Birth name Margret Wander Years active 2005–present Also known as Dessa Darling | Name Margret Wander | |
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Born May 23, 1981 (age 43) Minneapolis, Minnesota, US ( 1981-05-23 ) Origin Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. Genres Alternative hip hopUnderground hip hop Occupation(s) Rapper, singer, producer, writer Role Rapper · dessa.bandcamp.com Albums Profiles | ||
Dessa the crow prod by lazerbeak
Margret Wander (born May 23, 1981), better known by her stage name Dessa, is an American rapper, singer, spoken word artist, writer, and record executive. She is a member and CEO of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree.
Contents
- Dessa the crow prod by lazerbeak
- Dessa call off your ghost pandora whiteboard sessions
- Early life
- Doomtree
- Solo projects and non Doomtree collaborations
- Studio albums
- EPs
- Singles
- Medida
- Guest appearances
- References
Dessa call off your ghost pandora whiteboard sessions
Early life
Dessa was born to Robert Wander Jr. and Sylvia Burgos, and has a younger brother, Max. Her father is white and her mother Puerto Rican. Dessa went to Southwest High School, graduating from the IB Diploma Programme in 1999. She attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy. Before becoming an artist full-time, she worked as a technical writer for a medical manufacturer.
Doomtree
Initially drawn to their raw aesthetics and unique sound, Dessa forged a friendship with Doomtree. Soon after, she was asked to join the crew and did so. Since 2005, Dessa has appeared on numerous Doomtree albums, as well as on the other members' solo albums. She is also the CEO of Doomtree.
Dessa's debut solo EP, False Hopes, was released in 2005. Despite being only fifteen minutes long, it was listed as one of the top local albums of the year by Minneapolis Star Tribune.
She completed and released a book of creative non-fiction titled Spiral Bound at the fourth annual Doomtree Blowout in 2008. In 2009, Dessa published Spiral Bound on Doomtree Press, a seventy-page collection of fiction and poetry.
Dessa's first solo album, A Badly Broken Code, was released on January 19, 2010. The singles from this album are "Dixon's Girl" and "The Chaconne." The album features production from Paper Tiger, MK Larada, Lazerbeak, Cecil Otter and Big Jess. MK Larada also designed the album art.
In 2011, Dessa released Castor, the Twin, a remix album featuring new arrangements of songs released on previous projects, primarily A Badly Broken Code. The original production in the remixed tracks was replaced with live instrumentation.
In 2013, Dessa released Parts of Speech. The singles from this album are "Warsaw" and "Call Off Your Ghost."
Solo projects and non-Doomtree collaborations
Dessa is a founding member of The Boy Sopranos, an almost all-female a cappella group, with frequent collaborators Jessy Greene, Aby Wolf and others. She also taught at the Institute of Production and Recording and the McNally Smith College of Music.
On March 2, 2012, Dessa presented "Mic Lines: Art, Ethics, and their Contested Connections" at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of the three-day Nobel Peace Prize Forum .
Dessa was the host of Twin Cities Public Television's The Lowertown Line, a live music series, from 2012 to 2014.
She was a contributing artist on the 2015 St. Paul based 'Plume Project." A public art installment in which images and colors were projected onto steam rising from a smoke stack in downtown St. Paul and music and spoken-word pieces could be accessed by calling a phone number. Dessa read her poem "Circle Games."
In 2016, she had a flavor of ice cream named after her on July 27, 2016 by Izzy's Ice Cream, “Dessa’s Existential Crunch”. The same year, she contributed to The Hamilton Mixtape with her song "Congratulations."
Dessa has written for New York Times Magazine about visiting New Orleans as a tourist.
In April 2017, she headlined a show with the Minnesota Orchestra, which featured new arrangements of her songs as well as a story performed in prose.