Noname

Fatimah Nyeema Warner (born September 18, 1991), known professionally as Noname (pronounced "no name"), is an American rapper, poet, and record producer.

Noname began rapping and performing slam poetry in 2010, and gained wider recognition in 2013 for her appearance on the track "Lost" from Chance the Rapper's mixtape Acid Rap.

In 2013, she appeared on Chance the Rapper's second mixtape, Acid Rap, contributing a verse to the track "Lost" and singing the chorus.

In 2014, she was featured on Mick Jenkins's mixtape The Waters, contributing to the track "Comfortable".

In 2015, she was featured on multiple tracks from Kirk Knight's album Late Knight Special. That year, she also featured on fellow Chicago rapper Ramaj Eroc's single "I Love You More".

Noname first used the stage name "Noname Gypsy", which she chose as a teenager when she was transitioning from poetry to music, believing "gypsies were very nomadic, just not about staying in one space for a long time".

She released her debut mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, to critical acclaim.

She later contributed a verse to the song "Finish Line/Drown" from Chance the Rapper's 2016 mixtape Coloring Book.

In December 2016, she appeared with Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live.

She announced her first tour on November 13, 2016.

In March 2016, she removed "Gypsy" from her stage name after learning of its racial connotation, saying she had been unaware of its negative connotations and did not want to offend Romani people.

In a 2016 interview with The Fader, she explained her current stage name, following the change:

"I try to exist without binding myself to labels. I’m not really into labels at all, even the way I dress; I usually don't wear anything with a name brand. For me, not having a name expands my creativity. I’m able to do anything. Noname could potentially be a nurse. Noname could be a screenwriter. I’m not limited to any one category of art or other existence, on a more existential level."

Noname released her first mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, after three years of production.

Telefone publicized her new stage name through songs presented as open-ended telephone conversations.

The album centers on important telephone conversations Noname has had.

Her rap speaks of black women's pain and highlights the struggles of growing up in Chicago.

Rolling Stone called it some of 2016's "most thought-provoking hip-hop."

Stereogum wrote that Noname possessed "a potency and urgency in her complicated, spoken word-esque cadences and subdued delivery that escapes many of her more animated peers."

Consequence of Sound wrote that "the louder her music is played, the brighter her cadence glows, giving her lyrics a type of 3D craft that makes Telefone a diary of lessons too relevant to keep to yourself."

In October 2016, Noname and fellow Chicago resident Saba collaborated to produce "Church/Liquor Store", a song that explores the Westside of Chicago, where liquor stores sit directly next to places of worship.

Noname critiques the gentrification of the neighborhood and the erasure of crime believed to accompany it.

The album was originally released as a free download on Bandcamp, and then on vinyl in September 2017.

Noname performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert in April 2017.

Her debut album, Room 25, was released on September 14, 2018, and received further acclaim.

Noname grew up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago.

She was raised by her grandparents until she was in middle school.

Her grandparents were entrepreneurs, as was her mother, who owned an Afrocentric Bookstore.

When she returned to live with her mother, she had a new sibling and she and her mother did not get along.

As a teenager, she listened to blues musicians Buddy Guy and Howlin' Wolf, and spent time in her mother's bookstore.

She started writing poetry after taking a creative writing class in high school.

As a teen, she spent time in the YOUMedia project, a space for young artists to create and network then based at the Harold Washington Library.

There, she befriended local talents including Chance the Rapper.

Experimental rapper Lucki also attended the sessions.

Noname's interest in poetry led her to compete in local open mics and slam poetry competitions; she took third place in Chicago's annual Louder Than a Bomb competition.

Noname then started to freestyle rap with friends, collaborating with local Chicago artists including Chance the Rapper, Saba, and Mick Jenkins.

In August 2018, Noname announced that her second album, Room 25, would be released in fall 2018.

The album, which took about a month to record, chronicles the two years since the release of Telefone, during which she moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and had a short romantic relationship.

Since 2019, she has run the Noname Book Club, which focuses on radical texts by authors of color.

She is also one third of the musical supergroup Ghetto Sage with the rappers Smino and Saba.