FEATURE:
Spotlight
J Noa
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AN artist I am…
a little late to, the sensational and powerful J Noa (Nohelys Jiménez) is a teenage Rap prodigy that has been dubbed the ‘daughter of Rap’ The Dominican artist has incredible flows and is one of the sharpest and most original lyricists on the block. Last year, she released the seven-track E.P., Autodidacta. I shall come to some interviews from this year. First, from last year, J Noa spoke to Rolling Stone around the release of the stunning Autodidacta:
“J Noa comes from San Cristobal of Santo Domingo, a common playground for foreign creatives but a tough neighborhood for its residents, similar to the neighborhood of Capotillo. Growing up in San Cristobal inspired J Noa to start making music when she was just eight years old, as she told the famous radio host Brea Frank.
J Noa developed into a powerful performer and storyteller after achieving visibility through her impressive freestyle “Frente a Frente,” featured on the legendary DJ Scuff’s YouTube series. Feeling that the subject matter in rap culture at the moment is somewhat repetitive, J Noa had a particular goal for Autodidacta: “I feel like I came to revive rap,” she tells Rolling Stone. “To me, most rappers should be intentional about what they write, about what they recite. Otherwise, why would rap serve them, or why would they be considered rappers if they don’t live the reality of what they’re rapping about?”
A self-described fan of the genre and all that it offers, she’s eager to demonstrate the complexity of Dominican culture, identity, and challenging lived experience on this project. At the same time, she wants to show the nuances and dignity of her home.
Her lyricism highlights the tragedy of adolescents forced to “grow up too fast” and the vicious cycles that cause the same problems to repeat over again. Noting the difficulties that she witnessed firsthand alongside her young peers, J Noa pulls from an array of real-life topics, from teen pregnancy to gang violence to even drug addiction. On her Autodidacta’s emotional track “Betty,” she turns her lens on parents who are still maturing alongside their kids.
“Some parents are still adapting to technology and they themselves are growing up while they raise their children,” she says. “In ‘Betty,’ I speak to how adapting or not doesn’t necessarily make the difference in domestically violent situations in the households, and some need to realign their priorities”
In other songs on the EP, she boldly calls out the government’s inability to allocate funds for what Dominicans on the island need. “Que Fue” looks at the frustration over leadership’s negligence and lack of resources, like gas and electricity, that has become a growing problem across the Caribbean. The issue has been highlighted in the past, by Luis Ovalles in his classic Eighties merengue classic “Se Fue La Luz,” by Poeta Callejero in “16 de Mayo,” Guaynaa in his “Maria” freestyle, and Bad Bunny in “El Apagon.”
Her delivery is worth noting: J Noa raps at impressive speeds in a distinctively Dominican way. Through her lyricism and unique style, she wanted to combat the backwards idea of Dominican Spanish being “bad Spanish.” Instead, she shows its beauty and complexity.
Achieving such respect and critical acclaim as a young artist isn’t easy, especially in a culture whose art is constantly reduced to stereotypes. Genres like Dominican dembow are constantly diminished, and their depth is often ignored. Dominicans often face the racist burden of “proving themselves” to outsiders, despite all of their crucial contributions to music at large. And yet ironically enough, the country is constantly exploited for its cultural richness.
J NOA IS making it her mission to enter new spaces with her unique sound while holding onto every bit of the essence that makes her who she is. By pouring her all into the music, she shines a light on both the strength and vulnerability of the world she comes from while showing a brilliant sense of pride in herself.
“My self-esteem is never low,” she says. “If people say, ‘What a pretty girl who’s dark skinned.’ To them, I say I’ve always been too much to handle. When it comes to my skin color, my pride is as high as an 180 mile tall skyscraper. In other words, nobody is ever bringing me down.”
Currently, J Noa is finishing high school at an alternative school to ensure she can keep up with the creative demands of Sony, her label, who signed her in January 2023. On Autodidacta, she boldly decided not to include any features, adequately using every minute of each track to say what she had to and putting more weight on her courageous outspokenness.
The project also comes with bold visuals that show that J Noa has her eye on every detail of her project. She worked alongside her collaborators Lennyn Salinas and Daniel Bethencourt and made it a point to create videos that went beyond the obvious. “We created straight movies because that was what was needed to reinforce what you were hearing lyrically,” she says.
Autodidacta is a display of Dominican excellence. J Noa’s clear direction is a testament to her discipline and the care she puts into her work. “Autodidacta speaks to my intelligence and my strength as a young, Black female rapper. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to show, as well as the notion that in rap, it’s about obtaining the public’s confidence and their respect, too.” She’s working toward a better future, and instead of standing by and watching, she’s contributing to a reality she can be proud of”.
