Talib Kweli got into a tense exchange with Noname on Saturday, after he defended himself against months-old harassment allegations.
The back-and-forth began when a Twitter user shared a screenshot of Kweli’s recent criticism of Noname, whom he accused of propagating unproven claims about his treatment of women. The message, which was shared with Noname, read in part:
“Last year the rapper No Name compared me to Tory Lanez because she took the word of some stranger on the internet that I ‘harass black women nonstop.’ No Name is far from the only prominent person who fell for this … So many people in this culture were willing to completely throw me away on the lies of a stranger they never met, a stranger that has no reputation for adding anything at all to this culture.”
Noname dismissed Kweli’s comments as a lie, insisting she never compared him to Tory Lanez, who is accused of shooting Megan the Stallion in the feet last summer.
Noname eventually hit up Kweli’s Instagram comments, demanding him to stop lying about what she did or didn’t say. Kweli then shared a screenshot of a tweet posted by Noname in July 2020, shortly after the Lanez and Megan shooting incident occurred.
“Praying for Megan amd all the Black womxn globally,” Noname wrote. “Watching Black men joke about her shooting as a call to action to harm more Black women hurts in a way I’m not smart enough to articulate. And the silence from male rappers while Talib Kweli harassed Black women for weeks, disgusting.”
Kweli reiterated his claim that Noname was the one who was lying, and accused her of trying to portray him “as an enabler of violence against Black women.”
“Why is No Name lying tho? So she can lie and tell her supporters that I harassed a black woman for weeks, offer NO proof of this lie, cite not one source for proof?” he wrote, “but I can’t mention that she lied on me while chastising Black men for allegedly not speaking up about Tory Lanez? … I was a fan of this artist. That’s starting to change.”
Kweli was hit with harassment allegations in summer 2020, after a woman named Maya A. Moody suggested many rappers, including Kweli, were guilty of colorism because they were married to light-skinned women.
Kweli caught wind of Moody’s tweet and immediately called her out: “Nah let’s have this convo today,” he tweeted. “Are we talking all of my relationships? My children’s mother as well? Or are you only talking about who you think I’m currently in a relationship right now? I mean, is any of this really any of your business?”
The rapper continued to tweet at Moody, stating he wouldn’t stop until she either deleted the aforementioned tweet or issued an apology. After Moody accused Kweli of a launching a harassment campaign against her, Twitter confirmed they had permanently suspended the rapper for “repeated violations.”
Moody provided an update via Twitter on Saturday, claiming she was still enduring threats and harassment.
Kweli has yet to publicly address Moody’s latest posts.
