“They killers, why we help them kill us?” how Noname puts art before profit

Marli Damp

She/Her

Contributor

3/21/24

When I find a song that speaks to my soul, I play it until the bass becomes dull and the lyrics fall from my lips without conscious thought. It usually takes a couple of weeks and then the song sits in my favorites, unplayed until I rediscover it months later. Noname is one of the first artists to make a permanent home in my headphones. Her music is more than art; it is a call for action. She uses her talent and her platform to elevate urgent societal issues. 

Music is meant to have meaning, and many artists do not deserve that title. The songs that play in department stores are commodities that find different words and sounds to convey the same empty message. Music is meant to make us think. It is a conversation between the artist and the listener. Yet, many famous musicians focus on profit rather than integrity, abusing their stardom by giving their audiences what they want to hear instead of expressing themselves. Noname resists the commercial culture of music by acknowledging that wealth and power are partners under capitalism.  

Days became weeks and weeks became months, but Noname has remained at the top of my playlist. All of Noname’s songs cut deep, explicitly condemning capitalism and the violence it has created. Yet there is one lyric in particular that has changed the way I see myself and the world. The rhythmic bass compliments her voice while she raps. “The devil hidin’ in plain sight–that’s you, that’s me, the whole world is culpable–why complacency float the boat the most.” 

The beauty of music is that we all interpret it differently, but it is important to understand the essence of the artist. Noname refers to our choice to ignore the root of our problems. We reference freedom and capitalism interchangeably when they directly contradict one another. The devil is capitalism, an economic system that was built on the genocide of indigenous people and the enslavement of black people. Our world will never experience peace when those in power achieved it through violence. 

After graduating high school, I embarked on the decolonization of my education. I never thought of myself as part of the problem, but now I understand that to tolerate a system is to support it. We live on stolen land and we achieved our privilege by oppressing others. The entire developed world is culpable because our complacency breathes life into the laissez-faire machine. If we reap benefits, even if they are minimal, we are unwilling to risk a revolution. We would rather enjoy the warm embrace of ignorance than face the frostbite of reality.

Noname criticizes this inaction with the lyric “Eat the rich, tax the rich, y’all ain’t really bout that shit.” Communists used the slogan “eat the rich” for centuries to demand the redistribution of wealth. Recently, “tax the rich” has been a rallying cry for democratic socialists calling for the taxation of capital income. Ironically, most of the funds generated from these taxes would not return to the people. The corrupt government would use them to fund wars rooted in imperialism and feed the military-industrial complex. Although these slogans question power dynamics, both communists and socialists have failed to turn words into action. 

Real change can never occur if we walk the same pathways that colonizers built. We must pursue a solution beyond the confines of our system. We were never meant to be individualistic; humans are social beings that need a community to thrive. Capitalism pins us against one another and teaches us that success is rooted in hard work rather than systemic advantage. Our society has been overwhelmed with problems from the start, but those at the top can afford to forget about them. So many musicians make incomprehensible amounts of money off of music that does not do any good for the world. The commodification of art suffocates expression and destroys its political value. 

Unfortunately, we are at a stage where we must use the master’s tools to build a platform. Net worth is a microphone and power is only given to those who have “earned” it. This only reinforces capitalism. The people who have the capacity to create change are also the people who have benefitted the most. 

Noname asks her listeners to think about their position in society and how they have contributed to their own exploitation. The only way to achieve an equitable society is to see beyond the distractions put in place by the market and mobilize from the bottom up.