Saturday, September 27, 2008

Add'em... Janelle Monae

Okay. Here she is. One of the few artists that makes truly unique and quality music. Janelle Monae. It very rare that we get to hear a musical artist that creates art but that rarity is personified with this young lady. So here is her story as I know it...
She popped up out of Atlanta via her deal with independent with The Wondaland Arts Society. A label she helped found. Through her various performances she caught the ear of Big Boi (Outkast) and was signed to a venture deal with Purple Ribbon and was featured on the 2005 compilation "Purple Ribbon All-Star's: Got Purp? Volume 2" and on the "Idlewild" soundtrack. I don't know if it was lack of knowledge, experience or connections on Big Boi's part, but she somehow got signed into another venture deal with Bad Boy records. It seems like Puff is taking a backseat to her vision and just letting her do her thing (which is a good idea). Now she is set to release the follow up to her 2007 release.
One of the things she is doing is releasing her album in four parts or "Suites". The logic is that in the age of "Itunes" and "ringtones", consumers are not really buying entire albums. Rather just buying 5 or 6 songs out of the 12 - 15 songs in an entire album. By producing and releasing an album in four parts, the consumer gets a quality product with no filler. Interesting concept... but I'm not sure it'll work. The tech savvy will still just download each suite as it's released.
Either way, your going to get a good quality listen so support her and pay HER (not rapidshare, sendspace or any other one of those bammas) for some damn good music.

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