Dessa: A Twin City Rapper Explores A Softer Side  Dec 17, 2011
Originally published on December 17, 2011 10:13 pm
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit    Time now for music and
a singer of a different stripe.   DESSA: (Singing) Oh, someone
taught your walls to talk, but if they ask me, I ain't heard a
thing...  RAZ: This is Dessa. And clearly, this music is
soulful, jazzy, as is every song on her new record. But it might
surprise some listeners to learn that these songs started life
as hip-hop.   DESSA: (Singing) There was a snowstorm in Jackson,
where you and I met, at a club called Saint Sebastian, but the
sign says something different. I remember thinking that I didn't
have a shot at Mississippi television, told us which roads they
were closing. There goes a rap show.  RAZ: That is the same
song. Dessa's part of a hip-hop collective in Minnesota called
Doomtree. And her latest album is a jazzier take on her past
work. This one's called "Castor, the Twin." And Dessa joins us
from the studios of Minn