Earlier this week, rapper J. Cole released a new song called “Snow On Tha Bluff” that expresses his feelings and insecurities about the current surge of activism around Black Lives Matter—which is fine, except the track takes more time criticizing an unnamed woman for the “queen tone” of her tweets than it does supporting the cause. The woman is widely believed to be Chicago MC Noname, who took the higher ground last night and responded to J. Cole by pointing out all the more important things he should be thinking about rather than policing her tone.
The song, “Song 33,” is only a minute and nine seconds long, and it doesn’t waste a second of that running time. “I saw a demon on my shoulder/ It’s looking like patriarchy,” she begins, kicking off a passionate cry for justice for Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau and freedom from violence for Black women everywhere. “One girl missing, another one go missing,” she raps, calling out Black men for their silence on the murders of Black women over a Madlib-produced beat.