Desus & Mero sat down with Noname this week, talking about everything from the artist's hometown of Chicago, to her break from music.
In the interview, she also discussed the origins of her book club, Noname Books. "I got called out about a year ago for some misguided tweets about capitalism," she explained. "I was under the impression that niggas could build their way up through entrepreneurship and that's how you can heal the community. Everybody dragged me and was like no bitch, capitalism is literally destroying the planet." In the aftermath, NoName pushed herself to read works on anti-capitalism, going on to found a namesake book club where they tackle authors like Frantz Fanon, Assata Shakur, and Angela Davis on a monthly basis.
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Later, the rapper explained why she was putting music "on pause". Last November, she implied she would release one final album, Factory Baby, before calling it quits because her "heart wasn't fully in it anymore." Earlier this year, the rapper dropped "Song 33" in response to a misguided callout from J Cole.
"I definitely put music on pause," she explained in the interview, before clarifying why she took a step back. "That kind of started not necessarily because of the book club, but because I didn't want to perform for predominately white audiences anymore."
Watch the interview above.
Thumbnail via Kyle Grillot / AFP via Getty Images.
