Noname quits music

Fleetwood-Matt said:
I totally get where shes coming from but I also feel she's being ridiculous. You can’t control who your art connects with and it's not like it's her white fans' fault that they are the ones responding to it. Also art has the power to spread messages and teach people about experiences outside their own so shouldn't it be a good thing its reaching outside of the expected demo?

Obviously though if she wants out then their is nothing to say about that, she shouldn't/cant be forced to do something if it's not giving her positive feelings.

And I guess I should note this is coming from a white guy so maybe I just dont have the right perspective to get what shes feeling right now
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I don’t know her or her music, so I’ve got no dog in this fight, but you’ve touched on a very important fact that many artists seem to have trouble grasping. No matter how personal a place your art comes from, once you release it into the world, it’s not yours anymore. You can’t control who responds to it and how they respond to it. that’s just not how it works.

While she’s coming off as a bit of an ass in her execution, I give her credit for pushing pause if she is struggling with coming to terms with that reality.
 
Just want to add that this isn't the first time she's mentioned that she might stop making music. This time seemed a little more forceful and definitive though.

She still planned on releasing her next album, Factory Baby, and the Ghetto Sage album next year as far as I know.
 
White people need to be less sensitive. Not everything is about you personally. If you took what Noname said as a personal insult, then maybe you need to examine your insecurities. If you aren't screaming the n-word at her shows, she wasn't talking about you. And when she said she doesn't want to perform in front of predominantly white crowds, that is also not about you.

Sure, you can't control who responds to your music. But if the response you are getting is NOT what you wanted or intended, you have every right as an artist and a human being to express your frustration and choose to not continue that career. It seems like some of you are all but saying "she should be thankful for the fans she has and shut up".

This is coming from a straight white guy who enjoys her music so take that how you will.
 
BradwiseBeats said:
White people need to be less sensitive. Not everything is about you personally. If you took what Noname said as a personal insult, then maybe you need to examine your insecurities. If you aren't screaming the n-word at her shows, she wasn't talking about you. And when she said she doesn't want to perform in front of predominantly white crowds, that is also not about you.

Sure, you can't control who responds to your music. But if the response you are getting is NOT what you wanted or intended, you have every right as an artist and a human being to express your frustration and choose to not continue that career. It seems like some of you are all but saying "she should be thankful for the fans she has and shut up".

This is coming from a straight white guy who enjoys her music so take that how you will.
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I don’t think anyone in this thread has taken it personally? 🤷‍♂️
 
Bottom line is she can do what she wants the way she wants to, but, regardless of what she may have been wanting to say, making the comment that she doesn't want to perform in front of primarily white crowds is going to alienate part of her fan base....and how she wants to, if at all, deal with that is also up to her. I just don't think she should expect that to sit well with everyone.
Hopefully she finds what she's looking for because she is very talented.
 
Tys1 said:
I don’t think anyone in this thread has taken it personally?
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I didn't call anyone in this thread out personally so not sure what you are saying. There is no shortage of white people that were offended by what she said or were calling it reverse racism. But multiple posters were saying "I can see how people would be offended". I don't agree.

AnthonyI said:
making the comment that she doesn't want to perform in front of primarily white crowds is going to alienate part of her fan base....and how she wants to, if at all, deal with that is also up to her. I just don't think she should expect that to sit well with everyone.
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Its only alienating the part of her fanbase suffering from white fragility. Where are you getting that she expects it to sit well with everyone? That seems like a wild assumption. She isn't responsible for how people react to her expressing how she feels about her art and from her tweets, I don't think she cares.
 
BradwiseBeats said:
I didn't call anyone in this thread out personally so not sure what you are saying. There is no shortage of white people that were offended by what she said or were calling it reverse racism. But multiple posters were saying "I can see how people would be offended". I don't agree.
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I felt like this bit was targeted toward the forum here, and I’m not sure where it’s coming from or what provoked the assumptions.

“It seems like some of you are all but saying "she should be thankful for the fans she has and shut up “
 
BradwiseBeats said:
I didn't call anyone in this thread out personally so not sure what you are saying. There is no shortage of white people that were offended by what she said or were calling it reverse racism. But multiple posters were saying "I can see how people would be offended". I don't agree.



Its only alienating the part of her fanbase suffering from white fragility. Where are you getting that she expects it to sit well with everyone? That seems like a wild assumption. She isn't responsible for how people react to her expressing how she feels about her art and from her tweets, I don't think she cares.
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FWIW, I didn't take what you said as offensive or targeted. I think part of the sensitive knee-jerk reaction we may see from some of her audience (or observers) is based on the mutated monster liberalism has become and what it means to be "woke", "allies" or whatever buzzword people are using to identify themselves.
 
I wish more artists had the footing, confidence, money, and opportunity to do this. A lot of fans are toxic and have unhealthy expectations of and relationships with artists. Fan bases also have more combined time to waste with critique and demands (as subtle and sub-textual as they may be delivered) than a single artist does to receive them. Do your thing, noname.
 
BradwiseBeats said:
Its only alienating the part of her fanbase suffering from white fragility.
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Just a comment on my part about it not sitting well, I'm sure she could give a care about it, but, the above people exist whether we/she likes it or not. Again, I have no problem with what she's doing or how she wants to carry any of this out, this kind of reminds me of people who belong to forums and have to announce to the the forum their leaving because of XYZ............just leave, you don't owe anyone an explanation.

