Noname has shown she’s not afraid to hold some of the biggest names in music accountable by calling out JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Rihanna for their relationships with the NFL.
The Chicago rapper released her new album Sundial on Friday (August 11), ending the five-year wait after her critically acclaimed 2018 project Room 25.
Common, Jay Electronica and billy woods headline the impressive supporting cast, but it’s one of Noname’s solo offerings, “Namesake,” that commands listeners’ attention as she criticizes the aforementioned megastars for cozying up to the National Football League and performing at the Super Bowl.
“Read in between the line at the crime scene/ I ain’t fucking with the NFL or JAY-Z,” she raps on the funky, Slimwav-produced track. “Propaganda for the military complex, the same gun that shot lil’ Terry/ Out West, the same gun that shot Senair in the West Bank/ We all think the Super Bowl is the best thing.”
Adopting a cheer-squad voice, she continues: “Go, Rihanna, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high/ War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time/ Go, Beyoncé, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high/ War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time/ Go, Kendrick, go! Watch the fighter jet fly high/ War machine gets glamorized, we play the game to pass the time.”
Noname doesn’t just punch up at the big names, though; in the very next bar, she turns the microscope on herself and raps: “Go, Noname, go! Coachella stage got sanitized/ I said I wouldn’t perform for them and somehow I still fell in line… fuck!”
