Thats why I can't stand noname anymore. She plays this holier than thou hard lefty persona online only to be a massive hypocrite in reality. She spews so much hate at this point I just don't care to pay attention to her.
@blodiaaa6990 Not just Twitter. The majority of people in general pretend to be something they're not. In most cases, pretending to be a decent person when in reality they suck 😅
Noname is just so weird. She portrays herself as a massive leftist, but shes not enough of a leftist to challenge very right wing ideologies that people like Jay Electronica and Louis Farrakhan and the NOI hold? The antisemitism, the respectability politics, the homophobia. And when her fans criticize her for platforming and condoning that, she gives the most cowardly responses where she doesn’t actually engage with any of the criticisms.
that's the crazy thing!!! mf recorded this on a 20 dollar mic or his iPhone and did the bare minimum cleaning up the noise and he's got this crotchety old man flow where if we have to get an old conspiratorial man, like. can it at least be killah priest
We, AJR, are scared of what Jay Electronica will do when he finds out we are Jewish. Edit: The subtle antisemitism in the replies to this makes me so sad as an actually Jewish man. Why can’t you guys be normal?
Anyone with this holier-then-thou, closed-minded perspective is not of the mindset to be socially conscious. Noname has come off as a musician who only speaks for herself and not the audience she thinks she's trying to portray and her bitter narcissism shows.
Bitter is always the first word I think of when it comes to her. Intelligent people that are less successful than they think they should be are always the most bitter and the loudest about it.
yeah i stuck around for a long time, her early stuff on youtube and telofone are some of my favorite songs period, but it’s hard to keep excusing her behavior when i’m just not seeing the vision anymore. still enjoyed some of the tracks on this record but i dont feel as connected to her ideas any more
her attitude towards the jay elec situation really gets to me. she said shit like "maybe i wanted to alienate my white audience" which is so dumb, putting an antisemite spitting antisemetic shit in a way to reach a blacker audience is fucking wild. following her logic, kanyes antisemitism shouldve alianated his white audience, but it didnt. if anything she alienated her mostly leftist black audience. and her definding jay for calling himself "jaydolf spitler" because "rappers compare themselves to things all the time" like the reason people are upset at that is because it backs up jay elecs already fucked beliefs. room 25 and telefone are projects that mean so much to me and to hear this feels like such a fall from grace.
"Im gonna alienate the normal people who listen to me by being violently bigoted" You have to hand it to her, thats a fantastic plan to achieve what shes going for!
Saw Noname in Zurich Switzerland and the place was packed. Like she sold out the venue. I'm black but I was surrounded by a crowd of white people singing every single bar by heart. Telefone was released during a time where I was struggling with depression and this album will forever hold a special place in my heart. Room 25 was also a very good follow up and I was looking forward to seeing her live when I was living in North Carolina. But then she went full Magneto on white people and it's been downhill for here. I'm so disappointed in someone I considered not only my favorite artist, but a very bright mind. What a waste.
I had the exact same thing happen to me at the Melbourne gig in 2018. She specifically had a go at us for not being able to recite the lyrics or for "clapping like white people". Sonically pleasing but all of us could have done without that. It's a fair reason why her contemporaries come to Australia more often than her.
yea saying it makes you uncomfortable to rap about black trauma to a predominately white audience is definitely "going full magneto on white people" you fragile ass clown
My biggest critique of the album was that the band and players were so good for the album to have felt so one-dimensional musically. There's a great groove and tightness throughout the album, but not enough adventuring to distinguish the track flavors from each other.
I feel this way about noname and her peers’s music more and more each year. It’s all just a little too “easy-listening” compared to what a lot of artists are doing right now
it's an example of why I don't like the term jazz rap as we move into the subgenre existing for decades; you're not fully integrating jazz and rap now if you're not including some degree of complexity and improvisation and playing into the tropes of jazz directly. it's why tribe isn't nearly as foundational to jazz rap for me as digable planets (not to knock tribe tho, they're great). idk part of this is also hearing for free? when I was a teenager and tasted the golden elixir that almost no one can match for actually integrating, say, bop stylings or big band into rap. hope that makes sense lmao
Holy, I agree with this opinion so much! I struggled with the Roots debut album because I guess I assumed the instrumentation was going to be organic and free flowing and was a bit disappointed when it felt static. There’s a live song on the album tho that was a bit more of what I wanted (essaywhuman) For free is awesome
@smidlem1117 it seems like people equate the "elevator jazz" with that genre entirely. Or, that its doing what actual jazz does in what you're talking about. I'm curious if artists worry about the beat poetry feeling of what that might turn into. which would become its own static subgenre in and of itself. I think noname usually strikes a nice balance in her delivery. Anyone who listens to that knows she's striking a particular poetic match. I think Kendrick on for free is probably what artists and listeners are weary of. I love that song and what he does, but No one wants that as jazz hip hop. Lol or at least I don't. 😆
Sounds like a you problem ngl...because each song felt different and alot darker than usual from her and how she flows over each was nice and smooth so maybe u just a hater ngl
Chicago stop producing artists who revolutionize the genre making us attached to them before inevitably disappointing us with sketchy political opinions challenge (impossible)
Noname's demeanor just screams cognitive dissonance. It's like she thinks deeply on only the shit she feels like caring about but fails to do that same level of thinking for anything she doesn't care about. Doesn't make her a bad person, just that she engages in selective thinking. And it's a damn shame since it undermines her real messages that she wants to get across
@mimic1875 As I understand it, cognitive dissonance refers to an inconsistency in how logic or philosophical beliefs are applied across a person's views on various topics. Sounds like an accurate description of Noname from my end. Nice try on using diatribe though 🙃 but I'm not particularly angry or upset. Just disappointed
This is actually a brilliant move by Noname. Years ago she said she didn't want to have a white fanbase, but I ignored that and continued happily enjoying her music with my Caucasian ears. Now I can't listen to my favorite songs off of Room 25 without hating myself. So, she did it! Great job by her.
As a black guy living through the issues she raps about..don’t listen to her….she has no idea what she’s talking about 😂 you’re actually better then she is cause if you feel bad it means you care…while she doesn’t give a shit about her white fans lol if you want an actual good female conscious rapper that actually knows what she’s talking about check out little simz….she’s from the UK but still…what she raps about is relevant in America as well….trust me you’re not missing out on much by not listening to NoName….btw I’m not hating I actually like her but that holier then thou attitude will bite her in the azz if she’s not careful
The part that makes me sad about this that I think Noname and Jay equate jews to white people when they spout this shit, which erases the large group of black and POC jews that exist and already get enough hate as is.
As a Jew, it’s been empowering to see fan’s outrage regarding the inclusion of Jay Electronica. Our community often feels excluded from progressive spaces, so it’s been awesome to see an outpouring of outrage toward Noname for her sheer hypocrisy
Excluding Jews from progressive spaces is insane considering how the right wing is rocketing towards Naziism. As a trans woman whose identity puts her on the front lines of this genocide, progressive Jews are my comrades and the Jewish community is at risk.
I feel so bad about this whole situation. I’m white and I live in Central Europe, yet when Telefone came out, that record meant the world to me for a couple of months. I grew up poor in a shitty, underserved region of the country and I really felt like her music was universal in speaking about that experience. I even got to see her live right before she banned white people. She obviously doesn’t want me to listen to her music so I won’t. But it’s fucking bizzare to me that she lets guest rappers spew racist shit after this whole public stance taking.
she didnt "ban white people" wtf are you talking about. she spoke about how being a black artist rapping about black experience to predominantly white crowds was making her uncomfortable. why do people keep twisting that very simple statement to try to make themselves some kind of victim holy shit. it's literally proving her point
This is the crazy thing about her - she says her music isn't for white people as if we're all rich right wing business owners. Many of us have suffered the same struggles and find what she talks about relatable but for some reason she's decided based off our skin colour we aren't allowed to do that. Which honest, to me, is just racism. She's a racist and she thinks it's alright because she's a black American.
@@jessery475 she says her music is not for white people because she raps specifically about black working class experience in america how is that so hard to understand. i'm white too and yet i'm not a fragile little cuck like you who jumps on every opportunity to complain about being a victim of anti white racism holy fuck
The most disappointing thing about this is that over the past few years I've been seeing celebrities and political figures fall into weird rabbit holes where they end up promoting bigotry, and during that time Noname seemed like one of the few artists that wasn't doing that. She was promoting her book club and encouraging people to learn more about black history and anti-capitalist theory while pretty much minding her own business. But now it feels like she's going down the path of every other celebrity, letting anti-semitism slide that easily goes against everything she stood for in the past few years. Now I'm wondering if she actually believed all that stuff she was saying or if she just lucked into being on the right side of a lot of political issues and didn't really understand what she was reading.
It's absolutely crazy how moronic and gullible people online are. Noname has openly been a self-centered, bigoted and overall unpleasant person for so many years, but you were unable to see it because she told you to read Das Kapital or some shit LMAO.
I'd lean towards the second option, to be honest. In the earlier phases of her career (until "Room 25"), she looked like a very different person: yes, she had strong opinions, and yes, her music already focused on an African-American perspective, but she seemed way more open to dialogue with her audience and the general public. As this video reminds, she was literally hosted by NPR, which has a very specific, yet diverse pool of listeners. I even remember an interview on the BBC, around the time she was promoting "Room 25", where she basically said she was unbothered about artists like Drake, even though she didn't like what they do. As her personal fears began creeping up on her more and more, and as she got more radical anyway, I fear that she might have ended up taking advice by people who had not the best intentions. So, yes, I think her current antics are likely a result of the rabbit hole she fell in as of late, rather than something she always believed in.
makes sense, the African American Community in general has had a problem with Antisemitism since the 60s, Malcolm X preferred working with literal Neo Nazis and being Antisemitic, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ice Cube, etc continued it. At least Ye apologized, dont understand the hypocritical hate Fantano has for him, when he at least did something.
@@jackreeder215 I don’t think it’s hate but rather resentment, partially because of the lack of accountability for people who do and say bad things. Kanye was obviously just trying to be controversial and went too far but he should suffer way heavier consequences before returning back the public favor. Same goes for people like Chris Brown
Noname is just a completely unlikable character to me. Her hard headedness is like branded as very intelligent political commentary, but so often she misses the mark, and when she receives criticism she acts like a complete child.
How would she “hit the mark” for you? What would read as intelligent in your mind? Why is likability such s prerequisite for black, female intellectual thought? Does it ever read as violent to require that of black women? - is what is smart, also necessarily palatable? It very rarely required of the dominant culture.
@@domdouglas8065 I dont require likeability out of black women specifically, really out of any speaker, but if you are gonna try and give the world intellectual thought, try actually addressing some of the problems in the world, not waisting your time blaming people who arent the problem, like Kendrick lamar or your mostly white audience. And ANY intelligent person knows they arent always gonna be right, but don't let Noname hear that because she will literally never accept it and will berate anyone who challenges her. Noname is not likeable for those reasons.
I followed nonames advice and now I dont listen to her music anymore, nor am going to her shows 😃 Edit: I'm latino btw, but I'd guess it doesn't really matter
@@jayloncollins9681 and that's the problem with guys like you. Seeing white people as people who can't possible feel or understand anything is stupid. We are human, not aliens. We feel the music, we feel what artists say but not in the same way as black people obviously. Anyway, people always need to find the differences between each other, so whatever.
Overall im just so sad about this while situation for two reasons. One is seeing how easy she gets upset when it comes to criticism, you would imagine that someone so politically vocal about many real life issues would be open to listen to many other people's experiences and issues they have with your message with a more controlled manner. And the second one is basically how talented and inspirong her music's been, while im not black or from the us, and her music is based in very much the experience of being black in america, i still connected to many of the themes she touched on both Telefone and Room 25, because she's a versatile, talented and creative writer, and yet she has started to get blinded by this obsession of garnering a bigger black fanbase via shutting everyone else away and excusing /welcoming antisemitism and disguising it as going against white supremacy, two very different concepts... Just very disappointed in this whole situation. Small note: idk how important it is but I am not white, I'm Latino lol.
She’s frustrated with the blacks with power and influence to cause real change and appeal to whites. I do believe she’s trying to alienated herself from white people and seems to be unapologetic which I respect. It’s about her people and she feels passionate about that. I mean when the country dude made that not in a small town or whatever it was called he was praised online although we understand what that song really was. A dog whistle. I really like this album. I respect her. You’re supposed to not like it. You’re white.
