Dessa: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Part of the Twin Cities hiphop collective Doomtree, rapper, singer, poet and songwriter Dessa divides her time between singing and rapping, often landing on a spokenword splitting of the difference. The week she performed this Tiny Desk Concert, she appeared at an All Songs Considered live listening party, during which she opined articulately before closing the night by singing Leonard Cohen s Hallelujah in the style popularized by Jeff Buckley. This year, the former philosophy major released both a new album (Parts of Speech) and a chapbook of poetry called A Pound of Steam. As versatile as she is, Dessa faced down a string of challenges in getting to the Tiny Desk. Near the tailend of a tour during which thousands of dollars worth of her band s gear was stolen her voice started to give out as she battled a bad cold. (Keep an eye out for her expression of relief at the completion of The Man I Knew in this set. ) And, of course, Dessa and her band had to come up with ways to perform three songs fr