Room 25

by 
AlbumSep 14 / 201811 songs, 34m 48s
Jazz Rap Conscious Hip Hop
Popular Highly Rated

Noname releases her highly anticipated debut album, Room 25. The 11-track album was executive produced by fellow Chicago native Phoelix and sees Noname return as a more mature and experienced artist. Room 25 has received early praise from The New York Times, calling her a "Full-Fledged Maverick" in their Critic's Pick review yesterday. Noname also recently opened up in The FADER's Fall Fashion issue about her life since the release of her 2016 mixtape Telefone. Rather than cash in on the hype around her extremely well-received 2016 debut mixtape Telefone, Noname took two years to play shows backed by a full band and refine her craft before releasing her follow up project. Over the last few months anticipation for her new album steadily built with Nonamedropping a stream of hints that its release was approaching. Telefone established Noname as one of the most promising and unique voices in hip hop, and with Room 25 she stakes out her place as one of the best lyricists in the genre and comes into her own as a fully realized artist as she achieves mastery over the style she developed with her first tape. Room 25 arrives a little over two years after Noname released her breakout mixtape Telefone. Upon its release, Telefone received nearly universal acclaim and propelled Noname to become one of the most exciting new voices in music. The intimate mixtape cut through the noise of an oversaturated musical landscape like few other releases have in the last several years. Since the release of Telefone, Noname has built an international presence, successfully touring the world and playing the top festivals. In 2017, she also touched the Saturday Night Live stage alongside collaborator and childhood friend Chance the Rapper to perform a song of his Colouring Book album. The New York Times called her SNL performance "a master class in poise, delivery, and self-assuredness." Noname (AKA Fatimah Warner) grew up in Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago that famously attracted accomplished black artists and intellectuals of all types. Fatimah first discovered her love for wordplay while taking a creative writing class as a sophomore in high school. She became enamored with poetry and spoken word - pouring over Def Poetry Jam clips on YouTube and attending open mics around the city. After impressive appearances as Noname Gypsy on early Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins mixtapes, she gained a cult-like following online that helped set the stage for the life-changing release of Telefone. Coinciding with the album's release, Noname is also announcing her Fall tour, beginning next year in Detroit on January 2nd, she will play 19 shows across North America before concluding at Oakland's historic Fox Theater on March 15. Tickets for the tour will go on sale 9/21 at 10:00 AM local time and will be available at nonamehiding.com.

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8.6 / 10

The Chicago rapper’s second album is a transcendent coming-of-age tale built around cosmic jazz and neo-soul, delivered by a woman deeply invested in her interiority and that of the world around her.

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In 2016, Noname made waves when she debuted with Telefone, a vivid, soulful collection of jazz-rap establishing her voice among friends and fellow Chicago MCs like Chance The Rapper and Saba. On her sophomore LP, Room 25, she further proves that her songs aren’t just memorable, but necessary. Room 25 opens to the…

8 / 10

‘Room 25’ is not only smartly constructed and laced with intricate subtlety – it’s laugh-out-loud funny, too

Noname's debut studio album arrived two years after her Telefone mixtape was released to widespread acclaim.

7 / 10

To use an oblique sports analogy, Noname is more Fred VanVleet than Kyle Lowry. You could make a case for her as the most talented and versa...

8 / 10

Any record clocking in at under thirty-five minutes could easily resemble a throwaway offering if not assembled with due care. For those that embraced

9 / 10

In a year of major releases and haughty postulations by female hip-hop artists, the much ado mantle of the queen of hip-hop has finally found its rightful...