I think that's the problem these days. I can't say this without trigger words but here we go: People these days, especially on the internet, are often just the opposite of what they claim to be. So the most "woke" or "leftist" ones or the so called "social justice warriors" are often some of the most intolerant people when shit hits the fan or when they could show tolerance towards other people who don't share their views. To make it clear, the "rightists" aren't better. Our times are full of hypocrites. Then about white fans of black music. Sure, white people don't have the same experience as this or that race/minority/ethnicity or whatever but WE ARE HUMAN TOO. That means if we hear storys about whatever it does something with us and we feel something, even if we don't feel the same exact things. That's why people like music and that's why in the best scenario it's a connection between all people. This is not merely about people paying for your records or concerts, but these people FEEL your music. Why shit on that? Sure..she can wish for more black fans, but why alienate people who like her music?
@@jayloncollins9681 "I really like this album. I respect her. You’re supposed to not like it. You’re white." I always find it funny how the multitude of POC artists or fans with political leanings really never say shit like this, it's only terminally online confrontational losers who always want to pick fights. Funny how many white people "get" music like Common, Cole, Kendrick, Talib etc no problem, but with noname, boy oh boy, white people just can't like it or understand it! Get a grip.
@jayloncollins9681 capital B Black here. This is a pretty audacious album. Not from her usual perspective, but the amount that she tackles a specific subject. I applaud her for that. In addition to genuinely having some awesome poetic word play and fantastic beats. She's always good for that. This album, unfortunately, was stock full of the buzziest buzz words, it seemed like she used a generator to meet a quota. Hee previous album, while playing with similar themes, wasn't as apparently "woke" a this. There are ways you can do it well, and ways you can do it less well. This one was the latter. This album is for a certain kind of black person who THINKS they have the answers, points their fingers and toes at everyone else, then let's Jay electronica do his best Nation of Islam shtick. You ain't as enlightened as you say you are. That adds a weird hypocritical tone to her music that's supposed to be "with it." And then to get mad at people doing what she does in her music (point fingers and expound on nothing while saying socialism, capitalism, and colonialism) is some of the richest irony I've seen in a long time. Talented as all get out. But her "activism" sniffs of bull shite.
@@20thcenturyskin If you think this is what black people actually look like, then I might have some bad news for you. Or good news, depending on how you see it.
@@kasane1337 lmao im not dense. No a majority of black people do not look like this but there are some that do and many people calling the cover “disgusting or nightmare fuel” is inherently anti-black
I dont agree with her decision but the fact im hearinf almost exclusively white people complaining abiut this gives complications to the concepts of how black art gets tecueved and what the expectations are. Frankly she can release her art in ehatevrr state she wants, and the criticism to that being so much from a white perspective is strange and makes me wonder what so many propoe sre listening for. Is it to hear someone speak, or just to hear their own stances be read back to them?
I'm just saddened by this whole experience. I always felt that she has been unfairly pegged and criticized as a black woman in an industry that is against them. She had a lot to say that was beautiful, relevant, and showed me, a non-black man, a world I wasn't tapped into. Her music was filled with so much empathy and heart. I don't know what happened, but around 2020, she lost it. I think the pandemic, the BLM movement, the division all coalesced and created a person so jaded and cynical. She can't give kudos any more, she cannot acknowledge anything outside of her self, she is sabotaging her own pockets at every turn. It's a microcosm of what happened to the internet I think. I do like the initiatives she's done. Noname Book Club is a massive good for society. More and more black authors are being put on by her. But man... idk. It's tough to see the bad keep piling up and starting to outweigh the good. From a music perspective, I think that she hasn't quite shown the growth I expected. It remains the kind of same jazzy rap that she's always been known for. But it feels lesser on this one. I cannot lie when I say the controversial content overshadows the music. Jay Elec calling Zelensky a clown and praising Farrakhan is just... anger-inducing. Noname calling out Kendrick multiple times for almost no reason is bizarre. But there are notes of good here still. beauty supply is a beautiful song and I did enjoy the kind of meta idea of potentially the interlude. Some guests kill it, of course (Billy Woods). It's just... man... I haven't felt this way about an artist's downfall in a bit. I am so conflicted as Noname is one of my favorite artists ever. I was unphased by most of her shit. Cause I thought she was the underdog. She still thinks she is, but you cannot side with the oppressors and be an underdog. It's not right, morally or spiritually. Hope she can come out of this whole controversy, get to talking to black jewish people (cause I think she'll only listen to them), and get an idea of how to move forward.
The lack of charity and the self-destructive cynicism that some really progressive people develop is unfortunately very real and a huge issue nowadays (and I'm saying that as someone who would consider themselves pretty fucking progressive). Also "you cannot side with the oppressors and be an underdog" really hits the nail on the head with this entire controversy.
As much as I enjoyed this album outside of very obvious controvery, that part made me audibly groan. Burning industry bridges for no reason whatsoever and the nuanced politics of a 10th grader who only recently started watching Hasan Piker.
It's interesting how differently people perceive things bc I did not see the lyrics about Rihanna, Beyonce, and Kendrick to be shots at all. I saw it more like how Kendrick referenced J. Cole and Future, just examples. I saw it as like "we're all forced to serve the capitalist system" not "fuck these people for serving the capitalist system". Not even insisting I'm right, that's just how it came off to me.
Staying off of Twitter improves my life in a lot of ways, and listening to the album without knowing about all the drama and bullshit let me enjoy it a lot more
I mean I wouldn’t boil the jaydolf spitler bars down to “drama and bullshit” but even without that verse the whole thing just felt too similar to her last projects to really wow me personally
I moreso worry that we're getting into Lauryn Hill or Kurt Cobain territory, where this amazingly talented and thoughtful artist is receiving an onslaught of celebrity status and industry pressure that they were not able to handle, and so they're beginning to lash out wherever they can.
@@atlassolid5946respectfully idk I couldn’t see Kurt Cobain platforming someone to make antisemitic remarks on an album. There isn’t a viable personal excuse for that level of harm to a community as hate crimes against Jews are on a national rise.
@@faithg7750 you raise a good point there. I meant more that her mental health might deteriorate to that point. In terms of political opinions and bigotry, op made a pretty apt comparison
Melon and a lot of the comments here are right to challenge Noname on her platforming someone like Jay (for anti semitism and maybe other things) or even her stances on who gets to consume her music in the marketplace (not wanting white folks to listen to her music). However, I think this album is a perfect opportunity to recognize the complexities of folks’ politics and the contradictions that we all live with. Puritanical critiques on who gets to describe themselves as a “leftist” is so washed. Two things can be true at the same time: she can be an earnest proponent for radical, leftist-informed change in our society, while, simultaneously, carrying harmful “hotep” (just because I saw the word, not because I agree) rhetoric. The expectation for people, particularly artists whom have undue attention in our society, to be purveyors or practitioners of perfect political discourse or messaging is pure fantasy. Outside of some of the songs, I actually liked the album. I don’t typically comment of Melon’s videos as music critique is largely subjective. However, I think the political piece of this album is *actually* interesting.
THANK YOOOUUUU!!!! Honestly it seems like Leftists are the only kind of people who get this amount of flack for this type of stuff. Conservative leaders and celebrities and even centrist dems and capitalists like all the rappers she mentioned are constantly flip flopping on their morals and positions but never get the same level of hate as socialists and other leftists like Noname. It makes sense though, America is always gonna reward centrism and try to starve out the leftism. That’s why they try to find every little thing to tear Noname down even though she’s one of the few rappers out here actually fighting for beneficial systemic changes instead of just acting like the problem is we need more money. The best thing for Black people all over the world is an end to Capitalist American imperialism, most rappers are actively participating in this system.
I agree with this take. Political perfectionism is a direct result of the way internet culture has influenced real political discourse, because it (the internet) allows for a global platform of unending critique, which subjects anything and everything to be absolutely correct and right or to be thrown to the wolves altogether. Right now, Noname is being devoured by the internet and her own fan base for being wrong about things, and now her whole entire legacy and identity (as a activist and an artist) is being thrown out into the void!
I mean did you really think Anthony was gonna give this album a high score? He barely talked about the music and focused on her Twitter antics, of course it was getting a low score
I didn’t learn about her til her comments about white audiences and while I agree that the anger is misdirected, I admire her speaking up about this issue about the effects of Black art being mostly consumed by non-Black audiences. (And what follows.) I was always a bigger fan of her values and work like her book program (which I’ve written about for work) than her art and this Jay shit has been heartbreaking to see play out. I lost a lot of respect for her and it colors EVERYTHING she does now.
I dont see black art being consumed by white people as a bad thing. That way people learn about different cultures. It is an accessible way to get rid of ignorance. There are still people who listen to it, just because it sounds nice. But for example TPAB by kendrick put a lot of white folks in the shoes of black people and made them symphatize and less ignorant.
Is it surprising is a country where 13% are black the majority consuming black art are not black? It's stupid bullshit to even think about it. If people relate to your art then they're your ally. Love them and promote unity not segregation. Honestly it's madness.
@@GameTimeNLL It's not all bad, but it is when they become the primary audience because then the genre is decontextualized form Black people and the Black experience. Also as an industry driven by capitalism, the marketing and team behind them will then prioritize white audiences if they don't do it themselves. Rock, Jazz, House, Disco, and Pop are all seen as white genre or as mixed but all the people who get credit for being greats are white people. Much of these genres were called "race music" and the main one that gets mixed credit now, pop, is pop for white people and "urban" for most Black people in the genre. I give rap another 15-30 years before most famous people in the genre are non-Black if it remains the most popular medium. Black music has been accessible since we arrived here (especially during hte latter half of chattel slavery when spirituals and the blues developed becoming the basis for most music today) and there's plentyy of very racist people in power than could do good but will put on their Billie Holiday or Dojacat and make Black people's lives a living hell for fun or a paycheck so miss me. Now with (a lot but def not all) of Kpop the beats, music videos, and fashion have been removed to as they (through management that mirrors motwon and is bad for them to take for their own health) is being sold to the newest generation of teens. Between that and calling it from the internet not Black culture (Billie Eilish' whole asthetic and way of speaking until recently) we've not learned from it but instead adapted a new form of theft. (finally) As a fan of Melon and half white myself, I'm obviously not against white people listening to Black music.
@@GameTimeNLLIt’s not that white people consuming black art is bad in of itself. That’s not even Noname’s issue. Its the EFFECTS of this phenomena in the face of the way that our culture of consumption perverts and appropriates black art while giving nothing in return. Noname’s frustration was with exploiting her intention to give messages about black trauma for money. And historically, black music genres have been massively appropriated and removed from context that makes them meaningful for mass sales/distribution- which requires marketing to white people. Every huge mainstream black artist needs a large white fanbase to sustain themselves. Even if they made that art with the intention of expressing an intimate cultural experience. It’s like if I wanted to make art about being disabled but had to express that art mainly to abled people in order for it to be successful; it would feel like tap dancing. But even deeper, the idea of success in art is detached from the simple goal of genuinely expressing it, and re-attached to commercial success. So it’s easy for the art to be divorced from its meaning & origin, becoming a commodified shell of itself. Just look up commodity fetishism. Just because you like the music doesn’t mean the conditions that created it or even it’s message is of real immediacy to you. You can just enjoy it as a product and move on. *And this isn’t a concept unique to Noname, I mean Kendrick conceptually & lyrically expressed this in his album alongside literal tap dancing sounds. Noname just handles it poorly. But this is why I critique your statement bc it overlooks a basic issue surrounding being a black artist they they constantly communicate in their music. You claim that white ppl have greater understanding thru listening but your comment indicates an actual lack of understanding despite these repeated musical messages. which is my point* If economically consuming black art was actually an effective means of dispelling ignorance, racism would be very endangered. Considering many of the most popular genres stem from black culture. Of course on an individual basis it can help but not on any large meaningful scale. And just because you sympathize & even learn a little about another group, that doesn’t mean that you take further steps to educate yourself & others around you, deconstruct certain ideologies, and actively do things to help that same community who’s art you consume for enjoyment. That’s something that would create structural change if every listener did it. Understand that black people or any marginalized people do not want your sympathy. They want structural change that can only come from true mass solidarity. But instead of just realizing this is how our profit-driven music industry works and addressing the root issue she took it out on the white fans themselves. Which can’t actually fix any of the issues I addressed above. Only addressing the structural economy can. Like I would say she should market to black demographics more like fantano but that won’t fix anything either. It’ll just create a self serving bubble for her. Which is a pipe dream anyway in the industry. She can’t blame her white fans for her inability to connect with more black people. She can only blame the industry, structural economy, and her own marketing tactics.
