Janelle Monae is an independent artist, former Outkast collaborator and member of the "Afro-Punk" movement. She has just signed with big hip hop label "Bad Boy" and released a sci-fi-themed R&B concept album (inspired by the film "Metropolis"). Its about an android called Cyndi Mayweather on the run from intergalactic police called "The Wolfmasters" who police human/robot interaction. The whole album relates to that theme. The first single was "Violet Stars Happy Hunting" and the second, "Many Moons", sounds like this.

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Janelle Monae: "Many Moons" Official Short Film - YouTube

A star is born.

is she the one who taugh the outkast gang how to dance?

Who knows - but I like it. Apparently this her 'trademark" dancing style. She toured lots of black colleges in the US and always dances like this.

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Janelle Monae: Cybertronic Purgatory - YouTube

she is brilliant! thanks so much ilbonito - you have made my day and i now have a new obsession.

xxx

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Janelle Monae Violet Stars Happy Hunting (Trackademicks Rmx) - YouTube

She just got even cooler. Here is what she had to say in an interview on gay rights (she performed at Black Gay Pride in Atlanta) :

"Well, I would like to start off by saying I have a lot of respect for openly gay men and women. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in today's society. I think it is wrong to mislead or lie about one's preference and the fact that one can openly admit that this is me and this is who I am, is a freeing thing for more than just the gay community.
While in high school, there were not a lot of openly gay guys or girls. A lot of people graduated, moved out the state, and then became open about their sexuality. I found out a lot of my peers were gay through Myspace!

...I do find it weird that some of us (black people) can turn our noses up at gay people knowing that it has not even been over 45 years since this country has been segregated. We had a hard time gaining acceptance from people who weren't of our own race, so why would we want to harbor that same hate?

...In my opinion, we have issues in the black community, like any other community, that we must confront, deal with, and get rid of. We will never be able to truly accept a breed of individuals who are discriminated against by a majority of the world until we are at peace with ourselves."


Excellent.

She's brilliant, I thought the same when I 1st saw the video on V. She and Santogold are destined for greatness as they have shunned durgy R&B and done something a bit different, yet ridiculously catchy. Another female artist to look out for is brit VV Brown, kind of a cross between rockabilly and soul, check her out.

OMG I love VV Brown! Well, "Leave " anyway. "Crying Blood" not so much....