Janelle Monae

I have a new artist for anyone who reads this to check out. Her name is Janelle Monae and it is hard to put her in a genre. She worked with Outkast on the tragedy that was Idelwild, performing on one of the few gems, “Call The Law”. However I wouldn’t solely define her as hip hop. Actually I’m going to forget labels and not define her as anything, cause she’s too good to put in one box. Monae is a member of the Wondaland Arts Society in Atlanta, a collection of artists that range from musicians, to graphic designers to performance art. Consider this place "all artists welcome".

Janelle Monae is not actually a new artist, she already has a Grammy nomination under her belt. She also has been a must see at SXSW for the last three years. Just another reason to get to Austin. Monae has just released her sophomore album entitled The ArchAndroid, and it’s considered an extension of the first album. She creates a character of Cindi Mayweather and travels through the fictional city of Metropolis. Think of Ziggy Stardust updated.

So far off the album my favorite without a doubt has been “Tightrope”. Big Boi apparently thanked Monae for adding her vocals on Idlewild by dropping in on this track. I believe this is either the first or second single off the album. I heard Monae in an interview say that while ArchAndroid is a concept album, she wanted to make sure there were songs that you couldn’t help but dance to on it. That is what “Tightrope” is, a great up beat dance track. I can see this being huge and being mixed with all different types of music.

Monae will be in Chicago next week, at a concert that is sure to be amazing. She is opening for Erykah Badu and N.E.R.D. at the Chicago Theater. Unfortunately the Chicago Theater is way over priced and I have never seen a show there because I refuse to pay. She will also be playing with the reincarnation of the Lilth Tour this summer which is looking better and better by the day if forget that Ke$ha is involved.