I love NoName’s music, but as a Jew I just can’t spin her anymore. I am an active supporter of dismantling white supremacy, patriarchy, protecting Palestinian lives, etc, but the fact she equates Jay’s antisemitism with just being anti-white supremacy is vile.
@@MelMelodyWerner I'm just hurt because it burn my eyes. But it's okay if your mom looks like that, we understand why you're so upset, poor witto bitty baby
@@rinyald_musicyou telling him to go outside is ironic seeing as that everything outside is not the typical standard of beauty. Maybe you should take your own advice. I’m sure your mom auntie sis or some woman you love isn’t the most attractive but that’s ok. Everything and everyone isn’t. There’s beauty in that.
Went from being this girls biggest fan to just being so disappointed in her politics. How you gonna call yourself a leftist, make it your whole identity and then pull this shit. Then her responses are just so weak and dismissive.
she shared part of an interview on her instagram story that said "You can’t be a revolutionary with broken gender politics. You can’t be a revolutionary and be homophobic. And this is before we even get to capitalism. To be homophobic, transphobic and misogynistic? No, you’re not a revolutionary. You’re not even a radical. You’re actually quite status quo. What it was was a radical sound, and that’s not even true anymore." To not see how accepting and allowing antisemitism on her album and how platforming ignorance and hate makes her EXACTLY the same as these fake revolutionary "conscious" rappers that this person is referring to, blows my mind. It's baffling how she can be so blatantly ignorant and indifferent. This is ther person who changed her name because she learned it was offensive and now she's unapologetically having "Jaydolf Spitler" come on her album and spit an antisemitic verse. Ridiculous
You’re white, White Europeans of all nations committed all kinds of atrocities on Black and Jewish people alike. It’s not your place to talk about any of this, use that energy for YOUR people who have the historical weight of MULTIPLE GENOCIDES and pogroms on Black and Jewish people. Stfu PLEAAAASE
I feel like the Jay Electronica vs Jay-Z difference is that Jay-Z and Beyonce make a big deal about being black billionaires and how great that is. When of course being a billionaire inherently involves harming others and being enmeshed in the social status quo. Jay Z is actually out here living off exploitation, and that doesn't excuse Jay Electronica having sus lyrics but it is a different thing. I also think that despite the NOI's regressivism and antisemitism, the fact that it was a rallying point for lots of black people during extremely difficult times would be something Noname is aware of. Not that it would or should make her express sympathy to NOI, but that's not even what she did anyway. She showed love to someone ELSE who had sympathies to NOI. I can see why it stings when Noname, who already felt commodified and othered by her white fans, sees those white fans eager to judge without having an understanding of black experiences or how NOI has played into them historically. A lot of those white twitter users are more concerned with having the correct opinions than with actually doing real good or healing.
@@shadez123when did whites earn the right to call others bigots and racists? It happened very gradually but there was a specific year when you guys finally got the last piece of cloth off the table without knocking over anything in your magic trick.
@@shadez123 I wasn't trying to excuse it. To be clear, I don't think Jay Electronica should name drop Farrakhan or put anti-Semitic lyrics in his verses. Those things are bad. The NOI is not something I support. And though I see her rationale I ultimately don't think Noname should have allowed a verse that cites Farrakhan on her album. I just think it's worth assessing why she might have had this reaction, instead of just writing her off as stupid or fake.
@@griffinc466Farrakhan gets name dropped on hip hop shit all the time, not that Jay was right, but this is something that’s been present in the hip hop community for decades and it’s pretty telling that everyone is so quick to admonish the black woman for it when she ain’t even say it herself or has ever expressed any sort of antisemitism. It’s weird how people are getting so mad about this when mfers are doing so much worse on a daily
The Coachella bar, man, that really rubbed me the wrong way. "I'll call these guys out for going corporate, but welp I performed there anyway as if I didn't have a choice, guess I will get this bag and then keep tweeting about how money corrupts artists." - girl how does that scan?? I'll tell you how: it scans major hypocrite.
......dude he said one line about the Rothschild family......how is that "incredibly anti-semetic" You dumbasses always say "don't call out all jews, call them out by name" He calls the Rothschild family out by name, and it's still anti-semetic. This is so fucking stupid and frustrating.
Fantano: including a known anti semite on your album and then doubling down on it is not a good look Noname fans: you’re biased and launching personal attacks
As someone who had never heard of Noname before watching this review, I went and listened to the album first. It just sounded like a good socially conscious, jazzy, soul, r&b, rap album. I'm not gonna judge the album by her personality or her views because I don't know her. All I know is the music and it was actually cool to listen to. I don't rate albums anymore but if I did, I'd give it a 7.5. Now I'm interested in her previous albums. If Fantano likes her but is disappointed in this, there must be a treasure chest I haven't opened yet.
Damn. I’m not heavily invested here, but I still feel like there’s gonna be some fallout for this review. It feels like a pretty scathing indictment, even if it’s not meant to be. I guess we’ll find out.
@@guts1258 I love his music but he shits on Jews so much. It's always taken out of context hence why I defended, but now he's doing it on every song including this feature. The things he says are not necessarily that bad and are often stretched but the frequency at which he is dropping bars like this has led me to give up defending the lyrics
@@Spectre0799Jay is a registered member of the nation of Islam, a vocally anti semitic org. See the Wikipedia page called, "Nation of Islam and antisemitism"
Ehh I agree with the issues about Jay Electronica but this definitely just sounds like a liberal who doesn't understand noname's politics being confused. There actually is a difference between a socialist that does an event for money and dedicates the rest of her time to getting radical literature to imprisoned black people and a capitalist who does shady venues and then does nothing else and then talk down on the black community all the time (a la Kendrick). These are substantially different positions. Again, I agree though that Noname pulling Jay Elect for a record is both inconsistant and harmful/shameful. I think she hears his bars about Armaggedon and thinks that this makes him a revolutionary like her--likely in part do to the fact that a lot of black leftism has maintained ties to the black church. At the end of the day, Jay Elect and Farrakhan are conservatives, preaching a reactionary politics with a revolutionary veneer. There's a reason that the Black Panthers were destroyed outright by the FBI but the NOI has been allowed to remain. "the anti-Semite is inevitably a negrophobe." --Frantz Fanon
@@michealhaines no one should trust your judgement on art because you are too dumb or inexperienced to recognize when it is made by a person or not lmao
She's so cringey and hypocritical for that jay electronica feature, whatever I know she won't lose sleep if I dont listen. Just dissapointed constantly with her.
And she chose to change it because she learned. I didn't know the history of the word either and I grew up in the same city, same education system, and same environment she did. I'd be willing to bet most Americans didn't know it was a slur pre 2020 and probably still don't. Which is why someone like Lady Gaga still named a song using the word fairly recently. That Fleetwood Mac song get's hellah karaoke play here in the Midwest. Nobody has perfect knowledge.
By this logic Illmatic is not a good album because Nas used the F slur on it. And we don’t allow that these days so nobody should praise Illmatic anymore
Reading opinions on Reddit and other reviews on TH-cam, it's kinda comical how many hoops people are jumping through to justify the antisemitic shit. 😂
It’s all rather interesting. I enjoyed the album quite a bit. The band really hits a groove on this one-maybe I missed it, but I was surprised you didn’t give a shout out to the bass. It seems Noname’s behavior is rather eclectic. While I agree with her politics, I imagine the pressure of having a platform and being on the internet has influenced her to be so spontaneous, or “ultra” as some will say it. But I can’t entirely blame Noname. It’s dumb she included Jay Electronica on the album but society needs to stop looking up to celebrities as agents of change and reason when most of the time they’re puppets of capital. We really need to reassess who our community leaders our (our teachers, tenant unions, UPS drivers). Hip Hop is (traditionally) grassroots yes but you’ll get more exposure being on the ground than soaking in what your favorite rapper has to say about politics. So go join an org!
Namesake specifically referencing Kendrick for the Super Bowl performance where he DID play his biggest song from 7 years ago, had to edit lyrics, and played a part in THE show. I do feel like that’s bullshit to call out as a negative. Also back to the Jay Electronica thing, we’re we making the same stance against Kodak Black being on Kendrick’s album? I don’t think so, we were all just excited for more Kendrick to the point where we can let his association for someone that assaults women go, though someone who arguably by the way, associates with Jay E is held completely accountable for what HE says.
To be honest, I only really got interested into Noname's music as late as 2020 soon after she dropped Song 33. I vibed with what she was trying to hold J. Cole accountable for, and I'm glad they both eventually patched things up later on. But since August of 2021, I deleted my Twitter account and didn't really keep up with how she was moving over there. And while I can understand her frustration with having a mostly liberal, white fan base, she had every opportunity to change her style to fit multiple demographics including the black community. But her years long efforts to move away from her white fans has only turned away the potential of having more black fans as well. Especially with the feature & defense of Jay Electronica. When I began listening to her older music before 2020, she was gradually starting to become one of my favorite rappers, and then I find about all of this literally today. And so much about this feels so surreal to me. Idk, I just feel immensely hurt & disappointed about Noname's blatant hard-headedness and hypocrisy. And her even admitting that she's a hypocrite in her track about Coachella doesn't absolve her of any guilt at all whatsoever. Way too many of the things she's been doing lately outside of music only makes her look like someone who only enjoys the potential social benefits of being a leftist/progressive activist without actually wanting to do any of the hard work to self-decolonize, listen, learn, grow from mistakes, and work to become as fully empathetic and intersectionally aware as possible. But unfortunately, it seems that Noname now only cares about advocating for herself only, and she doesn't care who she hurts in her path to doing so.
The point on that track is that capitalism eventually forces those kinds of compromises for laborers (in regards to Coachella) it requires no apology. As for the jay electronica, there's really no excuse for that. Just a lengthy history of antisemitism seeped into the black community beginning largely with Milton Cooper and "Behold A Pale Horse".
Also, what has she been doing outside of music besides public comments that would make you say that? The initiatives she works on have been all about making education for people who want and need it most, but lack the resources, more accessible. Again not downplaying the JE collab. But this just seems like you aren't actually tuned into what she does outside of music besides controversy related to the music which isn't even really outside of her persona as a musician.
@@stephonb12 Look bro, I'm not about to spend all night arguing with you, because I have way more important stuff to do. But I am going to give you this one and only response. If Noname legitimately wanted to broaden her audience outside the scope of a mostly white & liberal fanbase, why would she choose to perform at Coachella? She wasn't forced to go there & she could have definitely worked her way into making some connections to perform at an event with more black fans in attendance like at a Rolling Loud show or something similar. Being asked to perform at the Super Bowl & deciding to perform at Coachella are two very different things (in my honest opinion). Yes, compromises of artists & laborers will eventually happen, but we all still have some agency about how we go about choosing those compromises. And you're right, Noname has done more things than just tweet and make music. Her starting a Leftist/Progressive Activist Book Club is something to be admired and respected (in addition to any other on the ground work that she may have done). But we keep heading to the core issue. Noname's active refusal to hold herself accountable for purposely allowing Jay Electronica to spit the antisemitic verses that he did in a way that went seemingly unopposed. If Noname was willing to hold J. Cole accountable for the out of tune remarks he made a few years back, then what's stopping her from holding Jay accountable? It's not like she doesn't read her fans' disappointed comments because she was quite literally in the replies of another fan's comment (on this video mind you) who was entirely deflecting on her behalf (unsurprisingly). Her ego gets gassed up each & every time a goofy fan hypes her up and never questions her very unintersectional & hard-headed decision to let abhorrent antisemitic vitriol be a permanent stain against her rap career. And your deflection in her favor isn't helping her in the way that you may think it is. And apparently, she has no problem with allowing Jay Electronica's antisemitism to tarnish her reputation. Which is exactly why I've been so hurt and disappointed by Noname as of late. If she's the type of person to be too insecure to explain her actions around why she let Jay say what he said, then until further notice, I personally don't want anything else to do with her or with her music. Regardless of the good work that she's done in her past. And with all due respect, if you respond to this reply, I will not be replying back, because you've wasted enough of my time. And like I said before, I have many more important things to do than argue with a random stranger online. On my end, this is the end of our conversation. I sincerely hope you take it easy out there.
