Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Diddy Bop” by Noname (ft. Raury & Cam O’bi):

I finally got my act together this week and checked out Chance the Rapper, who I’ve been reading about for what seems like ages, but whose music I hadn’t gotten around to listening to yet.  One of the performances I watched featured Noname, and that led me to this perfect piece of music.  I mean, good Lord, perfect.  It’s lyrically playful and thoughtful in equal measure. The three voices complement each other in that way that sounds effortless but you know takes a lot of work to get right. Musically, the instrumentation, melody and beat mix together to sound both like 2016 and 1982 at the same time, and to sound that way so seamlessly that it becomes a song both of its time, and completely out of it–this is a piece of music you’ll listen to in twenty years and it’ll sound just as fresh as yesterday or today or tomorrow. Listen to the full Noname album Telefone here and improve your life immeasurably. You can visit Noname’s official website here.