Desdamona is a hip-hop and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics o ...

artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. She has won five Minnesota Music Awards for 'Best Spoken Word Artist' in the years 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 (the awards were not hosted in 2001 and 2002). For that reason, and her strong standing in the male-dominated hip-hop scene, she is considered to be the best female spoken word and hip-hop artist in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

Background

Desdamona, her Emcee name, comes from

Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...

, the wife of

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

''. She was born and went to school in Iowa. A childhood inspiration for her music, she said, was her father who would dress up as

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

and tell bedtime stories to her and also her grandmother who was a poet and artist. In college, Desdamona and her friends formed a band in which Desdamona was the

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, inspired by the R&B group TLC. The group performed around Waterloo, Iowa and had a few shows in Iowa City. When she moved to Minneapolis, she found an audience for her work. She began to go to

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...

nights to perform her poetry. In this way, she became known as a spoken word artist, which was not her original intention, but which, she says, "made me a better writer."

Career

Desdamona wrote and performed guest vocals on

Brother Ali Ali Douglas Newman (born Jason Douglas Newman, July 30, 1977), better known by his stage name Brother Ali, is an American rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective. He has released seven albums, ...

's ''Rites of Passage'' on the track titled "We Will Always B" in 2000. Her lines criticized male dominance of hip hop and

chauvinism Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotism ...

in general. Desdamona's first official CD, ''The Ledge'', came out on 5 June 2005 on the Zlink Entertainment Label. It included twelve songs. Prior to that she had independently released three projects (Alive @ First Ave, Resilence, A Prelude to the Real Thing. She frequently collaborates with

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

beatboxer Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

Carnage the Executioner, also known as Carnage. On Desdamona's second disc, ''The Source'', which came out 26 June 2007, the duo do the first track, "Infinity", together. The two have formed a group called Ill Chemistry, which was noted as a rising hip hop group at the 2007 Minnesota Music Awards. Desdamona has noted that they're working on a collaboration on her

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

. Desdamona co-founded a female-based music festival, called B-Girl Be, which incorporates all the aspects of hip hop and spoken word; emceeing,

break dance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

DJing A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

. She also works with schools, teaching students, as well as in the Stillwater Prison program, ''In the Belly''. In 2010, Desdamona was invited by Ursus Minor to collaborate on their third album. ''I will not take ''but'' for an answer'', now been touring with Ursus Minor along with

Boots Riley Raymond Lawrence "Boots" Riley (born April 1, 1971), is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He made his feature-film directorial ...

and ill chemistry since 2010. She is working on a new solo project titled "No Man's Land" that is a CD-book project and she is also collaborating with a French recording artist for a project in 2015. In September 2019, Desdamona appeared in the

Visual Collaborative Visual Collaborative is an American festival and publishing platform highlighting the intersections of people, commerce, and innovation. Acclaim for its social impact in humanities, it was featured by Voice of America, VOA, for advancing the cause ...

electronic catalogue, in an issue themed ''Vivencias'' which translates to "Experiences" in Spanish. She was interviewed alongside 30 people from around the world that included

Kelli Ali Kelli Ali, also known as Kelli Dayton (born 30 June 1974), is a British vocalist, who was formerly the lead singer of the trip hop group Sneaker Pimps before going on to a solo career. Career Before Sneaker Pimps, Ali was part of a group cal ...

Dakore Akande Dakore Egbuson-Akande (born Dakore Omobola Egbuson; 14 October 1978) is a Nigerian actress. She is an ambassador for Amnesty International, Amstel Malta and Oxfam of America. Biography Dakore was born in Bayelsa State as the first child of her ...

and

Adelaide Damoah Adelaide Damoah RWA FRSA (born ) is a British painter and performance artist of Ghanaian descent who uses her body as the starting point for much of her work. Themes of particular interest include feminism, colonialism, religion and spirituality ...

References

External links

Official blog and website of Desdamona
{{Authority control American spoken word artists Living people Rappers from Minneapolis 21st-century American rappers 1973 births