Chicago rapper Noname released a new track titled “Song 33” today, just two days after J. Cole seemed to address her politics on his latest single, “Snow On Tha Bluff.” The Madlib-produced “Song 33” begins by reflecting on violence against Black women, particularly pointing to the recent murder of 19-year-old Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau:
Why Toyin body don’t embody all the life she wanted?
A baby just nineteen
I know I dream all Black
I seen her everything, immortalized in tweets all caps
They say they found her dead
She underscores this theme throughout the track with a refrain of “One girl missin', another one go missin'.” The second verse references multiple recent events, including the deaths of Salau and George Floyd as well as several incidents of Black men found hanged from trees. Noname notes the silence she’s seen from certain artists about these issues:
But n-ggas in the back quiet as a church mouse
Basement studio when duty calls to get the verse out
I guess the ego hurt now
It’s time to go to work, wow, look at him go
He really ‘bout to write about me when the world is in smokes?
When there’s people in trees?
When George was beggin’ for his mother sayin' he couldn’t breathe?
He thought to write about me?
Cole’s “Snow On Tha Bluff” drew a polarized reaction due to its apparent critique of Noname’s political activism on social media. Some fans were upset by lyrics on the song that seemed to “tone police” Noname and tell her to dumb down her message to reach more people. Chance the Rapper, an early Noname collaborator, called Cole’s song “not constructive,” saying it “undermines all the work Noname has done.”
The third verse of “Song 33” appears to address this further, as Noname questions why it’s unreasonable for her to expect others to educate themselves:
Yo, but little did I know all my readin' would be a bother
It’s trans women bein' murdered and this is all he can offer?
And this is all y’all receive?
Distracting you from the convo wit' organizers
They talkin' abolishin' the police
And this a new world order
Cole acknowledged Noname’s track shortly after its release, sharing a link to the song on Twitter.
He previously responded to backlash against “Snow On Tha Bluff,” saying, “I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night.” He did, however, encourage fans to listen to Noname’s music and admit his gaps in knowledge. “Meanwhile a n-gga like me just be rapping. I haven’t done a lot of reading and I don’t feel well equipped as a leader in these times,” he said. “But I do a lot of thinking. And I appreciate her and others like her because they challenge my beliefs and I feel that in these times that’s important.”
Meanwhile, “Song 33” ends with a simple declaration:
I’m the new vanguard
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Noname’s “Song 33” and J. Cole’s “Snow On Tha Bluff” on Genius now.
