Room 25 is not just innovative, but singular. I cannot think of another album that sounds anything like it. It mixes an extraordinary amount of jazz and soul into some beautifully laid-back rap and does it all with considerable flair. It takes confidence to try a couplet like “My pussy teachin’ ninth-grade English/My pussy wrote a thesis on colonialism.” and skill to pull it off as effortlessly as Noname does.
Her flow is deeply relaxed and yet technical and often of a surprising pace as she drops flow-of-consciousness bars on similarly peaceful beats. There are parts here where she takes a couple of moments and the backing track could have been part of a quite solid soft jazz album. It’s all the kind of effortless that speaks of extreme competence.
Room 25 has none of the obvious ostentation of so many of its peers. Instead it has skill, imagination and surfeit of what is just great music. This is one of the best albums of the year thus far.
Top Five Records 
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