Listen UP: Janelle Monae's Electric Lady, AKA, Buppie Music

Janelle Monae's Electric Lady, AKA, Buppie Music
FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2013 file photo, American R&B and soul musician, composer and record producer, Janelle Monae poses for a portrait at Dream Downtown, in New York. The Grammy-nominated singer released her full-length sophomore album, ?The Electric Lady,? on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. It features collaborations with Prince, Erykah Badu, Miguel, Esperanza Spalding and Solange. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2013 file photo, American R&B and soul musician, composer and record producer, Janelle Monae poses for a portrait at Dream Downtown, in New York. The Grammy-nominated singer released her full-length sophomore album, ?The Electric Lady,? on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. It features collaborations with Prince, Erykah Badu, Miguel, Esperanza Spalding and Solange. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP, File)

There was an undeniable power of Janelle Monae's debut LP The ArchAndroid, an artistry and execution that overpowered cynics' inclination to balk at Janelle Monae The Package.

Let me rewind a little...

Monae's first two EPs were worthy. The Audition was auspicious. Songs like "My Favorite Nothing" and "Cloud 9" revealed a young artist with developing charisma and an ear for dynamism. It was the song "Metropolis", though, that was the harbinger of what was to come. It was a sublime ballad from a seminal talent, with pipes, writing chops...and an odd fixation on this future world of androids and cyborgs and, uh, other stuff. This was 2003. She was a kid.

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