Noname has never been weary of taking on more reputable artists. Three years after exchanging quasi-diss tracks with J. Cole during the height of BLM protests for George Floyd, the Chicago rapper now has a new album out titled Sundial, filling the LP with several bars directed at some of the music industry’s most beloved figures.
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The sixth song on Sundial‘s track list, titled “Namesake,” is where Noname is her most direct. After the first half of the song sees her rap about her dreams to “roll up bud in the south of Sudan,” she uses the latter half to air out her grievances with the United States pesky military-industrial complex, which was reinforced in the National Football League with the help of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.
Read in between the line at the crime scene
I ain’t fuckin’ with the NFL or Jay-Z
Propaganda for the military complex
This is not the first time Hov has been called out for Roc Nation’s deal with the NFL, which was inked in 2018. When forming a partnership, the league gave Jay-Z’s company the authority to choose performers for NFL events, most notably the Super Bowl Halftime show. Additionally, the two entities announced the Inspire Change campaign, an effort that helps to “drive further progress in police-community relations, criminal justice reform, education, and economic advancement,” according to NFL’s website.
However, this deal came just a year after Jay-Z advocated for Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL player who was blackballed from the league for protesting the national anthem during games. Donning a Kaepernick jersey during his 2017 Saturday Night Live performance, Hov appeared to have made his stance clear, also turning down NFL’s offer to perform at their Halftime show in solidarity for Kaepernick.
“No one is saying (Kaepernick) hasn’t been done wrong. He was done wrong,” Jay-Z told New York Times after inking Roc Nation’s $100 million deal with the NFL. “I would understand if it was three months ago. But it was three years ago and someone needs to say, ‘What do we do now — because people are still dying?’”
A few stanzas after her Jay-Z remarks, Noname directed her attention at his wife Beyoncé, as well as Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar, who have all performed the Super Bowl Halftime in recent years. Noting that military personnel like fighter jets are active participants in big football games like these, Noname shuns her peers for their perceived ignorance.
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
As her sophomore solo album, Sundial sees the return of Noname after a five-year hiatus following Room 25 (2018). Once again meshing her soft-spoken, mellow approach with unforgiving lyricism full of advocacy and finger-pointing, the album hits the spot for members of her fanbase, who have surely grown fond of her unique outlook.
Listen to “Namesake” below.
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
