NoName is one of the most outspoken rappers in the game today. Some might view her political views as radical, while many celebrate her honesty and fearlessness. NoName is especially vocal about Black lives, making sense for her music to land on a soundtrack for a film like Judas and the Black Messiah.
The soundtrack for the highly-anticipated film was just announced, and fans have been talking all about the star-studded guest list. While the tracklist features several Chicago rappers like Bump J, G Herbo, Polo G and more, fans wondered why NoName was nowhere on the tracklist.
The 29-year-old took to her Twitter to tell why she was left off, explaining that she stepped away from the project because of the message she felt the movie was portraying. The film describes how FBI informant William O’Neal assisted law enforcement in taking down the Black Panther Party and murdering the Illinois chapter chairman, Fred Hampton.
“What’s crazy is they asked,” she said to a fan asking her about her absence from the soundtrack. “i was supposed to be on the song with saba and (smino) but after seeing the movie i decided to pass.”
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The song called “Plead the .45” with Smino and Saba was supposed to feature their fellow Ghetto Sage member, but the Chicago native couldn’t align her art with the film’s message despite giving the actors and film crew their props.
“It was shot beautifully, the acting was amazing,” she wrote to another fan on Twitter. “But it’s a movie about an informant. fred is secondary and his radical communist politics are centered, at all.”
In a since-deleted tweet, she hoped that people would study the late Fred Hampton instead of just letting a movie tell them what happened. According to NoName, most of Hampton’s politics were “stripped from that film.”
“i hope people actually go study fred hampton’s analysis on u.s imperialism and fascism beyond just seeing a movie,” she tweeted out.
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There are times where NoName’s views got her in hot water. Last August, the rapper-activist voiced her displeasure with Beyoncé’s visual album for Disney+ titled Black Is King. She said that the same amount of time that went into celebrating the African aesthetic and imagery throughout the album could uplift the people in those African countries. Twitter users caught wind of the comments and went in on NoName.
Noname Hit With Backlash After Seemingly Shading Beyoncé
One Twitter user wrote, “Imagine being Tiwa Savage, Busiswa, Moonchild, Shatta Wale, Connie Chiume, Trevor Stuurman, Mary Twala or any other African credited on #BlackIsKing and then NoName from the USA calls your work and storytelling ‘an African aesthetic draped in capitalism.’”
Another person added, “NoName’s activism is starting to fall into talking over the very people you’re claiming to advocate for. A lot of Africans are reprimanding her but she’s so steadfast in being loud and wrong. & this is the case w a lot of AAs.”