Interesting, thought this was her most polished/introspective work, touched heavily on the Black social experiment, she definitely makes music for the audience she covets, sometimes guests have to remember they are indeed guests
109 countries were all just being mean. Jews can never be criticized for anything. Jews are my masters. Give more money to Isreal so they can bulldoze more Palestinian homes. I fucking love jews so much.
Pretty disappointed, ngl...a Killer Mike verse about how dope being a landlord is would have really taken the sloppy ideological hypocrisy to the next level. Missed opportunity.
The cover is clearly meant to alternate any sighted fans. So her core demo of black, blind, far left, anti-Semitic, hard right, Islamic fans should be pretty pleased with her effort.
Why does it feel like you are reviewing her as a person rather than the music. I don't feel like you kept the same energy with reviewing Ye after Kanye's "Slavery was a choice" comment. Cuz that was just as gross as anything Jay has said. And Kanye wasn't a feature, it was his album.
@@David-ii2op it feels a bit worse it being a black woman he’s trashing. I’m not saying Killer Mike was right but this review isn’t a good look for him.
Hi, Offtopic question here, anyone knows the name of another black female rapper who only released one album ( as far as i know) and the songs were like 1 minute each. I listened it around 2018, i cant remember anything else but it was really good
Boom Boom comes from a long line of tracks like that... the ones with a little self-awareness (awkwardness) are the best, IMO, but I know many people disagree about that.
I agree that there's a problem with Jay Electronica's verse on this album, but having features that contradict your views on your record is so common in hip hop. She's getting a much more magnified reaction to it than many other artists have. In some sense she brought it on herself by reacting so publically and poorly, but something about this taking over all conversation of this album feels off. The reaction to this one verse feels like it's 10x the reaction Kendrick got for repeatedly featuring Kodak Black on his last album. This review takes on the drama for nearly half it's runtime. Kendrick got a passing mention and an excuse.
I think the problem with comparing it to Kodak & Kendrick is that 1.) Noname directly hosted Jay Electronica’s problematic verse and not just the a normal whatever Jay Electronica verse like Kendrick did with Kodak. If Kendrick did a song where Kodak was talking about how sexual assault is good or doubling down, as wild as that would be, that would be more comparable. 2.) The response was so dismissive and disrespectful that it would warrant more of a harsh response if they thought Jay’s inclusion was truly a problem. 3.) I think this one issue reveals more about a continued problem with Noname. I don’t think this would be as big if it was an isolated incident.
@@kilderslive I'm not justifying it. If anything, I'm pushing back on artists getting away with promoting problematic views in this genre with very little consequence. We should be more equally loud about problematic views in hip hop; there are a lot of them.
@@lovelaj0149 It doesn’t seem like Jay Electronica’s verse contradicts her views at all. Not once in all of her responses has she said she disagrees with what Jay Electronica said. Her response to people calling her out about Jay Electronica was to say that she is against white supremacy, which suggests that she sees Jay’s verse declaring a war on Jews as simply him being against white supremacy.
Thankyou Anthony for calling out no names BS. I respect her massively as a musician and poet but she's politically very dodgy. I wouldn't accept the narratives she pushes from a white musician and I won't accept it from a black one either.
This is a really bad review. Anthony sounds hurt & ready to fight. He really missed a lot of the points because he’s not black. Sucks an amazing album is getting so much hate. But then again I think she wants the hate so she can be underground & just have her black fans.
Yeah, I’d say a seven. Fantano has a pretty rough history with noname though (despite enjoying her music) so I get that affects his enjoyment quite a lot.
I’d say Telefone and Room 25 are a lot better, check them out. Especially Room 25, the music on that record is gorgeous (in no small part due to Noname spending her budget on a 12-piece orchestra for it).
@@thenameisomari he’s historically disagreed with quite a lot of her points, that’s caused noname to talk about him on Twitter and block him there. I still think he overall sees her activism as great but, as he made a point of in the video, all the baggage surrounding this album really soured it for him. It did for me too tbh, that Jay elec feature really ruined some of the other otherwise fine songs for me.
While I do agree with the criticism, I don’t think most of it should have affected the albums score. Much of the criticism was about intent and reaction, not the actually project. I think it’s easily a solid 7.
Noname was scared of introducing her politic into her music until she fell in with other radicalized black artists, and then she flipped the switch on that so hard that it always feels to me she's vying for their approval and to feel like she's doing the 'right' thing to impress her toxic twitter friend group.
No one seems to care about islamaphobia in the USA, if so it’s generally performative. The muslims and arabs, while sometimes getting leftist performative support on social media when it comes to israel V palestine. But outside of that, there is few a people as dehumanized and villainized as the arab/muslim in the west. The fact that flies under the radar so much in light of the focus on antisemitism (which is abhorrent in its own right, no one deserves discrimination) is a huge problem and can make me as an arab/muslim feel an unjustified dismissal of our suffering. Whether you like it or not, this is a reality and I am waiting for more public awareness out of this. People continue to associate islam with extremism but justify it by saying “well they are oppressed, and we as the west want to free their minds!!” but that is western ego at its finest - i’m praying one day we can all find a balance. I guarantee if there was a figure similar to Jay elec that was rapping about islamaphobic themes, people would care infinitely less - that is my guess based on my experience living and growing up here but i’m hope i’m wrong. anyway love y’all
playing the oppression olympics is never a good idea. Any discrimination based on race, ethnicity or whatever is bad and should be called out when seen. When you say that antisemitism gets more focus than islamaphobia, it seems like you just want a larger cut of the leftist sympathy pie.
I can’t get over pitchfork’s rating of this record. Such blatant bigotry and they don’t even care. The other songs could’ve been perfect and it wouldn’t matter
tell us her name already melon
i’m starting to think she doesn’t have a name
Hitler
😂😂😂
she doesn’t need no name
Fatimah
Great review Anthony, but one small issue. Noname said you’re not allowed to listen to her music
I think he’s like Oli London, transracial. But idk though!
😂😂😂 a calassic moment
He is Italian, it's cool
@@thelastnote1664Italians are white
Funny cause she replied to a comment under this video lol
Noname will surely have a calm and respectable response towards this review
Guarantee you she says "You're white your opinion dosent matter blah blah im a black woman blah blah"
Will probably say something about how she's glad another white person doesn't like her album
@@Andrew-nu4hicongratulations
Shes such a weirdo bro
@@Andrew-nu4hiso she succeeded
I think her portraying herself as a massive leftist online and being very loud about it, and then adding him to the record, feels so gross and fake
Thats why I can't stand noname anymore. She plays this holier than thou hard lefty persona online only to be a massive hypocrite in reality. She spews so much hate at this point I just don't care to pay attention to her.
@stfn4472 so she's basically like the rest of Twitter, which honestly doesn't surprise me
@@stfn4472 the “I did it to alienate my white fans” is CRAZY bruh
i saw someone (can't recall where) say that anti-semitism is a "fools socialism" and it makes so much sense
@blodiaaa6990 Not just Twitter. The majority of people in general pretend to be something they're not. In most cases, pretending to be a decent person when in reality they suck 😅
Noname is just so weird. She portrays herself as a massive leftist, but shes not enough of a leftist to challenge very right wing ideologies that people like Jay Electronica and Louis Farrakhan and the NOI hold? The antisemitism, the respectability politics, the homophobia. And when her fans criticize her for platforming and condoning that, she gives the most cowardly responses where she doesn’t actually engage with any of the criticisms.
I bet you love Kendrick Lamar and J Cole, you should look up how they feel about Farrakhan lol
@@coling9137 I don’t care about how they feel about Farrakhan frankly
@@coling9137Kendrick and J Cole don't make being a leftist their persona?
@@cemmvids so they get to be antisemetic?
@@coling9137 what statements has Cole said that shows he's antisemitic?
And for all the controversy she got involved in, the Jay verse wasn't even good
at least on written testimony with "synagogue of satan" and all that BS he at least had some bars
It wasn’t mixed good either lmao
that's the crazy thing!!! mf recorded this on a 20 dollar mic or his iPhone and did the bare minimum cleaning up the noise and he's got this crotchety old man flow where if we have to get an old conspiratorial man, like. can it at least be killah priest
@@smidlem1117Lol right? KP would take it all the way back to before the Bible was written with his conspiracies. 😂
Swearrrrrr!! I skip it every time lmao I’m just glad it’s at the end of the song so it’s an easy pass.😆
We, AJR, are scared of what Jay Electronica will do when he finds out we are Jewish.
Edit: The subtle antisemitism in the replies to this makes me so sad as an actually Jewish man. Why can’t you guys be normal?
Praying For You Guys 🙏 Stay Safe
save ajr from him !!!
Wait a second, I’m starting to suspect you’re not the real AJR
Ayo, what the fuck
no way is this the real ajr
Anyone with this holier-then-thou, closed-minded perspective is not of the mindset to be socially conscious.
Noname has come off as a musician who only speaks for herself and not the audience she thinks she's trying to portray and her bitter narcissism shows.
Holier-than-thou. Closed-minded. Narcissism.
Check the mirror for more than zits and wrinkles my friend.
Bitter is always the first word I think of when it comes to her. Intelligent people that are less successful than they think they should be are always the most bitter and the loudest about it.
Noname seems pretty good at alienating her fan base
Yeah. She gets a 10 in that respect.
she pulled a doja cat lol
yeah i stuck around for a long time, her early stuff on youtube and telofone are some of my favorite songs period, but it’s hard to keep excusing her behavior when i’m just not seeing the vision anymore. still enjoyed some of the tracks on this record but i dont feel as connected to her ideas any more
@@SHIFTKICKher ideas? 😊
Yea her white fan base that only sees the black trauma in her music as entertainment
If Smino and Phoelix had a feature it would’ve been an 8/10
Would've liked to see a Saba feature too. What ever happened to Ghetto Sage?
@@ThomBjorksaba produced multiple songs on here
noname and phoelix is like common and kanye. just a perfect combo.
add a saba verse and we eating, but it ain't 2018 no more :(
@@gingerAVPhoelix also produced a lot of her previous work but has zero production on this. It's odd, wonder if something happened
her attitude towards the jay elec situation really gets to me. she said shit like "maybe i wanted to alienate my white audience" which is so dumb, putting an antisemite spitting antisemetic shit in a way to reach a blacker audience is fucking wild. following her logic, kanyes antisemitism shouldve alianated his white audience, but it didnt. if anything she alienated her mostly leftist black audience. and her definding jay for calling himself "jaydolf spitler" because "rappers compare themselves to things all the time" like the reason people are upset at that is because it backs up jay elecs already fucked beliefs. room 25 and telefone are projects that mean so much to me and to hear this feels like such a fall from grace.
Jaydolf spitler is hilarious. That sounds like a fantano comment
"Im gonna alienate the normal people who listen to me by being violently bigoted"
You have to hand it to her, thats a fantastic plan to achieve what shes going for!
Can’t wait for Noname’s Twitter rant about this
She actually deactivated her twitter because she couldnt stand the heat lmao. Its honestly so pathetic that she cant even defend her dogshit views
Saw Noname in Zurich Switzerland and the place was packed. Like she sold out the venue. I'm black but I was surrounded by a crowd of white people singing every single bar by heart. Telefone was released during a time where I was struggling with depression and this album will forever hold a special place in my heart. Room 25 was also a very good follow up and I was looking forward to seeing her live when I was living in North Carolina. But then she went full Magneto on white people and it's been downhill for here. I'm so disappointed in someone I considered not only my favorite artist, but a very bright mind.
What a waste.
I agree , sadly
"Full Magneto" I hate how accurate that is 💀. But yeah it's a huge shame how she came back after 5 years only to become omega hostile.
I had the exact same thing happen to me at the Melbourne gig in 2018. She specifically had a go at us for not being able to recite the lyrics or for "clapping like white people". Sonically pleasing but all of us could have done without that. It's a fair reason why her contemporaries come to Australia more often than her.
yea saying it makes you uncomfortable to rap about black trauma to a predominately white audience is definitely "going full magneto on white people" you fragile ass clown
never go full Magneto
My biggest critique of the album was that the band and players were so good for the album to have felt so one-dimensional musically. There's a great groove and tightness throughout the album, but not enough adventuring to distinguish the track flavors from each other.
