Desdamona
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Desdamona | |
|---|---|
 Desdamona performing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1973 (age 52–53) Mount Pleasant, Iowa, U.S. |
| Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, spoken word |
| Occupations | Rapper, poet, Teacher |
| Years active | 1994–present |
Desdamona is a hip-hop and spoken word artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. She has won five Minnesota Music Awards for 'Best Spoken Word Artist' in the years 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 (the awards were not hosted in 2001 and 2002).[1] For that reason, and her strong standing in the male-dominated hip-hop scene, she is considered to be the best female spoken word and hip-hop artist in the Midwest.[1][2]
Desdamona, her Emcee name, comes from Desdemona, the wife of Othello in William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello.[2] She was born and went to school in Iowa. A childhood inspiration for her music, she said, was her father who would dress up as Count Dracula and tell bedtime stories to her and also her grandmother who was a poet and artist.[3] In college, Desdamona and her friends formed a band in which Desdamona was the rapper, inspired by the R&B group TLC.[2] The group performed around Waterloo, Iowa and had a few shows in Iowa City. When she moved to Minneapolis, she found an audience for her work. She began to go to open mic nights to perform her poetry. In this way, she became known as a spoken word artist, which was not her original intention, but which, she says, "made me a better writer."[2]
