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"
MUSICIANS Noname: vocals Smino: vocals Saba: vocals Ayoni: vocals Greg Paul: drums Brooke Skye: bass Cisco Swank: keys, vocals David Otis: sax, effects Kamilah: vocals, loop station Claudia Abena: vocals
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
#tinydesk #noname #nprmusic