I feel this way about noname and her peers’s music more and more each year. It’s all just a little too “easy-listening” compared to what a lot of artists are doing right now
it's an example of why I don't like the term jazz rap as we move into the subgenre existing for decades; you're not fully integrating jazz and rap now if you're not including some degree of complexity and improvisation and playing into the tropes of jazz directly. it's why tribe isn't nearly as foundational to jazz rap for me as digable planets (not to knock tribe tho, they're great).
idk part of this is also hearing for free? when I was a teenager and tasted the golden elixir that almost no one can match for actually integrating, say, bop stylings or big band into rap. hope that makes sense lmao
Holy, I agree with this opinion so much!
I struggled with the Roots debut album because I guess I assumed the instrumentation was going to be organic and free flowing and was a bit disappointed when it felt static. There’s a live song on the album tho that was a bit more of what I wanted (essaywhuman)
For free is awesome
@smidlem1117 it seems like people equate the "elevator jazz" with that genre entirely. Or, that its doing what actual jazz does in what you're talking about.
I'm curious if artists worry about the beat poetry feeling of what that might turn into. which would become its own static subgenre in and of itself. I think noname usually strikes a nice balance in her delivery. Anyone who listens to that knows she's striking a particular poetic match.
I think Kendrick on for free is probably what artists and listeners are weary of. I love that song and what he does, but No one wants that as jazz hip hop. Lol or at least I don't. 😆
Sounds like a you problem ngl...because each song felt different and alot darker than usual from her and how she flows over each was nice and smooth so maybe u just a hater ngl
Kanye, Chance, Noname...we gotta study this Chicago falloff era
Chicago stop producing artists who revolutionize the genre making us attached to them before inevitably disappointing us with sketchy political opinions challenge (impossible)
Ye has absolutely not fallen off.
@@PickHuey cap
@@MMoturi22 Chance doesn't have sketchy political opinions he just made a shit debut album
@@nik-xyz pre age like milk comment
Noname's demeanor just screams cognitive dissonance. It's like she thinks deeply on only the shit she feels like caring about but fails to do that same level of thinking for anything she doesn't care about. Doesn't make her a bad person, just that she engages in selective thinking. And it's a damn shame since it undermines her real messages that she wants to get across
EXACTLY, THIS👆
Do u know what cognitive dissonance means, cause it doesn’t relate to anything you said in that diatribe.
no, fuck that. She is absolutely a horrible person. Let’s not do all that. Can we stop letting terrible opinions slide just because they’re black?
That Chris Rock Selective Outrage Energy!
@mimic1875 As I understand it, cognitive dissonance refers to an inconsistency in how logic or philosophical beliefs are applied across a person's views on various topics. Sounds like an accurate description of Noname from my end.
Nice try on using diatribe though 🙃 but I'm not particularly angry or upset. Just disappointed
This is actually a brilliant move by Noname. Years ago she said she didn't want to have a white fanbase, but I ignored that and continued happily enjoying her music with my Caucasian ears. Now I can't listen to my favorite songs off of Room 25 without hating myself. So, she did it! Great job by her.
4d chess type shit
You're caucasian. You're white.
What in the white fragility is going on in here?
As a black guy living through the issues she raps about..don’t listen to her….she has no idea what she’s talking about 😂 you’re actually better then she is cause if you feel bad it means you care…while she doesn’t give a shit about her white fans lol if you want an actual good female conscious rapper that actually knows what she’s talking about check out little simz….she’s from the UK but still…what she raps about is relevant in America as well….trust me you’re not missing out on much by not listening to NoName….btw I’m not hating I actually like her but that holier then thou attitude will bite her in the azz if she’s not careful
@@keyscored3710 no it's just stupid shit lol
The part that makes me sad about this that I think Noname and Jay equate jews to white people when they spout this shit, which erases the large group of black and POC jews that exist and already get enough hate as is.
Jews are not good ppl in general lol
As a Jew, it’s been empowering to see fan’s outrage regarding the inclusion of Jay Electronica. Our community often feels excluded from progressive spaces, so it’s been awesome to see an outpouring of outrage toward Noname for her sheer hypocrisy
jajajajaja
Excluding Jews from progressive spaces is insane considering how the right wing is rocketing towards Naziism. As a trans woman whose identity puts her on the front lines of this genocide, progressive Jews are my comrades and the Jewish community is at risk.
@@dantekiwi7926what's funny
@@claires1063 i am sorry
@@dantekiwi7926 I live for this amazing interaction. An epic in three parts.
I feel so bad about this whole situation. I’m white and I live in Central Europe, yet when Telefone came out, that record meant the world to me for a couple of months. I grew up poor in a shitty, underserved region of the country and I really felt like her music was universal in speaking about that experience. I even got to see her live right before she banned white people. She obviously doesn’t want me to listen to her music so I won’t. But it’s fucking bizzare to me that she lets guest rappers spew racist shit after this whole public stance taking.
she didnt "ban white people" wtf are you talking about. she spoke about how being a black artist rapping about black experience to predominantly white crowds was making her uncomfortable. why do people keep twisting that very simple statement to try to make themselves some kind of victim holy shit. it's literally proving her point
"right before she banned white people" is a CRAZY thing to say lmaoo
This is the crazy thing about her - she says her music isn't for white people as if we're all rich right wing business owners. Many of us have suffered the same struggles and find what she talks about relatable but for some reason she's decided based off our skin colour we aren't allowed to do that. Which honest, to me, is just racism. She's a racist and she thinks it's alright because she's a black American.
He didn’t say anything controversial in his verse
@@jessery475 she says her music is not for white people because she raps specifically about black working class experience in america how is that so hard to understand. i'm white too and yet i'm not a fragile little cuck like you who jumps on every opportunity to complain about being a victim of anti white racism holy fuck
The most disappointing thing about this is that over the past few years I've been seeing celebrities and political figures fall into weird rabbit holes where they end up promoting bigotry, and during that time Noname seemed like one of the few artists that wasn't doing that. She was promoting her book club and encouraging people to learn more about black history and anti-capitalist theory while pretty much minding her own business. But now it feels like she's going down the path of every other celebrity, letting anti-semitism slide that easily goes against everything she stood for in the past few years. Now I'm wondering if she actually believed all that stuff she was saying or if she just lucked into being on the right side of a lot of political issues and didn't really understand what she was reading.
It's absolutely crazy how moronic and gullible people online are. Noname has openly been a self-centered, bigoted and overall unpleasant person for so many years, but you were unable to see it because she told you to read Das Kapital or some shit LMAO.
You’ve been blinded the whole time lol
I'd lean towards the second option, to be honest. In the earlier phases of her career (until "Room 25"), she looked like a very different person: yes, she had strong opinions, and yes, her music already focused on an African-American perspective, but she seemed way more open to dialogue with her audience and the general public. As this video reminds, she was literally hosted by NPR, which has a very specific, yet diverse pool of listeners. I even remember an interview on the BBC, around the time she was promoting "Room 25", where she basically said she was unbothered about artists like Drake, even though she didn't like what they do.
As her personal fears began creeping up on her more and more, and as she got more radical anyway, I fear that she might have ended up taking advice by people who had not the best intentions. So, yes, I think her current antics are likely a result of the rabbit hole she fell in as of late, rather than something she always believed in.
makes sense, the African American Community in general has had a problem with Antisemitism since the 60s, Malcolm X preferred working with literal Neo Nazis and being Antisemitic, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ice Cube, etc continued it. At least Ye apologized, dont understand the hypocritical hate Fantano has for him, when he at least did something.
@@jackreeder215 I don’t think it’s hate but rather resentment, partially because of the lack of accountability for people who do and say bad things. Kanye was obviously just trying to be controversial and went too far but he should suffer way heavier consequences before returning back the public favor. Same goes for people like Chris Brown
Noname is just a completely unlikable character to me. Her hard headedness is like branded as very intelligent political commentary, but so often she misses the mark, and when she receives criticism she acts like a complete child.
That’s a lot of words for, “racist”
@@sjalusi1???
@@hazelsmith919 he aint wrong, noname is quite literally racist towards white people
How would she “hit the mark” for you? What would read as intelligent in your mind? Why is likability such s prerequisite for black, female intellectual thought? Does it ever read as violent to require that of black women? - is what is smart, also necessarily palatable? It very rarely required of the dominant culture.
@@domdouglas8065 I dont require likeability out of black women specifically, really out of any speaker, but if you are gonna try and give the world intellectual thought, try actually addressing some of the problems in the world, not waisting your time blaming people who arent the problem, like Kendrick lamar or your mostly white audience. And ANY intelligent person knows they arent always gonna be right, but don't let Noname hear that because she will literally never accept it and will berate anyone who challenges her. Noname is not likeable for those reasons.
I followed nonames advice and now I dont listen to her music anymore, nor am going to her shows 😃
Edit: I'm latino btw, but I'd guess it doesn't really matter
🤠
Awesome I’m sure she doesn’t give a fuck because you’re a whitey who enjoys entertainment but can’t relate or really feel the what she’s kicking.
@@jayloncollins9681 and that's the problem with guys like you. Seeing white people as people who can't possible feel or understand anything is stupid. We are human, not aliens.
We feel the music, we feel what artists say but not in the same way as black people obviously. Anyway, people always need to find the differences between each other, so whatever.
I’m white and haven’t listened to it.
She should start doing shows at Botswana jus sayin
Extremely tone deaf review.
TRUE
didnt even listen to the album and i agree
Overall im just so sad about this while situation for two reasons.
One is seeing how easy she gets upset when it comes to criticism, you would imagine that someone so politically vocal about many real life issues would be open to listen to many other people's experiences and issues they have with your message with a more controlled manner.
And the second one is basically how talented and inspirong her music's been, while im not black or from the us, and her music is based in very much the experience of being black in america, i still connected to many of the themes she touched on both Telefone and Room 25, because she's a versatile, talented and creative writer, and yet she has started to get blinded by this obsession of garnering a bigger black fanbase via shutting everyone else away and excusing /welcoming antisemitism and disguising it as going against white supremacy, two very different concepts...
Just very disappointed in this whole situation.
Small note: idk how important it is but I am not white, I'm Latino lol.
She’s frustrated with the blacks with power and influence to cause real change and appeal to whites. I do believe she’s trying to alienated herself from white people and seems to be unapologetic which I respect. It’s about her people and she feels passionate about that. I mean when the country dude made that not in a small town or whatever it was called he was praised online although we understand what that song really was. A dog whistle.
I really like this album. I respect her. You’re supposed to not like it. You’re white.
I think that's the problem these days. I can't say this without trigger words but here we go:
People these days, especially on the internet, are often just the opposite of what they claim to be. So the most "woke" or "leftist" ones or the so called "social justice warriors" are often some of the most intolerant people when shit hits the fan or when they could show tolerance towards other people who don't share their views.
To make it clear, the "rightists" aren't better. Our times are full of hypocrites.
Then about white fans of black music. Sure, white people don't have the same experience as this or that race/minority/ethnicity or whatever but WE ARE HUMAN TOO. That means if we hear storys about whatever it does something with us and we feel something, even if we don't feel the same exact things. That's why people like music and that's why in the best scenario it's a connection between all people. This is not merely about people paying for your records or concerts, but these people FEEL your music. Why shit on that? Sure..she can wish for more black fans, but why alienate people who like her music?
@@jayloncollins9681 "I really like this album. I respect her. You’re supposed to not like it. You’re white." I always find it funny how the multitude of POC artists or fans with political leanings really never say shit like this, it's only terminally online confrontational losers who always want to pick fights. Funny how many white people "get" music like Common, Cole, Kendrick, Talib etc no problem, but with noname, boy oh boy, white people just can't like it or understand it! Get a grip.
@jayloncollins9681 capital B Black here.
This is a pretty audacious album. Not from her usual perspective, but the amount that she tackles a specific subject. I applaud her for that. In addition to genuinely having some awesome poetic word play and fantastic beats. She's always good for that.
This album, unfortunately, was stock full of the buzziest buzz words, it seemed like she used a generator to meet a quota. Hee previous album, while playing with similar themes, wasn't as apparently "woke" a this. There are ways you can do it well, and ways you can do it less well. This one was the latter.