I will move on to We All Grow Latina and their chat with an artist that should be on everyone’s radar. Although she is known in the U.K., I don’t think the music of J Noa is played as much as it should be. A recent interview with NME could well see that change. Her music warrants a lot of airplay and love. She is s future legend that we are seeing blossom and bloom:
“Born Nohelys Jiménez, this Dominicana’s raps don’t stray too far from the realities of growing up in the neighborhood 5 de Abril in San Cristobal. Admittedly, her raps are pretty mature for what you can expect to hear from a 17-year-old, but J Noa raps about what she knows and has witnessed firsthand in the Dominican Republic. Her delivery mirrors that maturity and boldness.
“The boldness and maturity that I express in my songs and the delivery of my raps come from how I’ve grown up and what I have learned along the way.”
“The boldness and maturity that I express in my songs and the delivery of my raps come from how I’ve grown up and what I have learned along the way,” says J Noa.
As she speaks, she spares all humblebrag and any self-doubts; she’s very matter-of-fact about her intelligence and wit. It’s what has shaped her to be who she is today.
“Since I was little, I’ve been very smart. I’m the kind of person that will see something, and I will have an idea born out of it. I didn’t have a regular childhood like other kids who were playing in the park, so I grew up having to learn a lot about life.”
Fighting the Stereotypes Contra El Barrio, One Lyric at a Time
She has seen quite a lot growing up in San Cristobal and had to grow up fast. Her freestyles and raps are a vivid look into the socioeconomic state of her neighborhood and her country. Her listeners are the visitors, and she is your tour guide. As depicted in the music video for her latest single, ‘Betty, she shows us how in the barrios of the DR, one’s life can immediately change due to bad decisions, bad company, limited resources, and limited opportunities.
“If you look at the music video, the people that I’m taking in the golf cart with me are upper class. I’m showing them what it’s like to live inside the barrio, so my objective is to open consciousness,” says J Noa. “I’ve actually brought upper-class people to my neighborhood, and they were able to put themselves in the shoes of my community. They left and made sure to give back to the neighborhood. I know my neighborhood isn’t the most beautiful thing in the world, but it also isn’t the most terrible place either. I want to show the beauty of it as well, but the problem is that if I only talk about the good, then no one will pay attention. I need to shed light on the bad, so I can help improve it. Because if it’s all good, then no one is going to think that anything needs to be fixed.”
J Noa isn’t just trying to put her neighborhood on the map to the outside world – she’s also speaking directly to her community. In ‘Betty,’ she describes the cautionary tale of a 17-year-old girl swayed by bad company, teen pregnancy, and drugs. She wraps up the song saying, “lo que le paso a Betty te puede pasar a ti, solo espero que tus decisiones no sean igual.” (“What happened to Betty can happen to you too, I just hope that your decisions aren’t the same.”)
“It’s not just to show the upper-class how it’s like to live in the hood,” says J Noa, “but also open the minds of young girls who follow me and might be in the same situation as Betty. I understand with one positive message and piece of advice that I can give, I can inspire them as someone who is also their age, is working in music, and is also in school. I hope to show them that they can do it too.”
As I speak to J Noa, 17-year-old me is resonating with her message in trying to defy the stereotypes and statistics set for kids from the hood. Having been raised in Compton myself, I let her know that I, too, understood the damaging narrative attached to girls from the hood like me. However, she tells me that it wasn’t just the external world that expected her to fail as someone from el barrio; it was close family friends too.
J Noa Is Writing Her Own Lyrics and Her Own Narrative
“There was one time in our house I overheard them telling my mom that she needed to be careful with me growing up because my eyes were ‘muy vivos,'” she shares. Of course, anyone else would think that a description of having eyes that looked vivid would be a compliment, but this person was implying that J was too smart for her own good, and it was going to end her up in trouble.
“They told her ‘ella es demasiado inteligente, tú tienes que tener cuidado con ella,'” she shared with me. “They told my mom unpleasant things about me. They even told her she needed to be careful with my sexuality. It’s a pressure I’ve felt since a little girl.”
But she’s used that pressure to change the narrative others decided to write about her without her permission.
“When you have that type of pressure, you just want to grow up, shut those people up, and prove to them how wrong they were in making those assumptions about you.”
“When you have that type of pressure, you just want to grow up, shut those people up, and prove to them how wrong they were in making those assumptions about you.”
