“Hundred Acres” may have been the name of the woods behind Christopher Robin’s house where he played with Pooh and the gang, but Noname has a decidedly less whimsical theme in mind for her comeback single. The poetic Chicago rapper is thinking more “40 acres and…” in her first new song since 2023’s Sundial, focusing on getting hers.
“I know somebody better give me my cheese,” she intones. “Or I’ma have to get mine from these streets / I gotta look out for me.”
Funnily enough, I heard the first inklings of what this song would be last year while attending the Radical Hood Library‘s monthly open mic (where I also heard a prototypical version of Saba’s “Head.Rap“). Then, there was no musical accompaniment; in the completed version, Noname adopts a militant stance, employing a different kind of sound than we’ve heard from her before.
Whereas on prior output, she was fond of dreamy instrumentation full of bright chords and subtle percussion, here, she gets down to business over a threatening piano loop that evokes old-school rap and black leather jackets with AKs. In the video, Noname rides her bike down a suburban alleyway, pursued by a cat-like character whose shady demeanor implies he’s up to no good. However, she turns the tables, adopting her own animalistic persona to engage in a half-duel, half-dance sequence that sees her make a clean getaway, a la Tweety bird.
In addition to being Noname’s big comeback, the “Hundred Acres” video is also her first in which she appears on camera, further implying that her next full-length will be on a completely different wavelength.
You can watch Noname’s “Hundred Acres” video above.
