Noname asked folks to unfollow her on Twitter if they were brought to her account by J. Cole after he referred to her as a “leader in these times.”
Noname does not people to look up to her as a leader, insisting that she’s just a regular person trying to learn like everybody else. The rapper took to Twitter to address a certain label that J. Cole had given her when he insinuated that his controversial song, “Snow On Tha Bluff,” was indeed about her. “Follow @noname,” Cole tweeted, after dropping the song last month. “I love and honor her as a leader in these times.” However, despite how much Noname does try to educate others on important issues that pertain to race by using her platform, she does not consider herself to be a leader, and she’d prefer if she wasn’t perceived that way, either.
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In a since-deleted tweet, the rapper told her newer followers, “if Cole brought you here because ‘she’s a leader in these times’ unfollow me. I’m not a f*cking leader. I’m a confused n***a reading difficult books trying to understand this shit like everyone else. I tweet recklessly and smoke reggie. I’m nobodies leader.” While the tweet can no longer be found on her account, some users managed to nab a screenshot prior to its removal.
If you’ll recall, this all started when Cole appeared to be calling out and tone-policing Noname on “Snow On Tha Bluff” for seemingly subtweeting him when she put “top-selling rappers” whose “whole discographies be about black plight” on blast for their perceived silence on the murders of Black folks by police. He went on to indirectly confirm that he was referring to Noname on “Snow On Tha Bluff” in a series of tweets, at which point he called her “a leader in these times.” Noname went on to release “Song 33,” in response, on which she questioned why he was focusing on this pettiness when people are dying. However, she has since expressed her regret for putting out the song because she felt it had served to distract people from the real issues.