I, ME, just finds it odd that you would want to alienate ANYONE in your fan base when there is no real reason to...........just my opinion of course.
 
Reminds me of the time that Lauryn Hill said she'd rather die than a White person buy her album.
I would think in both cases, they don't really mean exactly what they said and probably could have chosen better words to say what they really meant - but opted to use hyperbole for the shock effect.

Lauryn explained herself a bit later on saying she's not hating on White people but entitlement / system of oppression (her words). I'm sure that's probably closer to what Noname is trying to get across.

I don't know either personally, and for all I know they're both full on racists. But i still listen to Lauryn and Fugees not because I support racists but I enjoy their music regardless.
 
zomgbear said:
Reminds me of the time that Lauryn Hill said she'd rather die than a White person buy her album.
I would think in both cases, they don't really mean exactly what they said and probably could have chosen better words to say what they really meant - but opted to use hyperbole for the shock effect.

Lauryn explained herself a bit later on saying she's not hating on White people but entitlement / system of oppression (her words). I'm sure that's probably closer to what Noname is trying to get across.

I don't know either personally, and for all I know they're both full on racists. But i still listen to Lauryn and Fugees not because I support racists but I enjoy their music regardless.
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To be fair she was pretty screwed over since supposedly she didn't even say that and once the rumor started Eminem threw the line in one of his songs about it too and it was too late at that point. I think most people believed it because she's not the most warm person and has plenty of other ugly allegations surrounding her.

An apocryphal quote from 1996—in which it was asserted that Hill once said she’d rather her children starve than have white people buy her albums—has lingered in many corners. Hill addressed that controversy around the time of Miseducation:

“A couple of years ago some kid had heard that I’d said that I didn’t want white people to buy my records, and that really, really hurt me a great deal because I like to think my music is really universal,” she told MTV in 1998. “And I’ve been everywhere and I have fans everywhere, but because of some rumor that, you know—some radio personality chose to say on his radio show, he had a bunch of people believing something that they’d never seen or never heard themselves but just heard a rumor.”
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On the Noname side of things.. I think it's a little silly people saying white people are being sensitive as I can't even imagine the backlash if a white artist came out and said he/she was done with music because they were tired of predominantly black crowds.

I don't know the exact situation and if she just worded things badly so i'm not going to judge much until I hear a bit more about it but it's def. a bad look imo. If she did mean it literally and as harsh as it comes off i'll happily stop listening to her personally, not like there isnt endless other great artists out there. She's super talented but nowhere remotely close to Lauryn Hill imo. No big deal to me either way.
 
hype said:
To be fair she was pretty screwed over since supposedly she didn't even say that and once the rumor started Eminem threw the line in one of his songs about it too and it was too late at that point. I think most people believed it because she's not the most warm person and has plenty of other ugly allegations surrounding her.
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You know, you're right, Back then, i didn't really have the resources to look that up and just took it as face value. The only time I really looked back at this incident was when I read the essay she wrote debunking some of things about her just last year - where she didn't really flat out say she didn't say that she didn't do these things but explain her point of view (which is why i assumed that she did say / do these things). This is an interesting read by the way after you watch this Robert Glasper interview talking about stories of when he used to play with Lauryn during her tour.

For the curious:

Glasper interview:

Her essay:

‘Addressing Robert Glasper and other common misconceptions about me (in no particular order)’

‘Addressing Robert Glasper and other common misconceptions about me (in no particular order)’ By. Ms Lauryn Hill
medium.com medium.com


Edit - one thing that did resonate with me after reading her essay and rewatching this video was her point of the "nice" legends that Glasper was listing were all male and it's a bit of a different situation. I definitely see her point there. But not to detail this topic about Noname.
 
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Here’s the way I see it.

People have a right to create art and get it into the hands of those they want. But you can only exercise so much control over your art once you release it.

If a black artist only wants other black people to enjoy their art, then they need to pick their distribution channels carefully. I would think the only way to do that is to sell your art in person, one on one. Or make a deal with a black owned company that only sells to other black people.

Again, I think that is a person’s right if they want. It also limits the number of people who will appreciate your art. Maybe that’s fine with someone. Maybe they don’t want to make a lot of money or become widely known.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

Crispin Glover has made movies that he will not release on DVD or for mass consumption. When he shows them in a theater on a big screen, he is there to explain them and take questions from the audience afterward. That is how he controls who sees his art. He is able to fund this by acting in other Hollywood movies that are mainstream.
 
hype said:
On the Noname side of things.. I think it's a little silly people saying white people are being sensitive as I can't even imagine the backlash if a white artist came out and said he/she was done with music because they were tired of predominantly black crowds.

I don't know the exact situation and if she just worded things badly so i'm not going to judge much until I hear a bit more about it but it's def. a bad look imo. If she did mean it literally and as harsh as it comes off i'll happily stop listening to her personally, not like there isnt endless other great artists out there. She's super talented but nowhere remotely close to Lauryn Hill imo. No big deal to me either way.
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Again, the argument "just imagine the backlash if a white guy did this" is white fragility nonsense. If you think these are the same thing at all, you need to take a step back and re-evaluate the history of hip-hop and race in this country.

"Won't someone please think of the poor oppressed white man" is what you are coming off as saying.
 
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