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She absorbed the criticism and took it upon herself to create an avenue for others to grow along with her. When she was called out for her errant capitalism comment, she didn’t complain, she didn’t lash out or ask “how you gon’ lead, when you attackin’ the very same n****s that really do need the sh*t that you sayin’?” like Cole did. A month later she started a book club, and she’s since become one of the most ardent abolitionist voices on Twitter. The reaction to her tweet sparked her to start reading radical texts. In June 2019, she tweeted that “capitalism isn’t evil,” and got “dragged” by Twitter users who informed her that a system predicated on a necessity for poor people was indeed wicked. He noted that his mindset was, “f*ck a retweet,” but Noname credits Twitter with opening her eyes.
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Her original name was Noname Gypsy, and when people informed her that gypsy was a racial slur against Romanian people, she dropped the term from her name. Noname has been open about not coming into the rap game with a radical praxis. With those bars, Cole committed one of the deadliest sins of being loud: being wrong.
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With parents that know ’bout the struggle for liberation and in turn they provide her withĪ perspective and awareness of the system and unfairness that afflicts ’emĪnd the clearest understandin’ of what we gotta do to get free” “She strike me as somebody blessed enough to grow up in conscious environment Though Cole didn’t mention her (perhaps as a play on “Noname”), he rhymed about “a young lady out there, she way smarter than me / I scrolled through her timeline in these wild times, and I started to read,” leading many people to speculate that he was talking about Noname. It’s an ambiguous niche that he’s cultivated throughout the years, and it seems like Noname was the latest person in his crosshairs. But instead of releasing a song highlighting the tragedy of her loss, or affirming the people demonstrating for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, Cole channeled his inner Fox News anchor and policed a messenger instead of promoting their message.Ĭole has a penchant for penning explicative, observational verses about artists like Kanye West, his friend Wale, and the entire community of young “ SoundCloud rappers” that, perhaps because of his earnest public persona, aren’t framed by fans as malevolent disses as much as tough love. Salau was fighting for the liberation of people who didn’t have the courage to fight for her. So many Black women on Twitter grieved her loss and lamented that they felt in danger from both the state and Black men like Aaron Glee, who has been arrested for the crime. But it wouldn’t be surprising if the sentiment hurt her during a week that’s already been tough for Black women.Įarlier this week, Oluwatoyin Salau, a 19-year-old activist from Florida, was found dead days after publicly tweeting that she was sexually assaulted. Noname replied to the record by tweeting “Queen Tone” last night, seemingly joking Cole’s criticisms off. The tone-deaf track showed Cole’s novice understanding of radical politics when he could have been uplifting Black women. The flagrant misogyny of “Snow On The Bluff” undercut whatever conversation Cole was trying to start within the Black community. But when a Black woman culls that same 400-years-simmering flame, she’s chastised. Cole’s idol Tupac once started a 1993 speech by noting that he was asked not to curse, then saying “f*ck that” because “it’s bad out there, it ain’t pretty…so let’s be real.” The crowd applauded him. Now, Cole is accusing her of “conveying she’s holier” than thou, questioning the tone of her rhetoric. The 28-year-old has started a book club highlighting seminal radical texts and exposes the interwoven dynamics of systemic oppression every day on her Twitter account.Įarlier this week, she was verbally undercut and gaslit by Boots Riley during a Haymarket Books-sponsored This Is An Uprising conversation. His indecision is understandable, but what’s unacceptable is that he spent most of the track criticizing an anonymous person who sounds an awful lot like Noname, an artist who’s been inspiringly decisive about her desire for revolution. He used a sparse beat to offer his thoughts on the difficulties of learning about systemic oppression, and admit that he’s unsure if he’s using his platform correctly. Unfortunately, many listeners wish he hadn’t. Cole released “ Snow On The Bluff,” an of-the-times confessional on which the North Carolina MC let the world know what’s on his heart.