And she’s done just that. At just 17, she has signed with Sony Music Entertainment, has been covered on Billboard Latin, CNN en Español, Remezcla, People en Español, Univision, and Telemundo (to name a few), and has racked up over a million views on her YouTube channel. And as the self-proclaimed La Hija Del Rap, she is living up to her idols Melymel (La Mama del Rap) and Lápiz Conciente (El Papa del Rap) with a fire flow that keeps all those that cross her path bewildered by her prowess.
A Love Letter to Rap, Black Women, and Herself
However, in such a male-dominated field, I’m curious about how she’s been able to navigate her path as a rapper despite her gender and age.
“This industry is practically a boy’s club, but my age works in my favor. Since I’m young, people are like ‘wow, she’s 17, and she’s rapping with those rhymes and that maturity,'” she shares. “It’s like people forget that rap is for men when they hear me. Still, people make comments online saying that my rap style is just for men and that if I keep up with this style I’m going to change my personality and become a tomboy. What does that have to do with who I am?”
And that is one thing I learned about J Noa in this conversation: she doesn’t care an ounce about what you think or say about her. She is unfiltered and unapologetic in the way she carries herself and in her delivery because she does this for herself, for the girls that look up to her, and for the genre that raised her.
“I dedicate my rap style to Black women. I am a woman that loves my color, and I will defend my color. I was born with rap, and I will die with rap. And the legacy I want to leave is that I was always rap”.
Prior to ending up with the NME interview, there is a quick-fire interview I want to bring in. Earlier in the month, VIPER sat down with J Noa. An award-nominated talent, I know that we are going to see her grow and grow. One of the modern-day Rap talents that can sit alongside the icons and legends one day soon:
“Dominican rap prodigy, J Noa earned her first Latin Grammy nomination for Best Rap/Hip Hop Song. Get to know her better with this VIPER Presents interview…
What five words define your sound?
Authentic, versatile, story, real life, flow.
Tell me something unique about your creative process.
My ideas flow wherever they please. No matter where I am, if I have a new idea, I write it down. I stop whatever I’m doing because, to me these are opportunities I have to take advantage of.
Which song of yours would you like people to hear first?
‘Autodidacta’ because it’s a song where I openly express myself, my talent and who I am as a person. ‘Fronteo’ is about what I clearly have, which is my talent.
What inspired you to make that song?
I just wanted to create a relevant idea that stands out among the multitude of songs I have, one that represents me as a rapper in its fullest expression. And obviously, to surprise people with my skill in double tempo.
What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music?
I really wouldn’t know what to say because I restrain myself a lot from vulnerability. I don’t like feeling weak, so I think it’s a topic that’s a bit taboo for me.
What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?
In all my time on stage, I haven’t had any bad experiences because I make sure to prepare very well before stepping onto a stage. Even with the audience, I haven’t encountered any situations that make me uncomfortable.
What is your favourite song to perform?
‘Autodidacta’ because I live in that moment like nothing else in the world. I think if it were a person, it would be my crush.
Which artist/song/album made you want to make music?
The guys in the neighbourhood doing freestyle in front of my house sparked my desire to become someone in life and progress to help my family. However, I wasn’t inspired by a specific artist because I didn’t even have knowledge of this genre.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
My real name is Nohelys Jiménez, so “Noa” comes from Nohelys and the “J” from my last name, which is Jimenez.
If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead?
In university studying psychology, or who knows, maybe I would have been involved in another project related to art, because since I was very young, I’ve been very inclined towards art, especially live show.
What’s success to you?
Feeling good about what I’m doing, making my family happy and being well mentally.
What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?
I believe that moment hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve been doing the same thing since I started, and I haven’t taken another path or direction. Hopefully, things will continue this way.
Where can people keep in touch with you?
On my Instagram channel, or you can also message me directly on Instagram DM”.
It is timely focusing on J Noa. Her debut album, Matanse Por La Corona, is released on 23rd May. I would advise people to seek it out. Such a phenomenal Rap artist, this teenage prodigy is going to go places! NME spotlighted an artist with a strong and compelling voice. Someone whose incisive storytelling puts her out in front:
“J Noa was only 15 years old when Sony Music first reached out to her; she signed with the major label soon after. In the years since, trips to the US for recording and promo events have become the norm, but she’s been determined not to let the hype get to her, and insists that her creative process has remained the same throughout.
She recalls entering large recording studios for the first time and having to adapt to the new environment, from observing how different producers worked to learning how other artists worked on vocal melodies without having lyrics in place. But it’s worth noting that by this point, she had already been rapping for years.
