On Noname’s “Song 33”

Some things are bigger than you.

I wanted to write a thinkpiece about “Song 33,” the recent single from emcee Noname that many are pegging a response to J. Cole (though it could very simply be a message to Black men in general).

“Song 33”comes on the heels of the North Carolina artist releasing “Snow On Tha Bluff,” a new single over which Cole shares a sort of feeling of inadequacy in his position after taking a Black woman (“the Queen”)’s words on social media to heart. At a critical moment in the Black community, as more of us are marching and speaking up and seemingly becoming more aware than we’ve ever been before, it’s fair to feel overwhelmed. It’s fair to feel like you could be doing more. It’s fair to want to participate in conversations.

What isn’t fair is making Black women your mules. What isn’t fair is putting the onus on Black women to better equip you for these conversations. What isn’t fair is a grown man saying, “Make your messaging more palatable to me so I can jump in, too.”

Nothing is wrong with asking to be taught, or admitting that you have more to learn. The problem is that, in the song, Cole raps from a reactionary place: “it’s something about the Queen’s tone that’s bothering me.” That “Snow on Tha Bluff” arrives following a week throughout which Black women across social media platforms (rightfully) demanded space in conversations about Black lives being harmed by police — only to be told such a demand was “divisive” to the race, and following the bodies of two more Black women (who were allegedly assaulted and killed by a Black man themselves) being found on this past Sunday night — makes it even worse.

After days of Black women essentially saying, “Listen to us,” J. Cole’s song comes off as “I’ll listen to you IF_.”

It put a condition on listening to Black women. Even if Jermaine’s intentions weren’t malicious, it doesn’t matter because the song suggests that you can silence a Black woman just because your pride is hurt. J. Cole is not the first Black man to do this by any stretch. But because of his reach and his platform, and because Black women have had similar conversations with Black men about this before Jermaine even dropped this song — and I can promise you Black women will have more conversations with Black men about this after this song; in fact, they likely already are — Cole picked at a scab.

So, on Thursday evening, Noname dropped “Song 33.” After a Black woman was told “I don’t appreciate your tone,” she spoke up even more.

And I asked myself, after two weeks minimum now where Black women have asked folks to listen, what would happen if I didn’t overthink it, if I didn’t “break it down,” but if I … just listened?

Play Noname’s “Song 33” for yourself up top.

#JusticeforBreonnaTaylor. #JusticeforToyinSalau.