Your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, J. Cole, is back with a new song that takes aim at social injustice, capitalism and police brutality.
But after the Twitterverse dissected the lyrics, some believe “Snow on Tha Bluff” is criticizing fellow rapper’s Noname radical approach to Black liberation. (No name called out top-selling rappers for being silent about George Floyd’s death in a tweet last month, writing: “N–gas whole discographies be about Black plight and they nowhere to be found.”
While the North Carolina native, who hasn’t released music since his 2018 chart-topping KOD, never refers to Noname by name, for some, the lyrics hit too close for them to be about anyone else. Plus it’s as if he’s elected himself president of the tone police and the subs were a verbal way of putting baby in the corner.
He raps: “She mad at my n–gas, she mad at our ignorance, she wear her heart on her sleeve/She mad at these celebrities, low key I be thinking she talking ’bout me/ Now I ain’t no dummy to think I’m above criticism, so when I see something that’s valid, I listen/But shit, it’s something about the queen tone that’s bothering me.”
As people took sides, the “False Prophets” rapper hopped on Twitter Wednesday to add to his argument.
“I stand behind every word of the song that dropped last night,” he began, admitting that he didn’t feel like a leader and hasn’t done enough historical reading to be a thought leader during this Black Lives Matter movement.
He wrapped up by encouraging people to follow his fellow rapper, especially since Noname actually has a book club dedicated to uplifting authors of color and sending books to local prisons.
“I love and honor her as a leader in these times. She has done and is doing the reading and the listening and the learning on the path that she truly believes is correct one for our people,” he wrote. “Meanwhile a n–ga like me just be rapping. We may not agree with each other but we gotta be gentle with each other.”
But folks are still calling foul on the thread and the song’s misogynist undertones.
Listen to “Snow on Tha Bluff” here: