J Noa: Tiny Desk Concert

This Latinx Heritage Month Tiny Desk is celebrating with an ’El Tiny’ takeover, featuring a wide array of artists from all corners of Latinidad. Anamaria Sayre | Septemeber 22, 2023 J Noa buzzes with power. Standing cara a cara with the 17-year-old Dominican rapper, it’s clear that spinning life experiences into buttery smooth, striking bars is as natural for her as it is for most of us to take a breath. This Tiny Desk concert was her first time ever leaving her barrio to perform, and yet she transmitted the confidence and charisma of an artist who invokes generations of fuerza into every word she breathes. Setting the tone with “No Me Puedan Parar,“ she brought captivating energy to the cool anthem. Switching to “Autodidacta,“ she backed her self-taught narrative with mind-blowing verbal sprints. Gliding through the jazz-backed “Paranoia“ to story-driven “Betty,“ her delivery was so powerful that even the stories she told in between tracks