102: Dessa

Rapper, singer, spoken word artist, writer, and science nerd Dessa is an open book. As a young girl in Minneapolis, she dreamed of being a writer, and in high school she submitted essays unsolicited to the New Yorker. She refused to speak the Spanish own heritage (she’s half Puerto Rican) and instead insisted on learning French. She was, in her own mind, headed for a literary life on the Upper East side of Manhattan. “The third martini and witty repartee” she says.

Life seemed to have other plans for her. She ended up channeling her love of language into a different outlet: rap. Dessa has been a longtime member of Minneapolis based hip hop collective Doomtree. Her résumé as a musician includes performances at Lollapalooza and Glastonbury, co-compositions for 100-voice choir, performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, and a top-200 entry on the Billboard charts for her album Parts of Speech. 

Writer and musician Dessa creates new work through her collaboration with more than 70 musicians from the Minnesota Orchestra. A rapper with Doomtree, Dessa partnered with Grammy-nominated arranger Andy Thompson and vocalists Aby Wolf, Ashley DuBose, Cameron Kinghorn and Matthew Santos for the project inspired by Conductor Sarah Hicks and Grant Meachum, Director, Live at Orchestra Hall.

Part of the Twin Cities hip-hop collective Doomtree, rapper, singer, poet and songwriter Dessa divides her time between singing and rapping, often landing on a spoken-word splitting of the difference. The week she performed this Tiny Desk Concert, she appeared at an All Songs Considered live listening party, during which she opined articulately before closing the night by singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in the style popularized by Jeff Buckley.

CHIME - the new album - out now http://smarturl.it/DessaChime Directed, photographed and edited by Mercies May (instagram: @merciesmay) // Produced by Strange and Distant Pictures www.strangeanddistantpictures.com Starring: Dessa Zachary Coulter Art Director: Elizabeth Richardson MUA: Rebecca Alex Art Department: Henry Spurth Seth Stattmiller Fire Wrangler/Production Assistance/BTS: Shawn Thomas Baudler Drone Operator: Jake Handegard Gaffer: Brandon Sandburg Camera car/ process trailer props on Wheels: Operator Brian Denny Assistant Maddie Denny Picture vehicle supply Props on Wheels.

Doomtree performs live in the KEXP studio. Recorded January 31, 2012. Songs: Bolt Cutter Beacon Little Mercy Team The Best Team Host: Cheryl Waters Audio Engineer: Kevin Suggs Cameras: Jim Beckmann, Shelly Corbett & Justin Wilmore Editing: Justin Wilmore http://www.kexp.org/ http://www.doomtree.net/

Get the new album CHIME : http://smarturl.it/DessaChime NEW TOUR DATES ADDED // http://Doomtree.net/shows Lyrics and vocals by Dessa Music by Chance Lewis, Lazerbeak, Andy Thompson, and Dessa Video Credits: Director - Raquel Marvez Producer - Mace Freeman 1st AD - Steven Valle DP - John Hudak 2nd Camera - Victor

Eventually she was able to turn her success in music back towards her original passion: writing essays. She’s been published by The New York Times Magazine, broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio, published two literary collections of her own, and is set to release her first hardcover collection with Dutton Books in the fall of 2018. 

Her most recent solo album, Chime, brought together her songwriting with her longtime love of science (one of her first jobs was as a medical technical writer). She turned her own personal experience of heartbreak into a kind of science experiment, and let the process inform her songs. The result is extremely compelling and also great pop music.

Dessa came to Third Story headquarters in Brooklyn earlier this month and the conversation flowed and flew. 

In this week’s Spotify playlist hear some of the songs we discuss in our conversation. Listen here.