This album is for a certain kind of black person who THINKS they have the answers, points their fingers and toes at everyone else, then let's Jay electronica do his best Nation of Islam shtick. You ain't as enlightened as you say you are.
That adds a weird hypocritical tone to her music that's supposed to be "with it." And then to get mad at people doing what she does in her music (point fingers and expound on nothing while saying socialism, capitalism, and colonialism) is some of the richest irony I've seen in a long time.
Talented as all get out. But her "activism" sniffs of bull shite.
Tbh she is racist to white people i feel.
That cover is the stuff of nightmares
Thank you, finally someone adressed the real controversy around this album.
Looks like it's ai generated
Doesn’t it look a bit like Dennis Rodman?
@@20thcenturyskin If you think this is what black people actually look like, then I might have some bad news for you. Or good news, depending on how you see it.
@@kasane1337 lmao im not dense. No a majority of black people do not look like this but there are some that do and many people calling the cover “disgusting or nightmare fuel” is inherently anti-black
That cover art is so unnerving
I dont agree with her decision but the fact im hearinf almost exclusively white people complaining abiut this gives complications to the concepts of how black art gets tecueved and what the expectations are. Frankly she can release her art in ehatevrr state she wants, and the criticism to that being so much from a white perspective is strange and makes me wonder what so many propoe sre listening for. Is it to hear someone speak, or just to hear their own stances be read back to them?
I'm just saddened by this whole experience. I always felt that she has been unfairly pegged and criticized as a black woman in an industry that is against them. She had a lot to say that was beautiful, relevant, and showed me, a non-black man, a world I wasn't tapped into. Her music was filled with so much empathy and heart. I don't know what happened, but around 2020, she lost it. I think the pandemic, the BLM movement, the division all coalesced and created a person so jaded and cynical. She can't give kudos any more, she cannot acknowledge anything outside of her self, she is sabotaging her own pockets at every turn. It's a microcosm of what happened to the internet I think. I do like the initiatives she's done. Noname Book Club is a massive good for society. More and more black authors are being put on by her. But man... idk. It's tough to see the bad keep piling up and starting to outweigh the good.
From a music perspective, I think that she hasn't quite shown the growth I expected. It remains the kind of same jazzy rap that she's always been known for. But it feels lesser on this one. I cannot lie when I say the controversial content overshadows the music. Jay Elec calling Zelensky a clown and praising Farrakhan is just... anger-inducing. Noname calling out Kendrick multiple times for almost no reason is bizarre. But there are notes of good here still. beauty supply is a beautiful song and I did enjoy the kind of meta idea of potentially the interlude. Some guests kill it, of course (Billy Woods).
It's just... man... I haven't felt this way about an artist's downfall in a bit. I am so conflicted as Noname is one of my favorite artists ever. I was unphased by most of her shit. Cause I thought she was the underdog. She still thinks she is, but you cannot side with the oppressors and be an underdog. It's not right, morally or spiritually. Hope she can come out of this whole controversy, get to talking to black jewish people (cause I think she'll only listen to them), and get an idea of how to move forward.
bruh, your pfp aint helping im sorry, look up what organization Doom was apart of.
@@jackreeder215no
The lack of charity and the self-destructive cynicism that some really progressive people develop is unfortunately very real and a huge issue nowadays (and I'm saying that as someone who would consider themselves pretty fucking progressive).
Also "you cannot side with the oppressors and be an underdog" really hits the nail on the head with this entire controversy.
@@jackreeder215 ALL CAPS WHEN YOU SPELL THE MAN NAME
Jackreeder215 when he was a 5 precenter he was beasties with MC Serch who is Jewish, he left long before the masked one was born. Go do your homework.
truly respect this review, especially 4:50 - 5:43
As much as I enjoyed this album outside of very obvious controvery, that part made me audibly groan. Burning industry bridges for no reason whatsoever and the nuanced politics of a 10th grader who only recently started watching Hasan Piker.
@@MMoturi22 Yall really missed the point if you think its just a flat out criticism of those people mentioned
@@coling9137 What do you think it is?
@@MMoturi22 She said that its about how we are all forced to serve the capitalist system even if well intentioned
@@coling9137Which is still a retarded point.
boomboom? the worst? cmon now Fanthony
I thought it was cute. I may be biased because I think NoName is cute so it may just be my biases as a guy 😅
Little Simz is who Noname thinks she is.
W
Sundial getting a 5/10 is a 9/11 to all Noname fans
I’m sure both of them will be fine
Im sure that all 3 noname fans are devastated rn
Reminds me of that national tragedy
I am an actual Noname fan, I’d actually give it a 5/10 too lol
@@ozymandias___868 What was the one? Real bad I heard...
1) J. Cole was right 2) Azalea Banks comparisons becoming increasingly apt
This woman spent a Madlib beat on stubbornness, Cole was just being real
It's interesting how differently people perceive things bc I did not see the lyrics about Rihanna, Beyonce, and Kendrick to be shots at all. I saw it more like how Kendrick referenced J. Cole and Future, just examples. I saw it as like "we're all forced to serve the capitalist system" not "fuck these people for serving the capitalist system". Not even insisting I'm right, that's just how it came off to me.
you are right
That part
@@NonameHidinghi Noname
@@NonameHidingoh wow. hi
@@NonameHidingdidn’t expect this one
Gospel is a fantastic cut, one of my favorite songs of the year for sure
woods carried hard
@@alden_blessSILKMONEY verse was great also
Finally, the perfect album to properly mosh to.
Thanks, Melon.
Staying off of Twitter improves my life in a lot of ways, and listening to the album without knowing about all the drama and bullshit let me enjoy it a lot more
Ignorance is bliss
I mean I wouldn’t boil the jaydolf spitler bars down to “drama and bullshit” but even without that verse the whole thing just felt too similar to her last projects to really wow me personally
Same for me but no one can't escape the Jay Electronica verse tho lol.
Still trying to like her music but its tough love
Noname really is becoming a new Azealia Banks as she just has so much talent but doesn't feel like ever shutting tf up.
Azealia at least seems legitimately insane every now and then. Noname is at full control of her mental capacities and still be like this.
It's because she drank the kool aid
I moreso worry that we're getting into Lauryn Hill or Kurt Cobain territory, where this amazingly talented and thoughtful artist is receiving an onslaught of celebrity status and industry pressure that they were not able to handle, and so they're beginning to lash out wherever they can.
@@atlassolid5946respectfully idk I couldn’t see Kurt Cobain platforming someone to make antisemitic remarks on an album. There isn’t a viable personal excuse for that level of harm to a community as hate crimes against Jews are on a national rise.
@@faithg7750 you raise a good point there. I meant more that her mental health might deteriorate to that point. In terms of political opinions and bigotry, op made a pretty apt comparison
She's totally not gonna have a meltdown over this video 🤥
She’s watching saw her in the comments lol
@@imanigordon6803 where? I've been looking for her comment all over but can't find it
Melon and a lot of the comments here are right to challenge Noname on her platforming someone like Jay (for anti semitism and maybe other things) or even her stances on who gets to consume her music in the marketplace (not wanting white folks to listen to her music). However, I think this album is a perfect opportunity to recognize the complexities of folks’ politics and the contradictions that we all live with. Puritanical critiques on who gets to describe themselves as a “leftist” is so washed. Two things can be true at the same time: she can be an earnest proponent for radical, leftist-informed change in our society, while, simultaneously, carrying harmful “hotep” (just because I saw the word, not because I agree) rhetoric. The expectation for people, particularly artists whom have undue attention in our society, to be purveyors or practitioners of perfect political discourse or messaging is pure fantasy.
Outside of some of the songs, I actually liked the album. I don’t typically comment of Melon’s videos as music critique is largely subjective. However, I think the political piece of this album is *actually* interesting.
THANK YOOOUUUU!!!! Honestly it seems like Leftists are the only kind of people who get this amount of flack for this type of stuff. Conservative leaders and celebrities and even centrist dems and capitalists like all the rappers she mentioned are constantly flip flopping on their morals and positions but never get the same level of hate as socialists and other leftists like Noname. It makes sense though, America is always gonna reward centrism and try to starve out the leftism. That’s why they try to find every little thing to tear Noname down even though she’s one of the few rappers out here actually fighting for beneficial systemic changes instead of just acting like the problem is we need more money. The best thing for Black people all over the world is an end to Capitalist American imperialism, most rappers are actively participating in this system.
I agree with this take. Political perfectionism is a direct result of the way internet culture has influenced real political discourse, because it (the internet) allows for a global platform of unending critique, which subjects anything and everything to be absolutely correct and right or to be thrown to the wolves altogether.
Right now, Noname is being devoured by the internet and her own fan base for being wrong about things, and now her whole entire legacy and identity (as a activist and an artist) is being thrown out into the void!
Doubling down on Jay's anti semetic rambling just to get a 5 lmao
I mean did you really think Anthony was gonna give this album a high score? He barely talked about the music and focused on her Twitter antics, of course it was getting a low score
@@blodiaaa6990Anthony is team Jew.
@@jayloncollins9681your antisemitism doesn’t belong here
@@blodiaaa6990he spent like 3 minutes covering that and then went song by song. Cope harder
@@musicalman1995 they own too much it’s not a coincidence.
I would listen to this album but I'm afraid I'll offend Noname with my white ears.
Noname releases her next ep, Hobo J... I mean, Noname alienates her fanbase within the month
I didn’t learn about her til her comments about white audiences and while I agree that the anger is misdirected, I admire her speaking up about this issue about the effects of Black art being mostly consumed by non-Black audiences. (And what follows.) I was always a bigger fan of her values and work like her book program (which I’ve written about for work) than her art and this Jay shit has been heartbreaking to see play out. I lost a lot of respect for her and it colors EVERYTHING she does now.
I dont see black art being consumed by white people as a bad thing. That way people learn about different cultures. It is an accessible way to get rid of ignorance. There are still people who listen to it, just because it sounds nice. But for example TPAB by kendrick put a lot of white folks in the shoes of black people and made them symphatize and less ignorant.
Is it surprising is a country where 13% are black the majority consuming black art are not black? It's stupid bullshit to even think about it. If people relate to your art then they're your ally. Love them and promote unity not segregation. Honestly it's madness.
@@GameTimeNLL It's not all bad, but it is when they become the primary audience because then the genre is decontextualized form Black people and the Black experience. Also as an industry driven by capitalism, the marketing and team behind them will then prioritize white audiences if they don't do it themselves. Rock, Jazz, House, Disco, and Pop are all seen as white genre or as mixed but all the people who get credit for being greats are white people. Much of these genres were called "race music" and the main one that gets mixed credit now, pop, is pop for white people and "urban" for most Black people in the genre. I give rap another 15-30 years before most famous people in the genre are non-Black if it remains the most popular medium.
Black music has been accessible since we arrived here (especially during hte latter half of chattel slavery when spirituals and the blues developed becoming the basis for most music today) and there's plentyy of very racist people in power than could do good but will put on their Billie Holiday or Dojacat and make Black people's lives a living hell for fun or a paycheck so miss me.
Now with (a lot but def not all) of Kpop the beats, music videos, and fashion have been removed to as they (through management that mirrors motwon and is bad for them to take for their own health) is being sold to the newest generation of teens. Between that and calling it from the internet not Black culture (Billie Eilish' whole asthetic and way of speaking until recently) we've not learned from it but instead adapted a new form of theft.
(finally) As a fan of Melon and half white myself, I'm obviously not against white people listening to Black music.
@@AlyssaMakesArt Are there people who think Jazz, Disco and Rock are white genres?
They must be delusional.
@@GameTimeNLLIt’s not that white people consuming black art is bad in of itself. That’s not even Noname’s issue. Its the EFFECTS of this phenomena in the face of the way that our culture of consumption perverts and appropriates black art while giving nothing in return.
Noname’s frustration was with exploiting her intention to give messages about black trauma for money. And historically, black music genres have been massively appropriated and removed from context that makes them meaningful for mass sales/distribution- which requires marketing to white people. Every huge mainstream black artist needs a large white fanbase to sustain themselves. Even if they made that art with the intention of expressing an intimate cultural experience. It’s like if I wanted to make art about being disabled but had to express that art mainly to abled people in order for it to be successful; it would feel like tap dancing.
