NME’s latest star of The Cover, J Noa, has shared a playlist exclusively to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.
The Dominican rapper is on this week’s (April 29) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of J Noa here, written by Fred Garratt-Stanley and featuring photography by Fiona Garden.
Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist of songs J Noa has compiled under the title ‘Walking through the hood’, featuring 21 Savage, 2Pac, Flo Milli, Nathy Peluso, Tokischa and more. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
In her Cover story, 18-year-old J Noa expounds on her belief that rappers are “the journalists of the hood”. “Rap is history,” she explains. “History needs to be told, and where I come from, the hood, there was a lack of a voice. There were stories, but no one to tell those stories. I’m part of the hood that now has a voice, and I want to use that voice to tell those stories. With my genre, with my skills, I’m capable of bringing light to these narratives.”
Next month, J Noa will release her debut album, ‘Matanse Por La Corona’ (‘kill for the crown’). Paradoxically, it’s titled after an objective that J Noa has no interest in. “I’m working on my own agenda, with my own goals of growing as an artist. I’m telling everyone that they can kill for the crown, but that’s not my agenda, I will be here doing my own thing!”
Find out more about J Noa in the full Cover story here and see who else has been on The Cover here.