Ashley Pointer | November 10, 2023
Out of the thousand and some Tiny Desk concerts to date, it’s seldom an artist returns to the Desk. But when they do, there are a couple requirements: come in a new iteration or present something completely different. In this case, the Chicago-bred, emcee-activist Noname does both when she performs some revolutionary raps from her third album, Sundial, and premieres an unreleased single from hip-hop trio Ghetto Sage, made up of her and frequent collaborators, Smino and Saba.
A lot has changed since Fatimah Warner dropped her classic debut, Telefone, in 2016 and made her first appearance behind the Tiny Desk in 2017. She released a stunning follow-up, Room 25, and she even briefly paused her music career to delve deep into her work as an activist. However, holding a mirror up to herself, her community and the music industry is a signature that persists across her career, and even more so on her album Sundial.
Complemented by her dynamic six-piece band, she performs a few selects from this album including the gospel-infused “Hold Me Down,” which Noname describes perfectly as “a petty love letter to my community.” Then she gets into “Boomboom” featuring the vocalist Ayoni, who delivers a raw and powerful performance. She then invites Smino and Saba up to perform the unreleased “Kush and Love Songs,” delivering clever and conscious bars on top of a swing groove. Concluding the show in true Noname fashion with “Balloons,” she asks the audience: “Where better to do my most controversial song than NPR? Real journalism.”
SET LIST
“namesake”
“hold me down”
“boomboom” (feat. Ayoni)
“Don’t Forget about me”
“kush and love songs” (as Ghetto Sage)
“balloons”
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Ashley Pointer
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Assistant: Josephine Nyuoni
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Hazel Cills
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
There are so many things I love about this performance: 1. How she interacts effortlessly with the audience 2. Her flow 3. The band is so mellow and potent 4. The featured acts are insane 5. The song she sang don't forget about me where the crowd sang along at the end. That was beautiful. 6. The pianist is a magician.
Please give Smi his own show.
Soothing, relaxing and revolution
RELEASE KUSH AND LOVE SONGS NOWWWWW
There are so many things I love about this performance:
1. How she interacts effortlessly with the audience
2. Her flow
3. The band is so mellow and potent
4. The featured acts are insane
5. The song she sang don't forget about me where the crowd sang along at the end. That was beautiful.
6. The pianist is a magician.
Похудела моя любимая девочка ❤
She’s spitting
NO FREAKING WAY
She got small !!
She lost weight? Love this woman and her music ever since she started
noname gypsy <3 beautiful musiccccccccc bass is everything
Most monotone voice and face ever
top 5
She wasn’t wrong when she said “best rap trio”
So great, landmark performance
PLEASANT SURPRISE!!
W.E.B. stay with Du Bois goes crazy
goosebumps
I said “NONAME!” Click ❤
one of the best
Btw the bass player plays for dreamer isioma and they literally have one of the best live shows ever it feels like a party!!
Perfect voice, flow, lyric combination. Everything is just so her
its crazy that we're calling balloons the most controversial song and then not including the part that makes the song controversial when performing it
My absolute fave!!!
super wack
Vibes forever unmatched