But even deeper, the idea of success in art is detached from the simple goal of genuinely expressing it, and re-attached to commercial success. So it’s easy for the art to be divorced from its meaning & origin, becoming a commodified shell of itself. Just look up commodity fetishism. Just because you like the music doesn’t mean the conditions that created it or even it’s message is of real immediacy to you. You can just enjoy it as a product and move on.
*And this isn’t a concept unique to Noname, I mean Kendrick conceptually & lyrically expressed this in his album alongside literal tap dancing sounds. Noname just handles it poorly. But this is why I critique your statement bc it overlooks a basic issue surrounding being a black artist they they constantly communicate in their music. You claim that white ppl have greater understanding thru listening but your comment indicates an actual lack of understanding despite these repeated musical messages. which is my point*
If economically consuming black art was actually an effective means of dispelling ignorance, racism would be very endangered. Considering many of the most popular genres stem from black culture. Of course on an individual basis it can help but not on any large meaningful scale. And just because you sympathize & even learn a little about another group, that doesn’t mean that you take further steps to educate yourself & others around you, deconstruct certain ideologies, and actively do things to help that same community who’s art you consume for enjoyment. That’s something that would create structural change if every listener did it. Understand that black people or any marginalized people do not want your sympathy. They want structural change that can only come from true mass solidarity.
But instead of just realizing this is how our profit-driven music industry works and addressing the root issue she took it out on the white fans themselves. Which can’t actually fix any of the issues I addressed above. Only addressing the structural economy can. Like I would say she should market to black demographics more like fantano but that won’t fix anything either. It’ll just create a self serving bubble for her. Which is a pipe dream anyway in the industry. She can’t blame her white fans for her inability to connect with more black people. She can only blame the industry, structural economy, and her own marketing tactics.
I love NoName’s music, but as a Jew I just can’t spin her anymore. I am an active supporter of dismantling white supremacy, patriarchy, protecting Palestinian lives, etc, but the fact she equates Jay’s antisemitism with just being anti-white supremacy is vile.
That's the actual album cover? That'll definitely give me nightmares.
aw, the widdle baby hurt by women not being attractive?
the album art looks fucking fine lmao
@@MelMelodyWernerGo outside
@@MelMelodyWerner I'm just hurt because it burn my eyes. But it's okay if your mom looks like that, we understand why you're so upset, poor witto bitty baby
@@MelMelodyWernergoogle “hyperbole“and “joke” pls.
@@rinyald_musicyou telling him to go outside is ironic seeing as that everything outside is not the typical standard of beauty.
Maybe you should take your own advice. I’m sure your mom auntie sis or some woman you love isn’t the most attractive but that’s ok. Everything and everyone isn’t. There’s beauty in that.
Went from being this girls biggest fan to just being so disappointed in her politics. How you gonna call yourself a leftist, make it your whole identity and then pull this shit. Then her responses are just so weak and dismissive.
she shared part of an interview on her instagram story that said
"You can’t be a revolutionary with broken gender politics. You can’t be a revolutionary and be homophobic. And this is before we even get to capitalism. To be homophobic, transphobic and misogynistic? No, you’re not a revolutionary. You’re not even a radical. You’re actually quite status quo. What it was was a radical sound, and that’s not even true anymore."
To not see how accepting and allowing antisemitism on her album and how platforming ignorance and hate makes her EXACTLY the same as these fake revolutionary "conscious" rappers that this person is referring to, blows my mind. It's baffling how she can be so blatantly ignorant and indifferent. This is ther person who changed her name because she learned it was offensive and now she's unapologetically having "Jaydolf Spitler" come on her album and spit an antisemitic verse.
Ridiculous
lol
You’re white, White Europeans of all nations committed all kinds of atrocities on Black and Jewish people alike. It’s not your place to talk about any of this, use that energy for YOUR people who have the historical weight of MULTIPLE GENOCIDES and pogroms on Black and Jewish people. Stfu PLEAAAASE
I feel like the Jay Electronica vs Jay-Z difference is that Jay-Z and Beyonce make a big deal about being black billionaires and how great that is. When of course being a billionaire inherently involves harming others and being enmeshed in the social status quo. Jay Z is actually out here living off exploitation, and that doesn't excuse Jay Electronica having sus lyrics but it is a different thing.
I also think that despite the NOI's regressivism and antisemitism, the fact that it was a rallying point for lots of black people during extremely difficult times would be something Noname is aware of. Not that it would or should make her express sympathy to NOI, but that's not even what she did anyway. She showed love to someone ELSE who had sympathies to NOI. I can see why it stings when Noname, who already felt commodified and othered by her white fans, sees those white fans eager to judge without having an understanding of black experiences or how NOI has played into them historically. A lot of those white twitter users are more concerned with having the correct opinions than with actually doing real good or healing.
*Showed love to someone else who is an anti semite.
This is a lot of mental gymnastics to excuse bigotry.
@@shadez123when did whites earn the right to call others bigots and racists? It happened very gradually but there was a specific year when you guys finally got the last piece of cloth off the table without knocking over anything in your magic trick.
@@shadez123 I wasn't trying to excuse it. To be clear, I don't think Jay Electronica should name drop Farrakhan or put anti-Semitic lyrics in his verses. Those things are bad. The NOI is not something I support. And though I see her rationale I ultimately don't think Noname should have allowed a verse that cites Farrakhan on her album.
I just think it's worth assessing why she might have had this reaction, instead of just writing her off as stupid or fake.
@@griffinc466Farrakhan gets name dropped on hip hop shit all the time, not that Jay was right, but this is something that’s been present in the hip hop community for decades and it’s pretty telling that everyone is so quick to admonish the black woman for it when she ain’t even say it herself or has ever expressed any sort of antisemitism. It’s weird how people are getting so mad about this when mfers are doing so much worse on a daily
@@kylanchandler3545 I agree
Good lord this comment section is a hot mess...
The Coachella bar, man, that really rubbed me the wrong way. "I'll call these guys out for going corporate, but welp I performed there anyway as if I didn't have a choice, guess I will get this bag and then keep tweeting about how money corrupts artists." - girl how does that scan?? I'll tell you how: it scans major hypocrite.
Yes shes literally saying she is no perfect just like Kendrick and Beyonce, I'm not sure how you got that unless youre like listening in bad faith
@@coling9137 yea we can get that it's the intention. we don't have to care about her self-aggrandising on wax though
@@smidlem1117 how is she self aggrandizing when she’s criticizing herself???
What?? That line is herself pointing out her hypocrisy lmao
Coachella isn't comparable to the Super Bowl
9:53 precisely the problem. U can't throw shade at Hov when u out here collabing with an artist signed to him
It's just wild that she got so defensive about the Jay verse saying she isn't anti-semitic just to have Jay rap an incredibly anti-semitic verse lol
......dude he said one line about the Rothschild family......how is that "incredibly anti-semetic"
You dumbasses always say "don't call out all jews, call them out by name"
He calls the Rothschild family out by name, and it's still anti-semetic. This is so fucking stupid and frustrating.
Thanks for reviewing this album. Noname is the greatest racist rapper since Ye 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Fantano: including a known anti semite on your album and then doubling down on it is not a good look
Noname fans: you’re biased and launching personal attacks
Noname makes music for people that call you ableist for asking them to wash the dishes
As someone who had never heard of Noname before watching this review, I went and listened to the album first. It just sounded like a good socially conscious, jazzy, soul, r&b, rap album. I'm not gonna judge the album by her personality or her views because I don't know her. All I know is the music and it was actually cool to listen to. I don't rate albums anymore but if I did, I'd give it a 7.5. Now I'm interested in her previous albums. If Fantano likes her but is disappointed in this, there must be a treasure chest I haven't opened yet.
Damn.
I’m not heavily invested here, but I still feel like there’s gonna be some fallout for this review. It feels like a pretty scathing indictment, even if it’s not meant to be. I guess we’ll find out.
Can't believe I ever used to be a vicious Jay Elect defender 💀
What he do wrong?
I mean his music is honestly amazing but sometimes he just goes too far
@@guts1258 I love his music but he shits on Jews so much. It's always taken out of context hence why I defended, but now he's doing it on every song including this feature.
The things he says are not necessarily that bad and are often stretched but the frequency at which he is dropping bars like this has led me to give up defending the lyrics
@@Spectre0799 also his feature on red by IDK 😭
its me pluggingfr 😉
@@Spectre0799Jay is a registered member of the nation of Islam, a vocally anti semitic org. See the Wikipedia page called, "Nation of Islam and antisemitism"
Ehh I agree with the issues about Jay Electronica but this definitely just sounds like a liberal who doesn't understand noname's politics being confused. There actually is a difference between a socialist that does an event for money and dedicates the rest of her time to getting radical literature to imprisoned black people and a capitalist who does shady venues and then does nothing else and then talk down on the black community all the time (a la Kendrick). These are substantially different positions. Again, I agree though that Noname pulling Jay Elect for a record is both inconsistant and harmful/shameful. I think she hears his bars about Armaggedon and thinks that this makes him a revolutionary like her--likely in part do to the fact that a lot of black leftism has maintained ties to the black church. At the end of the day, Jay Elect and Farrakhan are conservatives, preaching a reactionary politics with a revolutionary veneer. There's a reason that the Black Panthers were destroyed outright by the FBI but the NOI has been allowed to remain.
"the anti-Semite is inevitably a negrophobe." --Frantz Fanon
Album cover is beyond comprehension
Smells AI generated to me
@@michealhaines no one should trust your judgement on art because you are too dumb or inexperienced to recognize when it is made by a person or not lmao
It is Homo Floresiensis.
It is supposed to be an exaggeration of the African phenotype made to call out stereotypical portrayals of African-descended people.
@@michealhainessame tbh
Noname doesn't care about your review, Melon. She's going to do a livestream explaining why you're wrong, you don't understand, and she doesn't care
And a long twitter thread, melon must understand she doesn't care.
I promise she is going to care or respond
and another thing, she's not mad. Please don't put it in the newspapers that she got mad
This is review is going to cause Noname to cancel her next to albums
Years ago fantano gave Noname a glowing review (twice) him mentioning her got me into her!
She's so cringey and hypocritical for that jay electronica feature, whatever I know she won't lose sleep if I dont listen. Just dissapointed constantly with her.
Noname did use to be called Noname Gypsy...
And she chose to change it because she learned. I didn't know the history of the word either and I grew up in the same city, same education system, and same environment she did. I'd be willing to bet most Americans didn't know it was a slur pre 2020 and probably still don't. Which is why someone like Lady Gaga still named a song using the word fairly recently. That Fleetwood Mac song get's hellah karaoke play here in the Midwest. Nobody has perfect knowledge.
all the hiatus, all the controversies for this??? yeah we need to hear her cancelled album, because this ain't it
For albums like this I’m thankful that you exist Fantanto
shitting on jay electronica's farrakhan references not even three days after calling It Takes a Nation a top ten hip hop album
At least it has that production from the bomb squad
I'm sure you are aware but there are plenty of differences; his takes are not incompatible.
@@Hal9000ize ya that shit is fire
By this logic Illmatic is not a good album because Nas used the F slur on it. And we don’t allow that these days so nobody should praise Illmatic anymore
@@rouge939 all im saying is i wish he addressed it when he talked about the album
Noname's music is a product of and fuel for the op-ed industrial complex. NPR-core.
Not you nailing the fugazi level activism masquerading as the "real activism." 😂
@@shettywapwhat's wrong with Fugazi they're a great band
@@mouldyseagull887 can't tell if you're joking but fugazi is an actual word with meaning outside of the band lol
this is true, NPR is feds
Reading opinions on Reddit and other reviews on TH-cam, it's kinda comical how many hoops people are jumping through to justify the antisemitic shit. 😂
*one line about the Rothschild family*
It’s all rather interesting.
I enjoyed the album quite a bit. The band really hits a groove on this one-maybe I missed it, but I was surprised you didn’t give a shout out to the bass.
It seems Noname’s behavior is rather eclectic. While I agree with her politics, I imagine the pressure of having a platform and being on the internet has influenced her to be so spontaneous, or “ultra” as some will say it.
But I can’t entirely blame Noname. It’s dumb she included Jay Electronica on the album but society needs to stop looking up to celebrities as agents of change and reason when most of the time they’re puppets of capital. We really need to reassess who our community leaders our (our teachers, tenant unions, UPS drivers). Hip Hop is (traditionally) grassroots yes but you’ll get more exposure being on the ground than soaking in what your favorite rapper has to say about politics. So go join an org!
