In case you are not aware: Dessa is amazing.

Dessa is a rapper/writer from Minneapolis.

She was a writer first, but is best known now as a rapper. (in her own words: "..an underrated writer, overrated rapper/Undecided major on an unrelated matter").

It sometimes pops up in more literary fashion, as with the first verse I ever heard from her:

Synchronized sinking
A single-sided die a tire fire
I'm sick of this sickness
I want a signal, a symbol, a sign
The sinners are seeking asylum
Senate is set to deny them
Sun at the center is dimming
Spinning in silence
Synapses sing with science sitting inside us
Citizen's sinuses ring with sirens
If singing is violence
It goes thanks, T.S., but the world ends like this
Not a bang, not a whimper, but a sibilant hiss

On occasion, people get tripped up on her looks.

It's perfectly reasonable of course, but she kind of addressed that as well, and in a pretty perfect fashion: "And to everybody talkin' 'bout my tits/I guess that it's because you can't find shit to dis/about the way that I spit".

She's a part of a crew called Doomtree.

There's a great video of Mike Mictlan (above left) debuting a new track in front of them all where she stops afterward to tell the crowd how amazing it is to hear a song you've never ever heard from someone you know and tour with and are close to, completely out of the blue.

She pours her soul into performances.

There's never been a question as to whether her heart was in it when I've seen her. Every ounce of pain and emotion in the lyrics or other recordings of those songs comes out--if it isn't actually enhanced in the process, that is.

One of the few acts I've managed to convince people to attend with me, and it usually means converts. Last time, I ended up spending some time at a show talking to a woman who was there because Dessa's words connected with her regarding her own major tribulations of the time. She'd even convinced her mother to come with her--it was Mother's Day.

Perhaps my favourite pairing in the crew is her and Sims.

And that may just be because of the time she imitated him to reference a comment he once made: "Dessa, your songs are so SAD."

It's true, and she jokes about it a lot, actually.

But "The Wren", a track they did together, is just a bloody masterpiece.

I've got this music in my head
I've got this hole in my chest
I've got this bird in my hand
That looks like it's been crushed to death
But it's a player's game, ante up and take your token
Keep one beneath your tongue for when your best gets broken
I swallowed my tongue, I bided my time
Trying to do just this one thing right
By the book but the hook descends I'm shook
God knows I'll always bite
'Cause part of the fun is the road rash
Feeling the gravel go past
And I don't care what they say
There's no such thing as a clean break.

Two years ago, I saw her in concert

And as a favour she recorded a video message for someone very important to me, who loves her music but was not able to attend the show. She did so graciously and with understanding of both why I asked and why that person's attendance was not possible.

Earlier this year, I saw her again.

She recognized me on sight--"You come here every time," and just spontaneously hugged me. I tried in my fumbling way to thank her again for what she'd done the last time, as it turned out that video was the last gift I was able to give that person.

When I couldn't find the words for this, she tried to find comforting words, and couldn't, and just hugged me again--an effective stranger. It was one of the most touching and human gestures I've experienced in my life. We took this photo not long after that, and as a socially awkward person, I sincerely appreciate that I never felt discomfort from her (which tends to make my awkwardness worse).

In a way I can't explain, that was the most real moment in dealing with that grief, and that has been a very important thing to me since then.

It's not really a favour I can realistically repay.

The only thing I can do is encourage you to try her new album when it comes out Tuesday (6/25, or 25/6 for those of you in countries that do things the other way). Early sales are important for numbers people in the music business. I already have my copies (yep, plural), and they are worth it, of this I can assure you.