisms. But Let me use this moment to say this Follow @noname. I love and honor her as a leader in these times. She has done and is doing the reading and the listening and the learning on the path that she truly believes is the correct one for our people. Meanwhile a n—a like me just be rapping.”
Some others think “Snow On Tha Bluff” is not a response to Noname.
J. Cole later described to Uproxx how he had read the tweets of “a young lady out there, she way smarter than me.” Yet in the lyrics he raps, “She mad at our ignorance, she wear her heart on her sleeve. She mad at the celebrities, lowkey I be thinkin’ she talkin’ bout me.”
Still, Noname came back with a response track called “Song 33.” On it, Noname calls for Black men to help support women as well as themselves. She complains in the song that Black men “can reject the real struggles that come with the intersectionality of being a Black woman,” Daily Emerald reported.
But Noname had second thoughts about her Madlib-produced track, “Song 33” after its release. She apologized on Twitter, saying, “i’ve been thinking a lot about it and i am not proud of myself for responding with song 33. i tried to use it as a moment to draw attention back to the issues i care about but i didn’t have to respond. my ego got the best of me. i apologize for any further distraction this caused,” Billboard reported.
She later tweeted: “madlib killed that beat and i see there’s a lot of people that resonate with the words so i’m leaving it up but i’ll be donating my portion of the songs earnings to various mutual aid funds. black radical unity.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Music has long been a tool of protest. “Many prominent musicians such as Beyoncé, Anderson .Paak and Noname have released music that speaks to the confusing world we are all traversing, along with music that intertwines with the spirit of the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement,” Daily Emerald reported.
On Juneteenth, Beyoncé released “Black Parade,” a song that celebrates African-American heritage. On that same day, Anderson .Paak released a message song called “Lockdown.”
These are just two recent examples. The 2018 hit “This Is America” by Childish Gambino has resurfaced as a track being used in conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement.
These may be contemporary songs, but protest songs go back to slave chants and live on in the blues, soul music and hip hop.
Cole “instead of talking down on people who don’t have access to the same information you have, maybe try to educate them instead, but you don’t have to be condescending, we’re all fighting the same fight”
— sideshow slim. (@MissKilahMarie) June 24, 2020
NoName “y’all love Beyoncé so much but dgaf about Angela Davis LMAOOOOO”
Beyoncé’s name should not have been a part of this, instead of bashing on this black woman so much can people just let her live.
— Kara (@KaraDitsie) June 24, 2020
John Boyega being woke and outspoken has made him this ultimate eligible bachelor and dreamboat meanwhile NoName is being attacked and demonized and scrutinised and is under a constant microscope.
— deenaan (@dinanigans) June 24, 2020
You have to laugh.
By laugh I mean sigh deeply.
From a place of deep pain.
nah kim can redistribute that wealth too https://t.co/OH4WYBTYHX
— Noname (@noname) June 30, 2020
