Noname's 'Song 33' Addresses J. Cole, Toyin Salau, And More In Just Over A Minute

Earlier this week, J. Cole dropped the song "Snow on tha Bluff," which seemed to target Chicago rapper Noname for a tweet in which she called out "y'all preference top selling rappers" for their silence throughout a time of mass protests and demonstrations calling for racial justice. In a follow-up tweet thread, Cole clarified that he had respect for Noname, urged his fans to follow her, and mentioned, "I love and honor her as a leader in these times."


Although one of Cole's lines in the song remained at the heart of the dispute, especially among fans: "It's something about the queen tone that's bothering me." Noname apparently even tweeted the words "QUEEN TONE!!!!!!" Before deleting it. Right now, she's responded with a new song called "Song 33." It's only 70 seconds long, yet it's packed with wisdom.





Over a Madlib-produced beat, Noname first addresses the patriarchy, then laments the death of Toyin Salau, a 19-year-old Black Lives Matter activist found dead immediately after she tweeted about being sexually assaulted. "Why Toyin body don't embody all of the life she wanted?" Noname asks.


from then on, the rapper addresses Cole, nevertheless not by name, accusing him of recording and releasing "Snow on tha Bluff" as an ego flex as a substitute opposed to devoting his platform to, as she mentions, the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police, and also recent possible lynchings and the targeting of trans women.

He really about to write about me any time the world is in smokes?

When it's people in trees?

When George was begging for his mother, saying he couldn't breathe

You thought to write about me?

And later:

Yo, although little did I realize all my reading could be a bother

It's trans ladies being murdered and this is all he can offer?

Notably, the end of "Song 33" features Noname looking forward, proclaiming that her perspective — and also her activism, which she mobilizes consistently on social media — is the future. "We democratizing Amazon, we burn down borders," she raps. "This a new vanguard, this a new vanguard / I'm the new vanguard."


Cole tweeted out the link to the song on Thursday night. Noname helpfully tweeted out all of the lyrics to "Song 33," and also you could follow and also those below as you stream the song above.