Jiménez first started spitting bars at the age of eight, freestyling with local boys in the streets of her neighbourhood in San Cristóbal. Her hometown is located 30km west of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and her local area — which she recently showed fans around in the video documentary ‘Mi Barrio’ — has greatly impacted her capacity for storytelling, the poverty and struggle she saw firsthand giving her a greater sense of perspective from an early age. As she raps on ‘Betty’, the heart-rending tale of a young, vulnerable teenage girl from the hood who unexpectedly winds up pregnant, “a ustedes le sorprende para mí es normal” (“You are surprised, for me it’s normal”).
“I witnessed all of that in the flesh,” she tells NME. “I was just telling the story, so there wasn’t really pressure. But once it was out, I felt that feeling; I started seeing comments and seeing people realise what ‘Betty’ was about, and when I detect pressure I feel that I have to lead by example. If I’m going to tell these kinds of stories and bring light to these problems, I can be part of the problem. If I’m making a rap about being an educated person and here in the interview I portray myself as being an uneducated person, that’s not being consistent, so I need to be true and lead by example.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Fiona Garden
This reflects Jiménez’s belief that rappers are “the journalists of the hood”. It’s a viewpoint she backs up consistently in her music, which explores a wide range of pertinent issues relating to social inequality, politics, relationships, and mental health, all of which she feels a responsibility to document. Her recent single ‘Era de Cristal’ is a good example. Its video displays Jiménez confined in a box bedroom, tossing, turning and visibly struggling to keep it together, these visuals reflecting lyrical content that centres around anxiety and insomnia, with lyrics like “mirando como cae la noche el cielo, una lágrima que adorna mi cara y rueda y mi cuello” (“watching the night fall into the sky, a tear adorns my face and rolls down my neck”).
“Rap is history,” she continues. “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.”
This attitude is a central facet of her forthcoming debut album (due out May 23), ‘Matanse Por La Corona’ (‘kill for the crown’). Produced largely by Honduran-born, LA-based producer Trooko – “he’s a master,” says Jiménez – the album leans heavily on recrafted jazz and soul melodies, from the neat double bass riff that opens ‘Cenicienta’ to the coarse Chubby Checker vocal sample that’s chopped-up and scattered across the tough hip-hop track ‘Arrogante’. Mirroring the figurative violence of its title, ‘Matanse Por La Corona’ sees her spit rapidly against an intense, jumpy beat centred on tight, triumphant bursts of horns that evoke the open credits of a 1960s detective drama (they’re sampled from Canadian composer Dennis Farnon’s 1974 track ‘Snowmobile’). What was the intention behind that evocative album title?
“The point is to acknowledge that I’m not working towards this objective [of ‘killing for the crown’]. It’s not something that matters to me, having that recognition or fame,” she says. “I’m doing this because it’s what I like, 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!”
Perhaps it’s this singularity, this lack of regard for petty beef, commercial success or the trappings of fame, that makes J Noa such a likely candidate to rise to the top. Posing for her NME shoot against a deep red backdrop, her hair braided and fashioned into a majestic floral shape above her head, she exudes the energy of a star. She seems comfortable, staring down the camera, and shuffling with ease to the light reggaeton beats that blast from a speaker by the side of the studio.
The following day, she jumps onstage at renowned Camden venue Electric Ballroom to support Venezuelan funk/soul four-piece Rawayana, and stomps around with the same assured self-confidence. For an 18-year-old, Jiménez has a formidable stage presence and command of the room; she strides around with purpose, and the mostly Spanish-speaking crowd respond fervently to bold lyrics like “Piden guerra, pero vienen sin bala no hay quien resista / A una barra que te deja en coma el tiempo que tú exista” (“They ask for war, but they come without bullets, there is no one to resist / To a bar that leaves you in a coma for as long as you live”). You get the feeling she was built for this.
“Rap is a lifestyle,” she says. “I’m pure hip-hop. There are many ways to do hip-hop, but for me it’s about focusing on the lyrics while also being a bit aggressive. It comes from my personality; I’m bold, I’m aggressive, and I want to represent that I am a strong Black woman. What I do, it comes out of my heart”.
With her debut album out on 23rd May, and a growing fanbase in the U.K., the Dominican Rap artist will take over the world. She is ambitious, keen and hugely impressive. Someone who is a teenager but has this amazing maturity and focus. It will be fascinating seeing where her career heads in years to come! Make sure you follow her. We are seeing the rise of…
A future icon.
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Follow J Noa
