Janelle Monae’ inspires herself.

The new face of Afro-Futurism

This is not to say that she’s an egoist or that she doesn’t take inspiration from life and objects around her. But it is to say that in her own struggle to complete the painting and to name the colorful woman depicted, she wound up jpenning an album. And not just a regular ole two-major-hits album, The Electric Lady offers 12 tracks of great listens.

Under Big Boi’s esoteric tutelage, she’s had several well received projects; however, the this is the one that will probablhy launch Monae’ , 27, from underground indie-cool popularity to NBA Finals halftime show superstardom. Yes, it’s that good, and yes, she’s that good live. It also doesn’t hurt that she snagged Prince as a collaborator and didn’t shy away from instructing him on how to improve his studio sound.

Nervy? Hell, yeah. But tha’s Monae’. “I…