Noname - Room 25 Review

Context:

It has been five years since Chicagoan poet and rapper ‘Noname Gypsy’ was first introduced to the world with her verse on ‘Lost’ from Chance the rapper’s Acid Rap. I was obsessed with this album and her verse in particular, which sent me on a mission to download everything she was involved in. I spent hours searching out all of her of features, from Mick Jenkins to Smino. I fell in love with her unofficial telephone project which you can still find on YouTube and is packed with her signature combination of playful beats and thought provoking and emotive raps; I played Paradise pretty much on repeat for months. In 2016, she officially released ‘Telefone’ after announcing she’d be wiping her Soundcloud clean and changing her name. The album was everything I wanted from Noname at the time and it showcased her talents for lyricism and manipulation of words beautifully while remaining constantly entertaining throughout. Her understanding of the way certain words accompany one another and work together is clearly routed in her background in poetry and spoken word, a depth of knowledge which shone through in this album via her complex rhyme schemes. 5 years from ‘Lost’ and I remain firmly of the belief that Noname has never delivered a bad verse. She is flawless on every song, hence the hype and excitement when she announced the release of her second album this September.

Overview and lyrics:

The album opens with a soulful, dreamy beat that feels like Noname is waking back up to the rap world, as we wake up to her new work. Her flow is smooth and dances to your ear as she questions what her album will be about. She says ‘You really thought a bitch couldn’t rap huh? Maybe this your answer for that’. The album, then, subtly and calmly proves her place as a woman in the rap game in which she jokes ‘niggas only talking about money and good pussy’, suggesting that her music need not be compared to that of typical male rappers. Phoelix again lent his hand at the production for Noname, this time pretty much taking care of the whole album. The two clearly have a real chemistry as her style of flow and lyricism is paired perfectly with all the beats. There seemed to be a lot more variation of beats, from the idyllic Disney-like start of ‘Window’ to the smoother but faster Smino and Saba driven ‘Ace’ and the more jazzy and funky ‘Blaxploitation’, all of which are real highpoints of the album for me. The latter song sees Noname throw a barrage of imagery and metaphors at her listener as she quickly and cleverly skips between bars about beauty standards, politics and, predominantly, race. She expresses feelings of hypocrisy for eating Chick-Fil-A because she likes their food despite their support for anti-LGBT groups, using this a metaphor for today’s society, in which even your fast food choice is a political statement. She then brings out one of the funnier lines of the album with ‘Keep the hot sauce in her purse and she be real, real blacky just like a Hillary Clinton.’, in reference to the practice of political pandering of U.S. parties in order to procure African American attention and votes. This comes a little after ‘I'm struggling to simmer down, maybe I'm an insomni-black’ which, for me, was reminiscent of Kendrick discussing being labelled schizophrenic on ‘Blacker the Berry’, as both artists mock the notion that African Americans are more vulnerable to mental conditions genetically due to their race rather than actually due to their ostracized position in society. Both artists highlight the irony in political attempts to address African American issues, in this case mental illness, while entirely avoiding any responsibility, instead adopting a paternal, patronising stance.

Further highlights for me in terms of lyricism and messaging come from the ‘Prayer Song’ and ‘Don’t Forget About Me’. ‘Prayer Song’ sees Noname take up a second persona for the second verse as she embodies a white male police officer, in juxtaposition to her first verse which discusses corruption and the warped world where people must pay for beauty to ‘get the Kimmy’. To me, this highlights overexposure of plastic surgery as a social discussion, as well as the manipulation evidenced by the media focus on this as an issue in order to distract from the real issues in society, supported by the following chorus:

‘America the great, this grateful dead and life for me Apple pie on Sunday morning, obesity and heart disease.’

‘Don’t Forget About Me’ mirrors this theme with:

‘Let's get down to the nitty gritty, changed my city

Titties 13k, the pretty costs these days My doctor really love me, how I'm only half awake I just came from the funeral, my ugly passed away Welcome to Beverly Hills.’

This relates to the superficiality of places like Beverly Hills, where illusions of glamour mask a detachment from reality. She talks about a funeral for ‘her ugly’ just moments after talking about a fan writing to her about their mum having cancer, illustrating a modern ignorance of the true ‘nitty gritty’.

(also quick point that Ace was my track of the week so obviously it was incredible but doesn’t need to be discussed as much as you can just appreciate it)

Shortcomings:

I personally felt that, though I have no issue with Reagal, it didn’t really add much to the album and seemed like an unnecessary filler. Her style here was a little more tired and, while it didn’t waste much time, it seemed like the most skippable and least memorable song on the album. I enjoyed Noname’s contribution to Montego Bae but was not a huge fan of Ravyn Lenae’s performance, which really dominated the song in a negative way. For me, her vocals are a little too flat on this feature, and I would have preferred an appearance from Jean Deaux or Jamila Woods. I was also a little disappointed to see that she had excluded a song that she performed at Koko, introducing it as one of her favourite songs on the album, although this may have been an issue with passing samples and therefore not her fault.

Conclusion:

Despite these minor shortcomings, I think I’ve made it abundantly clear that this is a very important and symbolic album for me. It is an excellent follow up from Telefone, and could even be considered an improvement, as she confidently and maturely addresses a huge range of topics and styles. Despite Noname’s claim during her Koko show that her new album would be about “getting dick” (and parts of it are), it is so much more and I am confident that I will only grow closer to it and more amazed by her genius as time goes on.

8/10

By Aaron Georgious