Namesake specifically referencing Kendrick for the Super Bowl performance where he DID play his biggest song from 7 years ago, had to edit lyrics, and played a part in THE show. I do feel like that’s bullshit to call out as a negative. Also back to the Jay Electronica thing, we’re we making the same stance against Kodak Black being on Kendrick’s album? I don’t think so, we were all just excited for more Kendrick to the point where we can let his association for someone that assaults women go, though someone who arguably by the way, associates with Jay E is held completely accountable for what HE says.
To be honest, I only really got interested into Noname's music as late as 2020 soon after she dropped Song 33. I vibed with what she was trying to hold J. Cole accountable for, and I'm glad they both eventually patched things up later on.
But since August of 2021, I deleted my Twitter account and didn't really keep up with how she was moving over there. And while I can understand her frustration with having a mostly liberal, white fan base, she had every opportunity to change her style to fit multiple demographics including the black community. But her years long efforts to move away from her white fans has only turned away the potential of having more black fans as well. Especially with the feature & defense of Jay Electronica.
When I began listening to her older music before 2020, she was gradually starting to become one of my favorite rappers, and then I find about all of this literally today. And so much about this feels so surreal to me.
Idk, I just feel immensely hurt & disappointed about Noname's blatant hard-headedness and hypocrisy. And her even admitting that she's a hypocrite in her track about Coachella doesn't absolve her of any guilt at all whatsoever.
Way too many of the things she's been doing lately outside of music only makes her look like someone who only enjoys the potential social benefits of being a leftist/progressive activist without actually wanting to do any of the hard work to self-decolonize, listen, learn, grow from mistakes, and work to become as fully empathetic and intersectionally aware as possible.
But unfortunately, it seems that Noname now only cares about advocating for herself only, and she doesn't care who she hurts in her path to doing so.
Really great take on the situation
@@RogerCarucciThanks man, I appreciate it.
The point on that track is that capitalism eventually forces those kinds of compromises for laborers (in regards to Coachella) it requires no apology. As for the jay electronica, there's really no excuse for that. Just a lengthy history of antisemitism seeped into the black community beginning largely with Milton Cooper and "Behold A Pale Horse".
Also, what has she been doing outside of music besides public comments that would make you say that? The initiatives she works on have been all about making education for people who want and need it most, but lack the resources, more accessible. Again not downplaying the JE collab. But this just seems like you aren't actually tuned into what she does outside of music besides controversy related to the music which isn't even really outside of her persona as a musician.
@@stephonb12 Look bro, I'm not about to spend all night arguing with you, because I have way more important stuff to do. But I am going to give you this one and only response.
If Noname legitimately wanted to broaden her audience outside the scope of a mostly white & liberal fanbase, why would she choose to perform at Coachella? She wasn't forced to go there & she could have definitely worked her way into making some connections to perform at an event with more black fans in attendance like at a Rolling Loud show or something similar.
Being asked to perform at the Super Bowl & deciding to perform at Coachella are two very different things (in my honest opinion). Yes, compromises of artists & laborers will eventually happen, but we all still have some agency about how we go about choosing those compromises.
And you're right, Noname has done more things than just tweet and make music. Her starting a Leftist/Progressive Activist Book Club is something to be admired and respected (in addition to any other on the ground work that she may have done). But we keep heading to the core issue. Noname's active refusal to hold herself accountable for purposely allowing Jay Electronica to spit the antisemitic verses that he did in a way that went seemingly unopposed.
If Noname was willing to hold J. Cole accountable for the out of tune remarks he made a few years back, then what's stopping her from holding Jay accountable? It's not like she doesn't read her fans' disappointed comments because she was quite literally in the replies of another fan's comment (on this video mind you) who was entirely deflecting on her behalf (unsurprisingly). Her ego gets gassed up each & every time a goofy fan hypes her up and never questions her very unintersectional & hard-headed decision to let abhorrent antisemitic vitriol be a permanent stain against her rap career. And your deflection in her favor isn't helping her in the way that you may think it is.
And apparently, she has no problem with allowing Jay Electronica's antisemitism to tarnish her reputation. Which is exactly why I've been so hurt and disappointed by Noname as of late. If she's the type of person to be too insecure to explain her actions around why she let Jay say what he said, then until further notice, I personally don't want anything else to do with her or with her music. Regardless of the good work that she's done in her past.
And with all due respect, if you respond to this reply, I will not be replying back, because you've wasted enough of my time. And like I said before, I have many more important things to do than argue with a random stranger online. On my end, this is the end of our conversation. I sincerely hope you take it easy out there.
Interesting, thought this was her most polished/introspective work, touched heavily on the Black social experiment, she definitely makes music for the audience she covets, sometimes guests have to remember they are indeed guests
THANK YOOOOOU
If Noname ever gets to watching this review , um sure another shot show will begin
Wow, never would've thought she had such thin skin. Does she actually respond to all criticism? 😪
@@BrookieCookie317Yes
@@BrookieCookie317She’s already in the comments if you look around.
@@xroyalstevenx9151woah , the comment section for this video? I can't seem to find her
anti semitism is a bad thing, that should be a universally agreed stance, but somehow it is not
109 countries were all just being mean. Jews can never be criticized for anything. Jews are my masters. Give more money to Isreal so they can bulldoze more Palestinian homes. I fucking love jews so much.
Whole discourse is so geeky
Pretty disappointed, ngl...a Killer Mike verse about how dope being a landlord is would have really taken the sloppy ideological hypocrisy to the next level. Missed opportunity.
i really liked her, dude 😕 telefone was the soundtrack to my high school years, almost got it tattooed on me
lol
Lmfao
Bullet dodged bro
Username checks out
@@rouge939 WHAT
Anthony is spitting straight facts in that intro🔥
say what you will about the lyrics, but its biggest fault is how boring it is.
The cover is clearly meant to alternate any sighted fans. So her core demo of black, blind, far left, anti-Semitic, hard right, Islamic fans should be pretty pleased with her effort.
Why does it feel like you are reviewing her as a person rather than the music. I don't feel like you kept the same energy with reviewing Ye after Kanye's "Slavery was a choice" comment. Cuz that was just as gross as anything Jay has said. And Kanye wasn't a feature, it was his album.
Because that's exactly what he's doing
Saying anti black shit is cool to white rap fans unfortunately 🤷🏿♂️
When Fantano doesn't like someone as a person it absolutely effects his view of their music.
@@Beastmode298 Since when is criticising antisemitism anti black shit? Are you suggesting that being antisemitic is intrinsic to being black?
@@David-ii2op it feels a bit worse it being a black woman he’s trashing. I’m not saying Killer Mike was right but this review isn’t a good look for him.
Hi, Offtopic question here, anyone knows the name of another black female rapper who only released one album ( as far as i know) and the songs were like 1 minute each. I listened it around 2018, i cant remember anything else but it was really good
Tierra whack maybe?
Tierra Whack
Thank you both 👍
Comments vibe check: FAILED
Boom Boom comes from a long line of tracks like that... the ones with a little self-awareness (awkwardness) are the best, IMO, but I know many people disagree about that.
I agree that there's a problem with Jay Electronica's verse on this album, but having features that contradict your views on your record is so common in hip hop. She's getting a much more magnified reaction to it than many other artists have. In some sense she brought it on herself by reacting so publically and poorly, but something about this taking over all conversation of this album feels off.
The reaction to this one verse feels like it's 10x the reaction Kendrick got for repeatedly featuring Kodak Black on his last album. This review takes on the drama for nearly half it's runtime. Kendrick got a passing mention and an excuse.
I think the problem with comparing it to Kodak & Kendrick is that
1.) Noname directly hosted Jay Electronica’s problematic verse and not just the a normal whatever Jay Electronica verse like Kendrick did with Kodak. If Kendrick did a song where Kodak was talking about how sexual assault is good or doubling down, as wild as that would be, that would be more comparable.
2.) The response was so dismissive and disrespectful that it would warrant more of a harsh response if they thought Jay’s inclusion was truly a problem.
3.) I think this one issue reveals more about a continued problem with Noname. I don’t think this would be as big if it was an isolated incident.
"Features that contradict your views is good" is not an excuse to spit pure hatred towards minorities. Stop justifying antisemitism
@@kilderslive I'm not justifying it. If anything, I'm pushing back on artists getting away with promoting problematic views in this genre with very little consequence. We should be more equally loud about problematic views in hip hop; there are a lot of them.
Kendrick did not make try to make excuses tho.
@@lovelaj0149 It doesn’t seem like Jay Electronica’s verse contradicts her views at all. Not once in all of her responses has she said she disagrees with what Jay Electronica said. Her response to people calling her out about Jay Electronica was to say that she is against white supremacy, which suggests that she sees Jay’s verse declaring a war on Jews as simply him being against white supremacy.
Anthony really gaslighting @ 9:00
FFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRR
i was looking for this comment. its literally textbook tone policing too
Thankyou Anthony for calling out no names BS. I respect her massively as a musician and poet but she's politically very dodgy. I wouldn't accept the narratives she pushes from a white musician and I won't accept it from a black one either.
Colorblindness must be nice from that priviledged high horse
@@shuheihisagi6689 I see colour. I see a racist black woman and I don't like it.
@@shuheihisagi6689wtf are you talking w
This is a really bad review. Anthony sounds hurt & ready to fight. He really missed a lot of the points because he’s not black. Sucks an amazing album is getting so much hate. But then again I think she wants the hate so she can be underground & just have her black fans.
I never really agreed with what I heard about Noname and this is the only full album I’ve heard from her, but I definitely enjoyed it more than a 5/10
You should try her Telefone album , it's really quite great
Yeah, I’d say a seven. Fantano has a pretty rough history with noname though (despite enjoying her music) so I get that affects his enjoyment quite a lot.
@@nuttellaguy6315Does he? Never knew that tbh, have they debated or has he historically disagreed with her points?
I’d say Telefone and Room 25 are a lot better, check them out.
Especially Room 25, the music on that record is gorgeous (in no small part due to Noname spending her budget on a 12-piece orchestra for it).
@@thenameisomari he’s historically disagreed with quite a lot of her points, that’s caused noname to talk about him on Twitter and block him there.
I still think he overall sees her activism as great but, as he made a point of in the video, all the baggage surrounding this album really soured it for him. It did for me too tbh, that Jay elec feature really ruined some of the other otherwise fine songs for me.
While I do agree with the criticism, I don’t think most of it should have affected the albums score. Much of the criticism was about intent and reaction, not the actually project. I think it’s easily a solid 7.
Noname was scared of introducing her politic into her music until she fell in with other radicalized black artists, and then she flipped the switch on that so hard that it always feels to me she's vying for their approval and to feel like she's doing the 'right' thing to impress her toxic twitter friend group.
She has always been political in her music you obviously didn’t listen
No one seems to care about islamaphobia in the USA, if so it’s generally performative. The muslims and arabs, while sometimes getting leftist performative support on social media when it comes to israel V palestine. But outside of that, there is few a people as dehumanized and villainized as the arab/muslim in the west. The fact that flies under the radar so much in light of the focus on antisemitism (which is abhorrent in its own right, no one deserves discrimination) is a huge problem and can make me as an arab/muslim feel an unjustified dismissal of our suffering. Whether you like it or not, this is a reality and I am waiting for more public awareness out of this. People continue to associate islam with extremism but justify it by saying “well they are oppressed, and we as the west want to free their minds!!” but that is western ego at its finest - i’m praying one day we can all find a balance. I guarantee if there was a figure similar to Jay elec that was rapping about islamaphobic themes, people would care infinitely less - that is my guess based on my experience living and growing up here but i’m hope i’m wrong.
anyway love y’all
playing the oppression olympics is never a good idea. Any discrimination based on race, ethnicity or whatever is bad and should be called out when seen. When you say that antisemitism gets more focus than islamaphobia, it seems like you just want a larger cut of the leftist sympathy pie.
Listening after the album after told not to, what a mad-lad
I can’t get over pitchfork’s rating of this record. Such blatant bigotry and they don’t even care. The other songs could’ve been perfect and it wouldn’t matter
Im sure this won’t be a shit show on twitter
This was extremely well worded. Love Melon.