In-fighting is rarely productive for any cause. This is the exact point that Noname makes in her concise new release, ‘Song 33’.The #BlackLivesMatter movement has permeated beyond politics in recent weeks, but it has always had a home in America’s hip hop community which is dominated by POC. American rapper Noname has been extremely vocal about her support to end institutionalised racism, calling out her peers for not taking the same time to push the cause. In what appears to be a misinterpretation, fellow rapper J. Cole took to releasing a respectful diss track in answer to Noname’s passionate but altogether impersonal call out. Released on 16th June, J. Cole’s ‘Snow On Tha Bluff’ is a four minute narrative promoting his perceived own inferiority when it comes to being a leader for BLM. Rapping in explicit recognition of Noname “be thinkin’ I’m deep, intelligent, fooled by my college degree / My IQ is average, there’s a young lady out there, she way smarter than me”, Cole expresses an urge to “treat people like children / Understandin’ the time and love and patience that’s needed to grow”. This release was followed with a tweet from Cole expressing his respect for Noname who he refers to as a “queen”.
Whilst his response may seem trite, Cole’s single took a new angle on the question of role models. As a black man himself, he had attended BLM protests and talked to fans one-on-one, arguing that despite his college education, he felt overwhelmed by the academic material surrounding the movement. As he accuses Noname of being “preaching to the converted” and conveying herself in a holier-than-thou manner, advising her to “come help get us up to speed”. He makes presumptions about Noname’s upbringing to explain her understanding of ‘black issues’ saying “She strike me as somebody blessed enough to grow up in conscious environment / With parents that know ’bout the struggle for liberation and in turn they provide her with / A perspective and awareness of the system and unfairness that afflicts ’em / And the clearest understandin’ of what we gotta do to get free”. In actuality Noname was raised by her grandparents, only seeing her mother on weekends and educating herself through her hobby of reading.
Three days after J. Cole’s release, Noname put out her response via ‘Song 33’. Lasting only 1.5 minutes long, Noname’s intention was to redirect attention back to the root cause of BLM: the victims of violent racism. Opening with a scathing depiction of J. Cole as the demon patriarchy, Noname’s major concern is “He really ’bout to write about me when the world is in smokes?”. The sexism tied to Cole’s track were not missed by Noname who subverts his device of making multiple references to her by making sure all her name drops are those of recent victims; “Why Toyin body don’t embody all the life she wanted?” / “When George was beggin’ for his mother, saying he couldn’t breathe” / “it’s trans women being murdered”. In highlighting not only the violence towards people of colour but young women and trans people, Noname’s track is an elevation of the voices which are not heard.
Those who have platforms should not shy away under the excuse of not being educated enough and should not make presumptions about those who are being vocal.
Whilst they essentially are both talking about the same issue, Chance the Rapper weighed in on Twitter clarifying that ‘Snow on tha Bluff’ actually undermined all the work Noname was doing. He tweeted:
They both my peoples but only one of them put out a whole song talking about how the other needs to reconsider their tone and attitude in order to save the world. It’s not constructive and undermines all the work Noname has done. It’s not BWs job to spoon feed us. We grown https://t.co/TjIrMyFzQd
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) June 17, 2020
Despite garnering this support, Noname has voiced regret at rising to J. Cole’s bait. She tweeted “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 song’s earnings to various mutual aid funds.” Whilst her call for black unity may seem more assertive than Cole’s, Noname’s points are clear. Those who have platforms should not shy away under the excuse of not being educated enough and should not make presumptions about those who are being vocal. Most importantly, internal disagreement should not distract from the core motive of Black Lives Matter.
Words by H. R. Gibs