Are you looking for a black female artist who can sing, dance, writes her own songs, and doesn’t have to get half-naked in a video to put her talent on display? Look no further, meet Janelle Monáe!

Janelle Monáe was born Janelle Monáe Robinson in Kansas City, Kansas, where she spent her early life and grew up dreaming of becoming a singer and performer. Monáe moved from Kansas City to New York to study drama at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Later she attended a Performing Arts School called Freedom Theatre, which is the oldest African-American theatre in Philadelphia. Eventually Janelle Monáe moved to Atlanta where she met Big Boi from the group Outkast who then introduced her to Sean “Puffy” Combs, CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment. According to sources, Combs immediately recognized the talent and originality of Janelle; Combs is said to have “loved her look, loved that you couldn’t see her body, loved the way she was dancing, and just loved the vibe.”

Janelle’s music and image are built upon a variety of concepts and themes that she mashed together and made her own. Monáe’s classic style of dress, built upon wearing black and white, mixes older style with the new. Her music is a fusion of classic soul, R&B, jazz, and Hip-Hop of the type that doesn’t degrade black women. Top off all of the elements of her identity and music off with a hat-tip to technology and futuristic fashions and you get an artist that looks and sounds like no other female artist on the market.

Find out more about Janelle Monáe on her website.