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TOM CRANN: It's all things considered from Minnesota Public Radio News I'm Tom Crann. One of the more anticipated local CDs in recent years has hit the stores. The rapper and songstress Dessa will be celebrating the release of A Badly Broken Code at the Fine Line music cafe in Minneapolis tonight. Dessa's friend and collaborator, the local singer songwriter Aby Wolf, promises, if you've never heard Dessa before, one thing will quickly become apparent.

ABY WOLF: She's so great with words.

[DESSA, "CHILDREN'S WORK"] My father was a paper plane

My mother was a wind swept tree

My little brother is nearly twice my age

He taught me how to meditate

I taught him how to read

I grew up with a book in my bed

ABY WOLF: Her writing does stand alone. So the fact that it's given to us in music is very appealing.

TOM CRANN: Aby Wolfe will be accompanying Dessa at her Fine Line show tonight. Chris Roberts has more now on Dessa's new CD and her writerly approach to rapping.

(SINGING) You've learned how to hold your own

How to stack your stones

But the history's thick

Children weren't as simple

CHRIS ROBERTS: Dessa's is facility with language can be intimidating if you're not ready for it. When she talks or sings her words come at you with an enunciative ferocity and intellectual velocity that's pretty uncommon in rap music.

[DESSA, "DUTCH"] Hey, mind your step I keep the overhead low

Just the bed and the books and the rotary phone

Chicago Manual of Style keeps the prose right crisp

Minneapolis edition, well it goes like this

Well, I talk way too fast

CHRIS ROBERTS: Her verbal prowess probably served her well as the only female member of the Minneapolis hip hop collective Doomtree. In fact, the writer, former philosophy major and spoken word artist laid down the law when she first entered its ranks.

DESSA: When I started getting involved with Doomtree, I knew I didn't want to be the girl who sang choruses while the boys rapped.

(SINGING) I'm the book that beat the speedreader

And I'm the card that the dealers won't touch

And it's just not true I'm a maneater

All the same, we should probably go Dutch

I'm the book that beat--

CHRIS ROBERTS: To prove her mettle, she let go of her writing sensibilities and started molding herself into a more traditional emcee, but it didn't feel right. That was when Doomtree-mate POS suggested she rap the way she wrote her essays.

DESSA: Because I think I had been trying to fit in to what I imagined the rap aesthetic was, and instead, imported my fascinations and stylistic preferences from prose into this medium. And I feel much more comfortable now.

[DESSA, "MATCHES TO PAPER DOLLS"] I changed the locks

But your key, your key's still working

You can't train a moth, I guess

Oh, each beast gets her burden

So we circle this old--

CHRIS ROBERTS: The songs on a badly broken code carry a lot of Dessa's trademark qualities an unusually soft alto that shifts rapidly between coos and caresses and razor sharpness, melodies drenched in minor chords, a lyrical stream that dispenses poetic turns of phrases and poignant insights about family, friendship, and romantic tumult almost like afterthoughts, and maybe most important, emotional honesty.

DESSA: Very often, we have an overrepresentation of some of the celebratory things. Here I am in the club, here I am with the girls, here I am in love. Here I am-- And people understandably are kind of shy to talk about feelings of inadequacy or feeling down.

CHRIS ROBERTS: As she crafted the songs for the new CD, Dessa says she didn't want to be cast merely as an R&B singer, and she didn't want to be a rapper without content. Last year, her first book of creative non-fiction was published entitled Spiral Bound. City Pages music editor, Andrea Swensson says Dessa's stylistic versatility and lyrical vision are pushing hip hop's boundaries.

ANDREA SWENSSON: She's rapping in some instances, but she's also singing. She's looping her own voice in these acapella arrangements that are really experimental and really forward thinking.

[DESSA, "INTO THE SPIN"] So here we go back again

Slow climb but quick to descend

ANDREA SWENSSON: I've just been really impressed by the different avenues that she's gone down. And when you listen to the album as a whole, it doesn't really necessarily fit into any one genre.

CHRIS ROBERTS: After her Fine Line show, Dessa will get ready for a 39-date national tour supporting POS When that tour arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 10, [? Shawna ?] [? Quintel ?] will be waiting. [? Quintel, ?] a budding rapper from Boston, wrote a rhapsodic review of a badly broken code for the California-based music blog, Mind Equals Blown.

She drew particular attention to Dessa's fearlessness in a genre that still remains largely closed off to female emcees.

SPEAKER: I hope it inspires a lot of other people to be creative and for more girls to also come out and rap.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Meanwhile, Dessa claims she's not looking to be the new face of hip hop or its new feminist voice. She's most proud of the range of subjects she tackles on her new record and, of course, the words.

DESSA: And I wanted to try to be the best person that I knew how to be without being a Pollyanna and without being preachy and I feel like-- as well as I could on this one, I did that.

CHRIS ROBERTS: Dessa says she's excited to supply another contrast to the materialism and hypersexuality that's still very prevalent in rap music. Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio News Minneapolis.

[DESSA, "ALIBI"] Well I'm sure it's complicated

And I'm sure your story goes way back

But you're looking desperate lately

And now is not the time to look like that

I don't know if he did it, and I won't ask

There's a lot of good women with a lot of bad backs

You mentioned something heavy, it already looks bad

Careful what you carry on his behalf

And I'm sure he's thinking of you too

Not the type to snitch and run but

But sometimes they say it's the plain truth

99 problems, ughhh!

Well I don't don't need need need to know

But there's a set of my keys left under your door

And if you need a place to sleep tonight

Well, that's what family's for

I don't don't need need need to know

But I put on my best fresh little black dress

And go get singing tonight

Work on that alibi of yours

I don't mean to be your mother

Got my own kids to raise

And I don't aim to blow your cover

It's your own hell to pay

But the word on the street is a page out of Blake

Your man made money, but he made mistakes

And now the revelations coming looks to you for a break

You've always been cunning with those brave escapes

But take a minute now, think this through

Give it a second and a bird's eye view

Think of the moments you've got left to lose

Like how much time are you really, down to do?

Well I don't don't need need need to know

But there's a set of my keys left under your door

And if you need a place to sleep tonight

Well, that's what family is for

I don't don't need need need to know

But I'd put on my best fresh little black dress

And go get seen tonight

Work on that alibi yours

Now, I've seen the way that you count your blessings

With hash marks on the wall

And I've seen you coming out of Sunday confession

With the numbered list and all

Now, I don't bow my head for supper

I never do kneel beside my bed

But it looks like your afterlife is covered

I hope on Earth you're careful kid

Well, I don't don't don't don't don't need need need need need don't dont

Well, I don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't

I don't, well, I don't don't don't need need need to know

But there's a set of my keys left under your door

And if you need a place to sleep tonight

Well, that's what family's for

I don't don't need need to know

But I've put on my best fresh little black dress

And go get seen tonight

Work on that alibi of yours