Here Come the Tone Police
Noname would be smarter to "treat people like children" when discussing capitalism with full grown adults, according to J. Cole.
Written by Selome Hailu
Photos courtesy of The FADER and Tabatha Fireman via Getty Images
Content warning: This story includes brief mentions of anti-Black police violence.
Fatimah Warner never asked to be the face of any movement.
Better known as Noname, the 28-year-old rapper has a reputation for supporting radical social movements. So when J. Cole released “Snow On Tha Bluff” on June 16, a song seemingly pointed at Noname’s politics, listeners were confused and outraged. On the track, Cole accuses his subject of a holier-than-thou attitude, arguing that “we just gotta learn everything as we go.” But Noname understands that — she began learning just a year ago.
In 2019, she posted a (now-deleted) tweet suggesting that there were no viable alternatives to capitalism, and several of her fans responded that this viewpoint was harmful because of the racial inequities capitalism necessitates. Noname listened to their criticism and promised to educate herself on their perspectives.
After taking time to start educating herself in private, Noname decided to start a book club centered around writers of color. With the slogan “Reading material for the homies,” Noname has dedicated the platform to creating a casual environment where people can approach different political and social concepts together. Through this community, she is able to hold herself and others accountable to challenging their learning — she isn’t the teacher as much as the facilitator. Since July 2019, the club has covered two books per month, championed local bookstores, and begun an initiative to send free books to incarcerated people. Getting called out by fans on Twitter is something she laughs about now.
But for some reason, J. Cole has taken offense to her revamped opinions and social media presence. In “Snow On Tha Bluff,” he raps about following “a young lady” on Twitter and not liking what he finds. “She mad at my n----s, she mad at our ignorance, she wear her heart on her sleeve / She mad at the celebrities, lowkey I be thinkin' she talkin' 'bout me,” he says. While Noname has not recently mentioned J. Cole in any public forum, fans speculate this lyric responds to a tweet of hers from May 29: “Poor black folks all over the country are putting their bodies on the line in protest for our collective safety and y’all favorite top selling rappers not even willing to put a tweet up. N-----s whole discographies be about black plight and they nowhere to be found," she said.
The tweet has since been deleted, but clearly, it struck a nerve. Cole continues, “It's something about the queen tone that's botherin' me.” Over and over, the verse suggests that Noname’s anger is misplaced, and that while she “got all the answers,” she should be kinder about it. But given Noname’s outspokenness about not just her beliefs, but also how much she has learned from her community, Cole’s claims are unfounded. He demands that she “come help us get up to speed,” but as fans have pointed out, her book club is free for anyone who wants to join. What more can she do?
The first in-person meeting of Noname’s Book Club in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of Noname
Several lyrics are also simply untrue. He suggests that she was “blessed” enough to have parents who could educate her about liberation struggles. And while Noname’s mother did own a bookstore, she didn’t grow up around her. “(My mom) ultimately didn't have time to juggle both the store and raising me — she didn't know how,” Noname told the Chicago Tribune in 2017. She was raised by her grandmother instead, and struggled in school throughout her childhood.
Cole implies that people without economic privilege can’t be expected to develop strong politics on their own, but on top of his wrongful assumptions about her background, it’s unclear who he’s speaking for. It’s certainly not himself — famous for having three albums go platinum with no features, he sits on a multimillion dollar net worth. He’s also college educated, which he reminds listeners of at the beginning of the song.
Noname didn’t go to college, and she isn’t rich. She’s gone on record to say that her last album Room 25 was borne out of financial struggle: “I needed to make an album because I needed to pay my rent.” But still, she’s found time and money to put into the causes she believes in. The irony of “Snow On Tha Bluff” is that the Black people Cole claims to be defending, who don’t come from money and need patience to learn, are just like Noname herself.
Cole’s problem isn’t the young Chicago rapper’s approach to spreading the word about social justice. He’s demonstrated that he doesn’t actually know who she is or how she interacts with the people she tries to help. It all goes back to what he calls her “queen tone.” He ignores the parts of her rhetoric that prove compassion and humility, and obscures the parts of her past that don’t serve the narrative he’s created about her.
He disguises his misogyny by shifting focus to “the very same n----s that really do need the shit that (she’s) sayin',” but after repeating “she mad” six times in one song, Cole just plays into the harmful trope of the angry Black woman. Provoked and upset by the way Noname’s bluntness reveals the gaps in his political education, he insists on her obligation to discuss systemic oppression with a smile on her face, erasing the significance of her labor thus far. And given Cole’s privilege and access, Noname shouldn’t be expected to accommodate him in the first place. In the wake of widespread police violence against Black people and hate-motivated crimes against Black women in particular, “Snow on Tha Bluff” couldn’t have come at a more inappropriate time.
On the morning of June 17, Cole doubled down on Twitter. “I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night,” he said. “Some assume to know who the song is about. That’s fine with me, it’s not my job to tell anybody what to think or feel about the work. I accept all conversation and criticisms,” he said. He also recommended that people follow Noname on Twitter. He did not address comments that the song incorrectly represented her background.
In 2015, both artists featured on “Warm Enough,” a track from Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment’s album Surf. Near the end of her verse, Noname raps: “Who are you to love me and not call me by my name?” Cole, who only vaguely confirmed the subject of the diss track but claimed to “love and honor” her, must not have been listening.