Noname Says She Is ‘Not Proud Of’ Responding To J. Cole With ‘Song 33’

On Thursday, Noname offered her response to J. Cole’s “Snow On the Bluff,” in the form of her own song, “Song 33.” The song arrived after she tweeted that she felt like rapping and, to say the least, she did just that. While she did not directly address Cole it was clear Noname was speaking directly to the rapper near the song’s conclusion when she said, “He really ’bout to write about me when the world is in smokes / There’s people in trees when George was beggin’ for his mother / Saying he couldn’t breathe, you thought to write about me?”

A few days later, Noname returned to Twitter to share her thoughts on “Song 33” after thinking about the record for a bit.

Posting a pair of tweets to Twitter, Noname explained that she was not “proud” of herself for releasing “Song 33” and explained what she intended to do with the song.

“I tried to use it as a moment to draw attention back to the issues I care about but I didn’t have to respond. my ego got the best of me,” she wrote. “I apologize for any further distraction this caused.”

Despite admitting that her “ego got the best of me,” Noname made the decision to not take the song down saying, “I see there’s a lot of people that resonate with the words so I’m leaving it up.” Instead, she promised to donate her portion of the song’s earnings to various mutual aid funds.

Following the release of J. Cole’s “Snow On Tha Bluff,” fans quickly connected the dots to discover the woman in question on the song was Noname. The song detailed his conflicting feelings on his performance as a leader for the community. In the end, he asked those who complained about his leadership to adjust their tone and direct him toward being a more effective leader which, in the end, failed to give the movement and black women what they were owed. “Song 33” was an attempt to remove the spotlight on one’s inner feelings and shifted it to the issue at hand: the victims of racial and sexist violence.