Noname’s Gospel of the Self: ‘Room 25’ Review
By Marcos Léon and Matt Ford
SCORE: 9
Prefer to listen? You can hear the review, or read it below:
Marcos: Noname is a rapper from Chicago and she came up with others such as Chance the Rapper, Smino and Saba, many of whom have been a big part of her music up until this point.
Matt: Technically, it’s her first album as Telefone was a mixtape and it’s pretty incredible to watch her meteoric rise over just the past two years.
Marcos: Telefone got a lot of rave reviews, a lot of great critical reception and I think among hip-hop fans was really popular. Definitely didn’t get much radio play but in hip-hop circles, it was seen as something that was absolutely beautiful while being very lyrically gifted and dense. I think she continues that on Room 25, except better. To me, Telefone was a one-note [mixtape]. It all sounded very similar even when she was talking about different subject matter.
Matt: She’s much clearer in her focus and vibrant in her musical direction. It doesn’t sound like she’s doing this Midwest experimentation but she really knows her identity or, at least, where she thinks she wants to go, moving away from chimes, dings and witty synths and samples to a very smooth and playful jazz sound. It sounded very mature. “Self” is a wonderful start to the album. I couldn’t imagine any other song starting off. She said in a recent Fader interview that she’s not trying to be anybody’s anybody but she’s trying to be herself and let her music inspire people to do whatever it will. She starts off saying:
Maybe this the album you listen to in your car
When you driving home late at night
Really questioning every god, religion, Kanye, bitches
Maybe this is the entrance before you get to the river
It sets the sonic and thematic tone of the album, talking about religion, sex, love, finding oneself, politicism — every Noname topic that she’s spoken about in the past, she brings a much more clarified vision and construction to the album. From there, she says, “Y’all really thought a bitch couldn’t rap, huh,” and she proves her lyrical prowess
Maybe this your answer for that good pussy
I know niggas only talk about money and good pussy
Marcos: In her Fader interview, she talks about how she hadn’t had sex for insecurity reasons and now that she has, she wanted that to be part of this album. She wanted sex to be very present on the album and for that to come through as a confidence aspect and I think it happens. Like, “My pussy teaching ninth grade English” is so good. She’s so owning her sexuality and confidence tied together and I love that aspect of this because once you move on from this super strong intro, you hit “Blaxploitation” and she starts hitting you with a lot of heaviness that, to me, was not present on Telefone in this way. Like you said, her musical aspects are a lot more focused and it’s still live instrumentation but the instruments set the tone before she ever starts rapping and that’s where her strength comes in. So, if the music is doing that already without her voice, you just know her voice is gonna take it to the next level.
Matt: There’s this line in Verse 1 that says, “Eating Chick-fil-A in the shadows, that taste like hypocrite,” and then later in Verse 2, she says, “Your nigga just moved to Wicker.” Noname has always been very clear about her thoughts on Chicago and gentrification just as much as Chance, Saba and, to some extent, Smino but on this album, she seems to put those thoughts together in a way that makes you think not only has she grown up in this city but she’s had time to process the deep political issues, such as Rahm Emanuel’s very corrupt administration as mayor to the rapid gentrification. With this line, she’s talking about how people are moving out of the ghetto and into these other places and how random white people are moving into the South Side. She brings a much-needed voice to the Windy City.
Marcos: She also brings this voice to other places and perspectives. When you move on to “Prayer Song,” which is such a powerful song, you get her talking about Chicago and gentrification but it moves on to L.A., the city she’s moved to but also has a lot of fucked up shit going on there. You have this chorus from Adam Ness:
America the great, this grateful dead and life for me
Apple pie on Sunday morning, obesity and heart disease
Can you hear the freedom bells?
Can you see the rusty nails chip chip away on all the coffin?
Approach with caution, hallelujah, amen, amen
I was lost but thinking I was truly free (amen, amen)
Darkness lingers in the wake of slavery (amen, amen)
Hold me close, don’t let me fall into the deep (amen, amen)
The lost have risen, a new religion, hallelujah, amen, amen
It’s kind of scary the way that she elicits your emotions. In the second verse, she takes the perspective of a police officer and it is a fucked up verse. It’s powerful and I see what it’s meant to do but talking about dead black people and “My dick be getting bigger” — like, fuck, dude! She is not holding any punches with trying to articulate a lot of the issues that these big cities have that she sees in society.
Matt: This song was by far my favorite on the album and even now, 10 days after its release, it’s still kind of hard to wrap my mind around. It reminds me of some instances that I’ve been involved in with police in and outside of Chicago. The way that she brings that narrative to listeners’ ears in a way that’s so relatable by taking on the actual perspective of the officer, it’s visceral and surreal, terrifying and frightening — and, again, so needed. One line goes back to this young black man who was shot just by having a cell phone and taking it out of his pocket in his own backyard. Little moments like this, it took me a while to sit with the song and more than any other verse or line, the actual “amen, amen” parts. I felt like I was actually praying, and I actually started to pray for Noname, listeners of the album and black people in general and our survival.
