*All events are 21+ valid ID required for entry*
8 PM – Doors
8:30 PM – Show
WXPN Welcomes
DESSA
Spanning genres and disciplines, Dessa’s style is defined by tenderness, ferocity, candor, and wit. As a musician, she’s co-composed for large choirs; crowd-surfed at rock clubs; recorded a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; and contributed a track to the #1 album The Hamilton Mixtape. Her TED Talk, which recounts her science experiment on how to fall out of love, has notched more than 5 million views. She’s written for The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; hosted two seasons of a podcast for the BBC; and published several poetry books and literary collections including the memoir-in-essays My Own Devices (Penguin Random House).
Dessa’s musical career began in earnest when she was asked to join Minneapolis’ Doomtree collective, the hip-hop crew known for bold production, charismatic lyricists, and explosive live shows. She started touring hard as a solo act after her 2010 release A Badly Broken Code. Since then, she’s released 5 more full-length albums, working across sounds and styles while keeping her razor-sharp writing front and center.
LADY MIDNIGHT
Lady Midnight is a vocalist and performance artist who draws upon her multidisciplinary background and Afro-indigenous roots to create work that reflects our collective lives. The City Pages named Lady Midnight Best Twin Cities Vocalist and named her highly anticipated debut album Death Before Mourning Best Album of 2020. She has performed across the country, sharing stages with legendary acts like Common, Moby, Andra Day, and Aloe Blacc. As a film composer, she has been commissioned by the Walker Arts Center and artist Kara Walker.
Lady Midnight holds space for Black, Indigenous, people of color, refugee, and immigrant youth within her creative community residencies and projects like NDN Collective, indigenous students on the Red Lake reservation, refugee and immigrant girls and non-binary students participating in Girls Getting Ahead in Leadership in partnership with Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment, and Kulture Klub Collaborative (a non-profit for youth experiencing homelessness). She has dedicated her life to empowering youth, using her art to inspire change and heal collective trauma.
KUF KNOTZ & CHRISTINE ELISE
Küf Knotz (Producer/MC) and Christine Elise (Harpist/Vocalist) have brought their unique blend of hip-hop, soul and classical traditions to various communities across the country. The unlikely pair connected and built a musical bond with a similar vision to creating positive, forward thinking music fusing boom bap era and lo-fi inspired beats supported by the harp. Their performance takes you on an era fusing, genre blending journey. And, you can dance to it. The duo has been featured on Sugarshack Sessions & NPR Music.