Telefone

Funny, flirty, honest, thought provoking, intelligent hip-hop, from an artist I had previously heard exactly one song by (and it's not on this album) - I will be rectifying that imminently however! Covers a huge range of topics, and just an absolute joy. Thank you so much to whoever nominated this - I hope she makes it into the next edition of the book!

Very interesting, though it felt to me like someone in the process of becoming something. Not quite fully formed, and musically a little sparse and uniform. Super strong debut though and Im curious where this artist has gone with it.

Loved it, immediately looked her up and she's playing close by so booked concert tickets to see her live. Feels like what Hip-hop was poised to evolve into with Missy & Kanye but never fully materialised. chilled but funky, great album.

Loved it.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Diddy bop, All I need, Bye bye baby, Shadow man

Totally clueless of who this was, I was surprised how I liked this kind of slow hiphop.

Kind of nice smooth backgrounds. Not totally something I am into but I appreciated it.

Love this vibes, hints of Jill Scott, but different

Pretty good low key hip hop! I enjoyed this immensely!

June 18, 2025 HL: “Yesterday”, “Diddy Bop”, “All I Need”, “Casket Pretty”, “Forever” Starts out reminiscent of Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap with the gospel-y “Yesterday”, then moves to a gentler, woozier sound that compliments Noname’s half-sung/half-rapped flow. Chose to listen to this walking through the park, and it whizzed by so fast it warranted a second listen. Aside from her feature in the aforementioned Acid Rap, this is an artist that has stayed off my radar, so I appreciate whoever submitted this album. Especially since this is, like, the first hiphop album I’ve discovered from this list in 3 months

I rather enjoyed this. Won't ever listen to it again, like, but glad that I heard it once.

Hip hop, jazz rap, conscious hip hop, neo soul. Ni fu ni fa.

Smooth

Nice hip hop album. Smooth and relaxed with a great vibe.

I remember when this came out back when would still follow popular music releases. This was a solid album of conscious hip hop by a female. The production of the lofi jazzy beats with the nostalgic lyricism was a stark contrast to the popular female rapping of Cardi B. In 2016 this was a breath of fresh air. It’s still a really good album but not as amazing when I first heard it. 7.2/10

The low-fi rap wasn't particularly my thing, but it was at least engaging and had me listening. Nice for the variety.

No

This was some chill hip-hop that played while I listened

I really liked the chill dreamy bedroom beats and I think the lyrics were there but man I just don’t think this lady had any consistent flow. Features were also really good.

This flavor of "chill" hip hop normally puts me to sleep, but I did like the amount of plinky keyboard sounds in the mix. Made it good for the rainy morning.

This was really good. Clever lyrics, chill vibe. Fave Songs: Sunny Duet, Yesterday, Bye Bye Baby

Slick album

Pretty good

The Diddy Bop probably has a very different meaning in 2025…

Really interesting downtempo rap. Quite heartfelt for it's genre..

I really enjoyed it, it was a nice bop.

I enjoyed this vibe actually! Some of it appealed to me more than other parts but overall I thought it was good.

If this was a "meh" contest this would get a 5/5. But it's not. 2/5.

I didn't really enjoy Telefone , it's too chilled or laid back for my wants from the rap/hip hop genre like I've said before, it's too moody, her flow is okay but derivative, lots of clichéd lines borrowed or inspired from others, just not for me. Diddy Bop and All I Need had moments of potential but just a 2/5.

Starts off strong with some great lo-fi beats and lyricism, but somewhere along the way Noname starts to get crowded out of her own album – the guest features seem to mostly interrupt the solid flows she has going, and the whole thing begins to feel crowded, more group poetry night than the strong individual statement this LP could have been.

An album-long flow Pretty good, nothing was unbearable Been wanting to listen to it for a long time, Personally wouldn't play any of these tracks by themselves though - kind of just - lost int erest 2

Started off okay but the longer it went on the more she was getting on my tits

A little slow for me

Very chill hip hop. Not my thing. Shoutouts to that one song that sounded like it had the Koopas from Mario doing "bah bah bah" in the background.

I was happy to see a Noname album pop up today, in the sense that I have wanted to seriously dive into her artistry for a long time now. This gave me the opportunity to see if there was more to the picture I already had of Fatimah Nyeema Warner's music in my mind. Because, let's face it, during my initial, admittedly superficial listens, the thing never automatically clicked in my ears. Alas, that deeper dive yielded no more genuine interest from me overall. Which is disappointing to say the least... Not that I have found absolutely nothing to enjoy in this record. For the most part, Noname's lyrics are evocative and nicely worded -- with some sophisticated layers that fit an artist who founded a book club under her own name, dedicated to militant essays and African-American literature... A valuable input into US cultural discourse indeed. As for the music, let's say I can appreciate the chords and mellifluous Rhodes piano arrangements displayed on opener "Yesterday", or the gently funky groove of "Reality Check"... Unfortunately, I also often find Noname rap flow quite lackluster and awkwardly paced, to be perfectly candid. Whatever your genre is, limits in vocal technique can sometimes give way to some thinking-out-of-the-box solutions so as to hit the mark you aim for, either through passion, intent or tactical diversions. But it's not really something I can hear in this record either, and therefore the demure energy and quite complacent, all-too-flat delivery of this rapper quickly devolves into... blandness. Worse, apart from the couple of exceptions I've mentioned up there, the limp neo-soul music with indistinct jazzy flourishes and sugary background vocals over which Noname raps often sounds extremely self-indulgent. It's so devoid of real stakes, striking features and memorable hooks, the thing quickly becomes a borefest in my admittedly subjective ears. So in retrospect, I really can't understand that hype around Noname which took place in 2016. I can only grasp that she somehow scratched a different sort of itch at a time where trap superstars or more streamlined hip hop figures were catching all the attention elsewhere. But it looks to me that in this "grassroots rap" subgenre, far better things have been pulled off since. For instance, right after *Telefone* finished, Spotify suggested a long string of other current indie hip hop artists (or hip hop-related ones), most of whom I also only have a very surface knowledge of, and yet those tracks managed to leave a clear imprint: they were songs by Open Mike Eagle, Milo, Aesop Rock, Little Simz, Sault, Billy Woods, Sudan Archives, John Glacier, Tierra Whack and so on... And guess what? 90% of those hip hop artists sounded WAY better than Noname. Wish someone had submitted one of those rappers' albums instead today. So, I'm sorry, but it's gonna be quite a hard pass here. 2/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 7/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2). Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 38 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 45 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 93 (including this one)