Marcos: The surprising part of the album, for me, was that it didn’t stay on that heaviness. The next song, “Window,” feels a lot lighter. When you dig into it, it still has very personal aspects to it. One of the lines that struck me on first listen was, “I knew you never loved me but I fucked you anyway / I guess a bitch liked to gamble.” I think it’s very deeply personal and reminiscent of the stuff that’s going on in her life and in society. It’s lighter than “Prayer Song” but it still hurts. It still cut me.
Matt: On “Don’t Forget About Me,” she has this line that says, “Somebody hit D’Angelo / I think I need him on this one,” and it sounds very much like a D’Angelo song, this mid-‘90s smooth, crooning, self-reflective kind of tune, and she’s talking about her family and how she doesn’t want to be wrapped up in this success or stray away from where she came from. That tone is apparent throughout the album and then, she transitions into “Regal,” this really sweet and sincere soft spot that seems dreamlike. That whole section of the album is really beautiful and I love that transition there.
Marcos: I think “Don’t Forget About Me” and “Regal,” they were sad but hopeful in a way. “Montego Bae” is where it went to happiness; it keeps the hopefulness but is straight up happy. I added that to my current playlist because it’s so bouncy, it’s so fun. Ravyn Lenae comes in and I love her so much. Her voice is so vibrant there. I love how this song is a play on words and it’s cute. The transition going from “Blaxploitation” to “Montego Bae” in five songs is such a difference in feeling, mood and perspective but it’s kept so strong all the way through. On top of the album only being 34 minutes, it’s so smooth. I get to this point and the progression feels so natural, honest and open. Noname is just putting it all out there for us.
Matt: The way that she sprinkles her feelings throughout the album is magical. It’s kind of unbelievable in the sense that someone this young on their first album was able to produce something so brilliant. I know she hates these comparisons to Lauryn Hill [for whom she graciously opened before Telefone’s release] but it feels like that. Of course, it’s not a 16-track epic but the strength of it and how she’s able to move through different points in her life, different narrations and feelings but keep you hooked the whole time, is really incredible. It speaks to her amazing lyrical and sonic — and even ideological — prowess. “Montego Bae” is my other favorite song. I love that she brings in some of her favorite collaborators like Ravyn Lenae and after that goes into “Ace” which features my baby daddy Smino as well as Saba and from there, the album just rolls. The whole album feels like a very complete story.
Marcos: “Ace” is so great as well. I wish I had a full verse from Smino; he’s mostly just doing the hook and doesn’t show off lyrically the way that Saba and Noname do. Noname’s showing off, like, “Radio [niggas] sound like they wearin’ adult diapers” — that’s such a good way to put that. And Saba keeps it up talking about being successful but spins it a different way, saying that he doesn’t know the last time he’s been home. It’s an interesting way to look at success. You get this complex picture in a boastful track.
Matt: With listening to tracks like this, I start to wonder where they’re going to go with their success. They’re still so young, mid-20s rappers and they’ve all reached heights of fame and critical and commercial success. Everyone loves them and sees them as, in my opinion, heavy-hitters, especially Noname with being a female rapper and what she’s bringing to rap which is very uncommon. Most of what you’re hearing right now in female rap is club bangers and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’ll play Cardi and the plethora of other rappers like Junglepussy [and Azealia Banks] for days but Noname is so clear, sincere and emotional with her music. I love her last song, “no name.” It’s a beautiful closer. It feels spiritual. I would love to get a stronger sense of spirituality not in that this sense of spirituality is not strong on the album because it’s boastfully apparent but I would love to sit down with her and hear all she has to say about God, religion, the Bible and where we have gone wrong as a country and as a world with focusing on religiosity rather that spirituality and selfhood. I love what she has to say about all of these subjects and it’s an incredible and beautiful way to close the album.
Marcos: I don’t connect as heavily to the spirituality aspect of it but I do feel this sense of somber hope continuing towards the end and it’s, I think, what ties this together. Even in the initial heavy songs, they are painful, there’s so much in them, but I do see Noname rapping about this hope toward betterment or hope towards improvement and you get that joyful middle part of this album with “Regal,” “Montego Bae” and “Ace.” Then, it ends very smoothly, kind of back to the sadness, not as heavily but letting off.
Matt: I think it’s a knock out of the park and I’m really proud of Noname and what she was able to bring to the table as well as the various other Chicago rappers and what they’re bringing to hip-hop. It’s really inspiring me as a writer and as a music lover and I love where we’re going.
Marcos: I couldn’t say it better. It’s definitely one of my favorite albums of the year.
