Dessa

Dessa
Jonathunder · GFDL 1.2 · source
Name	Dessa
Birth name	Margret Wander
Birth date	1981
Birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Occupation	Singer, rapper, author, essayist, professor
Years active	2001–present
Associated acts	Doomtree, P.O.S, Sims, Dessa + Chamber

Dessa Dessa is an American singer, rapper, writer, and professor known for her work as a member of the Minneapolis hip hop collective Doomtree and for solo albums that blend hip hop, indie rock, and chamber arrangements. Her career spans recording, touring, fiction and nonfiction publication, and teaching, with frequent intersections with Minneapolis arts institutions, independent music scenes, and literary communities. She has collaborated with artists across genres and has been recognized for both musical composition and literary craft.

Early life and education

Born Margret Wander in Minneapolis in 1981, she was raised in Minnesota and spent formative years immersed in the regional scenes that produced artists affiliated with Rhymesayers Entertainment and the Twin Cities indie network. She studied at institutions in Minnesota and later pursued graduate-level work related to literature and writing; her academic path included engagement with novelists and poets connected to Midwestern creative writing programs. Early influences included touring exposure to performers associated with Sub Pop-era indie rock and regional hip hop acts such as Eyedea and members of the Rhymesayers collective.

Musical career

Dessa gained prominence as a founding contributor to the Doomtree collective alongside artists like P.O.S, Sims, and Lazerbeak, contributing lyricism and vocal arrangements to group projects and tours. Her solo discography includes albums released on independent labels, featuring production by producers tied to the Minneapolis beat scene and instrumentalists from orchestral and chamber backgrounds. She has toured nationally and internationally, performing at venues and festivals where acts such as Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and Sufjan Stevens have headlined, and has supported cross-genre bills that included St. Vincent and Iron & Wine. Notable releases combined hip hop sequencing with live string sections, drawing collaborators from ensembles associated with institutions like the Orchestra of the Americas and local symphony musicians.

Literary and academic work

In addition to songwriting, Dessa has published essays and a book of nonfiction reflecting on performance, creativity, and identity, engaging with editors and presses within the Minneapolis literary ecosystem and national publishing circles. Her essays have appeared in literary outlets that have also featured writers linked to The Paris Review, The Believer, and magazines with historical ties to HarperCollins and independent presses. She has lectured and taught in settings affiliated with university creative writing programs, guest-teaching in departments where faculty include poets and novelists from institutions such as University of Minnesota and visiting writers known from programs at Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her academic engagements have included panels and residencies supported by arts organizations like MacDowell and foundations that fund literary arts.

Collaborations and side projects

Dessa’s collaborations range from studio features with Doomtree members to joint projects with classical arrangers, indie producers, and theater companies. She has performed with bands and producers linked to Jagjaguwar-adjacent artists and contributed vocals to recordings alongside producers who have worked with Neko Case and Bon Iver. Her chamber-oriented project brought together musicians from ensembles associated with Minnesota Orchestra and Minneapolis chamber groups, and she has appeared onstage in productions connected to theater organizations such as Penumbra Theatre and music festivals curated by presenters like First Avenue. Side projects include spoken-word performances with poets connected to Poetry Foundation-affiliated events and recorded collaborations with electronic producers who have credits on Ninja Tune releases.

Artistry and influences

Her artistic approach melds narrative lyricism and structural forms drawn from Sylvia Plath-era confessional poetics and storytelling techniques reminiscent of contemporary novelists; she cites influences across songwriting and literature including artists associated with Prince, songwriters from the Brill Building tradition, and modern hip hop lyricists who emerged from the Midwest hip hop milieu. Musically, her voice sits between rap cadences and melodic lines heard in indie folk and chamber pop; arrangements often reference the dynamics of ensembles linked to Chamber music collectives and the production aesthetics of underground labels like Anticon and Rhymesayers Entertainment. Her work has been noted for bridging the practices of touring hip hop acts and established indie orchestral collaborators.

Awards and recognition

Dessa has received recognition from regional and national arts organizations, including awards and nominations from Minnesota arts bodies and acknowledgments in music press outlets that have historically covered breakthrough artists alongside Pitchfork-featured musicians. She has been shortlisted for literary prizes that highlight creative nonfiction and featured in year-end lists by publications that review albums and books, institutions that have also honored artists like Tupac Shakur in retrospective contexts and contemporary writers cultivated by national arts councils. Her productions have charted on independent music charts and her essays have been cited in discussions of contemporary hybrid artistic practice.

Personal life and activism

She remains based in the Twin Cities area and participates in community arts initiatives, partnering with organizations that support arts education and social services, some of which intersect with groups like Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul and local chapters of national nonprofits. Her activism includes benefit performances and public speaking on issues connected to artists’ rights, creative labor, and nonprofit arts funding, aligning her with coalitions that have worked alongside unions and advocacy groups such as those involved in campaigns supported by arts foundations and community development organizations.

Category:American singers Category:American rappers Category:American writers