Noname has released her first solo song of the year. “Song 33” references the killings of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau and also appears to address J. Cole’s new track, “Snow on Tha Bluff.”
On the Madlib-produced single, the Chicago rapper discusses Salau’s disappearance and killing. “A baby just 19/I know I dream all black/I seen her everything immortalized in tweets, all caps/They say they found her dead,” she raps. “One girl missing another one go missing/One girl missing another.”
In another verse she appears to address J. Cole’s “Snow on Tha Bluff,” which J. Cole dropped earlier this week. In it, he discusses recent Black Lives Matter discourse, which prompted backlash from many who believe he was being critical of Noname, though neither artist names the other in their songs, and that his intentions were misguided.
Noname has been critical of her peers’ lack of response to the current contentious climate. J. Cole’s song details reading the social media of someone whom he calls “way smarter than me” and her reference to celebrities, which he thinks may be referring to him. He raps, “there’s something about queen tone that’s bothering me.” Following the release of the song, Noname tweeted, then deleted “QUEEN TONE.” J. Cole tweeted that he stood by his song and also tweeted to follow Noname. “I love and honor her as a leader in these times.”
“He really bout to write about me/When the world is in smokes?,” Noname raps in her new song. “When it’s people in trees?/When George begging for his mother saying he couldn’t breathe/You thought to write about me?”
Cole tweeted Noname’s “Song 33” after she released it on Thursday.
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) June 18, 2020
