While she may not aspire to such award-ceremony heights, Telefone is a unique project that points to even greater things for Noname in the future.
Telefone shows a great sense of promise and complex beauty, Noname using her art to salve wounds — both her own and others.
On Telefone, she pours all the joy and devastation we glimpsed in her various guest spots with artists like Chance, Mick Jenkins, and Saba into a rich, somber, and incredibly intimate album.
this very specific choice of sound contributes to the project's constant tiptoeing between trauma and calm, violence and peace, life and death - Telefone grows on you progressively, going from easily enjoyable to hauntingly beautiful.
Noname unfurls thoughts about a life where love and freedom are in the distance and too many friends are "casket-pretty." It's some of the year's most thought-provoking hip-hop.
This tape did for me what coloring book seemed to do for everyone else, some of the most blissful and summery hip-hop i've heard in a while, it's a total grower too.
EDIT: honestly there is so little wrong with this tape, it's all just so fucking lovely.
wow... thank you BuffaloStaple. This is a fantastic post-TPAB project that gives me so many Erykah Badu vibes. Fantastic instrumentals, flows, and poetry
This album is like a warm hug after a shitty day at work in the rain.
It is one of the most heartfelt, jazzy, and adorable projects I've heard in a looooong time. Songs like "Diddy Bop" and "Reality Check" just put the biggest smile on my face with how positive and heartwarming it is. Not to mention the production is fucking amazing. Arguably one of the best produced conscious hip hop albums I've heard post-TPAB. Not a single bad moment on this album that made me cringe or ... read more
This is a whole vibe. I love Noname's delivery throughout this whole project as well as the lyrics which I actually somewhat related to. I also forsee me bumping Shadow Man a ton after this. Great album from a great rapper
1 | Yesterday 3:09 | 89 |
2 | Sunny Duet 2:42 feat. TheMIND | 84 |
3 | Diddy Bop 3:28 | 92 |
4 | All I Need 4:00 feat. Xavier Omär | 80 |
5 | Reality Check 3:03 feat. Eryn Allen Kane, Akenya | 87 |
6 | Freedom Interlude 3:19 | 79 |
7 | Casket Pretty 1:50 | 82 |
8 | Forever 3:38 feat. Ravyn Lenae, Joseph Chilliams | 86 |
9 | Bye Bye Baby 2:49 | 83 |
10 | Shadow Man 5:11 | 92 |
#3 | / | Dazed |
#5 | / | Pigeons & Planes |
#8 | / | Nerdist |
#9 | / | Time Out New York |
#22 | / | NPR Music |
#25 | / | Complex |
#26 | / | BLARE |
#26 | / | For The Win |
#26 | / | Tiny Mix Tapes |
#27 | / | Pitchfork |