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On December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas-
American singer, songwriter, rapper, model
actress, and producer, Janelle Monáe Robinson
was born to mother Janet -a hotel maid & janitor-
and father Michael a truck driver. Although
her parents split at an early age Janelle
Monae’s mother remarried and the outcome
of that marriage was Janell’s sister Kimmy.
Raised in a Baptist church Janelle Monae is
a descendant of a musically inclined family
and her voice is that of a mezzo-soprano.
As a youth Janelle Monae dreamed of being
a singer and a performer stating that her
musical influence came from Dorothy Gale from
the Wizard of Oz and Lauryn Hills’ album
titled The Miseducation Of Lauryn which was
bought using Janelle’s first paycheck to
pay for. As a teenager, Monáe was enrolled
in the Coterie (ˈkōdərē) Theater's Young
Playwrights' Round Table and began writing
musicals- including writing a musical inspired
by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album Journey Through
"The Secret Life of Plants" at age 11.
After Janelle Monae attended F. L. Schlagle
(shalgul) High School she moved to New York
to study musical theater at the American Musical
and Dramatic Academy being the only black
person in her class. Although she quote on
quote ‘enjoyed the experienced’ she explained
in a 2010 interview that (and i quote) "I
felt like that was a home but I wanted to
write my own musicals. I didn't want to have
to live vicariously through a character that
had been played thousands of times – in
a line with everybody wanting to play the
same person." (close quote). And on that note
Janelle Monae dropped out of the New York
Academy and moved to Atlanta where she attended
Perimeter College at Georgia State University.
At this point Janelle Monae began writing
her own music and performing around the campus
and by 2003 she self-released her album titled
The Album which she sold out of the trunk
of her Mitsubishi. Soon after Janelle Monáe
teamed up with songwriters and producers Chuck
Lightning and Nate Wonder and the three eventually
formed the Wondaland Arts Collective. As for
her day job, well, let’s just say Janelle
Monae got fired from Office Depot for answering
a fan's email using the company computer.
However Monae’s incident inspired the song
"Lettin' Go", which in turn attracted the
attention of rapper, Big Boi.
In 2006 Janelle Monae signed to Bad Boy Records
founded by Sean Combs a.k.a P. Diddy after
he visited Monáe's MySpace page and (open
quote) "[He] loved her look, loved that you
couldn't see her body, loved the way she was
dancing, and just loved the vibe. He felt
like she had something that was different
– something new and fresh." (close quote).
In 2007 Janelle Monae released her first solo
work Metropolis which was layered and renamed
-‘Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition)’-
once signed to Bad Boy’s. This work was
conceived as a concept album in four parts,
or "suites''. Onced renamed the label gave
an official and physical release to the first
suite in August 2008 and The EP was critically
acclaimed, garnering Monáe a 51st Annual
Grammy Awards Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative
Performance for her single "Many Moons" whose
music categories fell under the genre of funk,
contemporary R&B and art rock. And when explaining
her alter ego Cindi Mayweather, Janelle Monae
had this to say (and I quote) “Cindi is
an android and I love speaking about the android
because they are the new''other ``. People
are afraid of the other and I believe we're
going to live in a world with androids because
of technology and the way it advances. The
first album she was running because she had
fallen in love with a human and she was being
disassembled for that.``
From then on Janelle Monae’s Music career
just got better and better from performances
at American Idol, Dancing with the Stars,
the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards just to name
a few. Things were finally starting to look
ahead for the 34 year old Monae. Between 2012
to 2014 Janelle Monae featured on "Do My Thing"
for Estelle's studio album, All of Me, performed
at California Fest in support of Obama and
was chosen as CoverGirl's newest spokeswoman.
Oh and you guys remember Rio 2 well guess
who was the voice of Dr. Monae. Ha! None other
than Janelle Monae herself.
In February of 2015 Janelle Monae became one
of the few black women who ran their own independent
record label in conjunction with a major record
label when she along with Epic Records and
its CEO and chairman L.A. Reid announced that
Monáe's independent label -Wondaland Arts
Society-had signed a "landmark joint venture
partnership" to revamp the label, now known
as Wondaland Records, which also helped promote
the artists on the label. March of that same
year Janelle Monae released "Yoga" which debuted
at #22 on Billboards and #5 on the top R&B/Hip-Hop
Albums.By March 15, 2016, First Lady Michelle
Obama had assembled a collaborative track
featuring vocals from Monáe, Kelly Clarkson,
Zendaya and Missy Elliott, titled "This Is
for My Girls''. The overall reason for the
song was used to both coincide with Obama's
Texan SXSW speech and to promote the First
Lady's third-world educational initiative
Let Girls Learn. By mid'2015 Monae alongside
the body of her Atlanta-based Wondaland Arts
Society collective, performed her protest
song "Hell You Talmbout". The song raised
awareness of the many black lives that were
taken as a result of police brutality, with
lyrics such as (and I quote)"Walter Scott,
say his name. Jerame Reid, say his name. Philip
White, say his name ... Eric Garner, say his
name. Trayvon Martin, say his name ... Sandra
Bland, say her name. Sharondra Singleton,
say her name." (close quote). Watching it
was very moving to my soul! And into late
2016 this amazing and beautiful Nubian Queen
-Janelle Monae not only made her big screen
debut in the critically acclaimed movie -Moonlight-
but she also hit the nail on the hammer when
she starred as Mary Jackson alongside Taraji
P Henson and Octavia Spencer in the movie
-Hidden Figures (trust and believe that movie
did not miss me once it hit theaters). And
if you're all Wondering about Monae's personal
life well let's just say the singer, songwriter
and actress identfies herself as bisexual
and pansexual stating that she (and i quote)
"only date androids...because...the android
represents the new 'other'. You can compare
it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or
being a black woman" While talking about her
sexuality she also stated that although she
would talk about it more in depth in the future
she wanted (and i quote) "people who feel
oppressed or feel like the 'other' to connect
with the music and to feel like, 'She represents
who I am.'" As an actress Janelle Monae has
starred in other movies such as Lady and the
Tramp as the voice of Peg and Welcome to Marwin
as Julia. As for her music Janelle Monae's
songs include Q.U.E.E.N, I Got The Juice,
Crazy Classic Life and I Like That -just to
name a few. As for her accolades Janell Monae
has won the Vanguard Award , Top R&B/Hip-Hop
Song, Soul Train Music Awards along with 43
more wins. This energetic yet eccentric Black
Queen is so underrated in the industry but
that- to me- will never break her!
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