Janelle Monae on NPR’s Fresh Air
Fresh Air, is an hour-long interview show broadcast on 500 public radio stations across the country with 5 million listeners weekly.
Songs from Metropolis:The Chase Suite (Special Edition) will be played.
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Janelle Monae has said she uses her imagination as an escape from a rough childhood, which was marked by her father’s addiction to drugs.
Her 2007 debut album Metropolis: The Chase Suite featured a character named Cindi Mayweather, Monae’s android alter-ego from the year 2719. “Many Moons,” a single off the album, earned the singer a Grammy nomination, and helped Monae catch the ear of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy roster and re-released the album.
In 2005, Outkasts’s Big Boi included two of her songs on his compilation, Got Purp?, Vol. 2. Monae also performed in Outkast’s Idlewild soundtrack.
Official Short Film "Many Moons"
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Thank you all for all of your help and inspiration.
The First Tour
So Janelle Monáe and a few members of the W.A.S. embarked on the very first promo tour in support of Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition). It was a very eye-opening experience, and a lot of hard work!
The two-week stretch began in San Diego with a show at the House of Blues. Lord Rico, Janelle Monáe, and Nate Wonder were all sick as dogs, so things were a little difficult at first.
Anyway, we were only in San Diego for a few hours. After the show we went back to the hotel, slept a few hours, then piled in an SUV headed to L.A.
8/16: Here we are at our hotel on Highland. Nate says it’s a “Motel” since the hallways are outdoors. Here we’re trying to figure out what we’re gonna eat, which was a constant thing. Seemed like every 2 hours somebody was hungry. *cough*Nate*cough*
8/17: JM opened for Raphael Saadiq at the Roxy in L.A! We did two more shows with him as well (SF & NY). Our homegirls (and Chase members) Akua and Danielle helped us out at the Merch table.
Ummm… Later that night…. We had a once in a lifetime experience… We went to this guys house, right? And he had a band there… And he performed the songs on this set list for us… Man we partied til’ the sun came up…. like it was 1999. We couldn’t believe it! I guess it’s just a “Sign of The Times”
8/19: We went to Blue microphone just outside of L.A. to test out some of the different studio mics (www.bluemic.com). Lord Rico in the back adding that Puerto Rican flayverrr! aheheaheaheah!… Later that night JM performed at the Viper Room in L.A. The guy who invited us to his home came out after the show…In his sick 2-door Cadillac sports car (Not a little red corvette!)
8/19 After the show: The work doesn’t end! We had to book studio time to work on the sound design for the Many Moons video with director Alan Ferguson (it’s almost done…I promise!) We were in the famous Capitol Records studio! A lot of history in that building. (Nat King Cole, Old Blue Eyes, The Beatles, Beach Boys)…Wow!
8/20: I’d never seen wind generator up close before. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie to me.
8/20: Rasputin Records in-store (Berkeley)
8/20: Opening for Raphael Saadiq at Bimbo’s in San Francisco. Then, afterwards at the Hotel Metropolis.PORTLAND, OREGON
8/23: Seattle, Washington (Kellindo’s city man!)1. Upon arriving at sound check, we saw berries growing on the fence at the venue (they were delicious. Nate and I had our fill) Only eat the dark ones!
2. In-store at easy street records.
3. Space needle (tourist moment)
4. JM rocking the crowd at Nectar later that night.
8/26: Washington, DC (Arlington, VA) J. Money signs autographs for some supporters (father and son who came out to see her) after the show at IOTA Cafe (Who, by the way, had the FIE french fries!)
8/27: (Kellindo’s birthday!) Backstage before the show, Janelle paints Kellindo’s nails, George 2.0 in a pseudo-candid shot, “the band’s here:” Young Pete (Young Work!) and Kellindo (Pucker), JM puts some fuel in the tank before hitting the stage.
Smile!
Backstage. After the show… JM and the lovely Solange Knowles (OK COOL! 
)
We got a couple ours of sleep at a funky little hotel called the Gershwin before flying off to Denver and Atlanta.The first tour was a great experience overall. A lot of bonding, joking, meeting new folks, and a hell of a lot of shows! Everyone seemed to really be inspired by what JM and the W.A.S. are trying to do! Thanks to everyone who came out and showed their support! Now it’s back home to the studio to finish Suite II and III!
Sorry so late. It took me a while to put this together.
Stay funky,
Mitchropolis: Sweet one… You be sweet too.
METROPOLIS IS NOT CHINESE DEMOCRACY
So I know some of you have been worried about Metropolis. Worried that Metropolis will become Chinese Democracy, devolve into creative chaos and other woes. Worried that Wondaland will screw it up. That we’re going to create something that only a few Star Wars geeks can understand. Or let it become a black rock beast, you know, something you’d love at home with your afropunk friends but never hear on the radio. And then there’s the biggest travesty of it all: What if it never comes out?
Well rest ye weary souls. Here’s a little concrete information about the release to put your heart at ease.
- Metropolis will be released quarterly in four suites. Each suite will be a mini-album complete with collectible ephemera (stickers, posters, oh boy!). Each suite will be numbered and limited edition.
- The first single “Violet Stars Happy Hunting” will be released on June 1, 2007. The first suite of Metropolis (Suite I: The Chase) will be released on Auguest 1, 2007. Look for the first JM video to come your way in late July (more details on that later).
- The full album Metropolis will be released next year. The album will contain all kinds of goodies: bonus tracks, live tracks, videos, etc.
- In terms of major distribution, we’ve been in talks with a few majors here and overseas. We’ll keep you posted how those thangs go. In case you haven’t heard, there’s a lot of problems in the music industry right now. Superstars can’t buy a hit. And they just turned the historic Capitol building into condos. Getting a major record deal right now is a little like getting invited to a five course meal on the Titanic…
- The suites will be distributed through iTunes, Amazon, MySpace and BlabStar. If you don’t have a BlabStar account, and if you’ve never heard of it, you know nothing about the future of music. And that is something to worry about.
- The album is the debut release of a new label that is a joint venture between Wondaland Productions and Big Boi. The name of this label is the Wondaland Arts Society. The WAS is the home of the Wonderground, a collective consisting of JM and Deep Cotton.
- In addition, the WAS will be collaborating with Purple Ribbon and the Atlanta Ballet Company to convert Metropolis into a rock opera/ballet. We are still putting the finals and particulars together. And we’re beginning the creative process this summer. But the performances are already booked: April 10-13, 2008 at the Fox Theatre. So get ready to see JM on stage singing her heart out in the midst of twenty moonwalking androids!
See, now don’t you feel better? Here, if that didn’t help. Perhaps this will. I’m waiting for Chinese Democracy just like you. Damnit, Axl, just release the damn thang.
–c.lightning
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