Janelle Monae: How An Outsider Became a Visionary Superstar

Androgynous Black women with a nerdy love of sci fi and a sexuality shrouded in mystery don’t typically operate in the world of Hip Hop and R&B, but Janelle Monáe is the exception. Since she emerged on the scene ten years ago with her first EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite — introducing a seven-part concept series about a robot named Cindi Mayweather who’s navigating the strict social stratification in the year 2719 — Monáe has been building on those weirdo themes to tell stories of inequality...