Over the past few days, Noname has been unable to hide her excitement about making her TV performance debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Two days ago, she tweeted, “Catch me rapping and smiling tomorrow on the [Late Show]. This will be my TV debut. I can’t wait,’ and yesterday, “Yooooo they really bout to put my crazy ass on TV lol.” It’s definitely an opportunity she deserves: Her new album, Room 25, expands on the spoken-word-ish hip-hop of her 2016 Telephone mixtape in a delightful way, and instead of picking just one song to perform on Colbert, she went with three.
Noname took the stage and performed a medley of “Blaxploitation,” “Prayer Song,” and “Don’t Forget About Me,” and the fact that she performed three songs in four minutes was reflective of her energy on stage. Noname was unable or unwilling to stand in one spot for more than a few seconds at a time, owning the room and putting on a memorable performance with her backing band.
During his intro, Colbert pointed out that this was Noname’s solo television debut: She previously joined Chance The Rapper on Saturday Night Live in 2016 to rap her part of the Coloring Book highlight “Finish Line/Drown.”
Watch Noname perform her Room 25 medley above.
Room 25 is out now via Noname. Get it here.
