Listen to Noname’s 2016 release Telefone for even a minute and it’s obvious that the Chicago rapper and singer (known to many for her features on Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap and Coloring Book) has a background in poetry. Born Fatimah Nyeema Warner, she started her career at open mics and slam-poetry competitions, and it’s with that same unflinching fluidity, that bold, relentless cadence of spoken-word, that Noname delivers her frank thoughts on heavy topics like abortion, poverty and the exhausting worry that lingers when police brutality threatens the lives of your loved ones.
Telefone is as vulnerable and honest as you’d expect someone to be when chatting with a BFF. On opening track “Yesterday,” Noname shuns the idea that being rich and famous can buy happiness. While it might be tempting for an up-and-coming artist to aim for fame and fortune, Noname concludes that her real focus should be on doing as much good as possible. It’s a lesson she learned after the deaths of her grandmother and her mentor Brother Mike.
“And I know the money don’t really make me whole / The magazine covers drenched in gold / The dreams of Granny in mansion and happy / The little things I need to save my soul,” she raps, before considering her own mortality and what kind of impact she’ll be leaving behind when it’s her time to go. It’s a glum sentiment, but the chorus, delivered by fellow soulful Chicago rapper Akenya — “When the sun is going down / When the dark is out to stay / I picture your smile / Like it was yesterday” — beautifully flutters and soars, leaving an uplifting impression rather than one of mourning.
On “Casket Pretty,” a short but devastating piece about how police brutality affects communities of color, Noname isn’t looking for a silver lining. “And I am afraid of the dark / Blue and the white / Badges and pistols rejoice in the night,” she sings, as she paints a picture of bullet casings lying in the street near makeshift memorials of flowers and stuffed animals. Several times, she breaks the role of narrator to address her friends, singing, “I hope you make it home.”
The song “Bye Bye Baby,” about a woman saying goodbye to her unborn child, is the most surprising track. When people talk about abortion, they sometimes assume the woman choosing to end her pregnancy is doing so out of fear or selfishness, or with sadness. Abortion — in America, anyway — is rarely considered a good or a loving choice. In the song, Noname invites listeners to contemplate an abortion that is done with love and without regret. It’s a bold expression in today’s political climate, and it’s especially notable that Noname doesn’t deliver the lyrics with even a hint of defensiveness. She’s surefooted, calm and unapologetic to anyone on the outside, as a woman should be when exercising her right to choose what’s right for her body and her future.
Noname makes it seem so easy to tell the truth. While the songs on Telefone openly address political topics, they feel more like conversations with a friend. That doesn’t mean it’s as easy as it sounds: Noname announced Telefone in 2013, but didn’t release the album until late 2016. She addresses the fear and hurdles that caused her creative holdups in “Reality Check”: “Opportunity knockin’ / It’s finally time to answer / The doorbell was only broken ’cause auntie was fighting cancer / Cigarettes on my mantle keep calling me by my first name / loving me when I’m lonely / Pretending they really Noname.”
R&B singer Eryn Allen Kane delivers the hook, offering words of encouragement that everyone, Noname included, needs to hear: “Don’t fear the light / That dwells deep within / You are powerful / Beyond what you imagine / Just let your light glow.”
With powerful words like these spreading far and wide, Noname’s light glows very bright.
