Noname plays The Crocodile tonight (Wed Feb 15); the show is sold out. BRYAN ALLEN LAMB
No disrespect to Chance the Rapper, but last year’s most anticipated Chicago hip-hop release was not Coloring Book, but Telefone, the full-length debut from the relatively obscure and obscurely named Noname.
Hailing from Bronzeville—the Southside neighborhood celebrated by poet Gwendolyn Brooks—Noname (born Fatimah Warner) came up in Chicago’s open mic and slam poetry scene. She applies that same aesthetic to her rap style, a mix of spoken word and offbeat lyrics. Noname made her first official appearance as an emcee in 2013, contributing a verse to the track “Lost” on Chance’s Acid Rap mixtape, and the following year with a verse on Mick Jenkins’ The Waters mixtape.