Janelle Monáe Robinson was
Born December 1, 1985, Janelle grew up in a very large, very Baptist family in Kansas City, Kansas.
Her mother left her crack-addicted father when she was a baby and remarried.
He spent the entirety of her childhood in and out of jail.
She was once escorted out of her family church for breaking out into Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in the middle of the service.
As a teenager, she learned to channel that energy and talent into a young playwrights’ program
and Juneteenth talent shows, winning the top prize 3 years in a row with her covers of various Lauryn Hill jams.
After high school, she moved to NYC to study musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
She worked as a maid to pay her share of the bills in an upper Manhattan apartment she shared with an older cousin.
Janelle left NYC after only a year and a half because
At the suggestion of a friend, she headed down to Atlanta, Georgia.
She enrolled in Perimeter College at Georgia State University and started selling
her self-produced demo CD “The Audition” out of the trunk of her Mitsubishi Galant.
Nevertheless, Atlanta seemed to hold the key to Janelle’s success.
She met Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder, who would be enduring creative collaborators throughout her career.
She was introduced to Antwan Patton a.k.a. Big Boi of Outkast at an open mic.
Janelle’s work with Big Boi for the soundtrack of the 2006 film ‘Idlewild’ caught the attention of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs,
who became committed to nurturing her obvious star potential.
Her debut EP ‘Metropolis: Suite I’ was released in 2007 and brought with it the birth of Janelle’s alter ego
Cindi Mayweather, a robot who’s down for the revolution. She’s in love with a human
and committed to freeing her fellow Androids from servitude. Diddy signed Janelle Monae to Bad Boy Records in 2008.
With a record deal and Diddy’s hefty co-sign, Janelle was ready to make
Cindi Mayweather’s plight was so compelling that Janelle earned her first Grammy nomination
for Best Urban/ Alternative Performance of ‘Many Moons.’
♪For freedom♪
♪You're free but in your mind (you're free) Your freedom's in a bind♪
The ‘Purple Rain’ artist was actually the first person to receive a physical copy of her debut studio album
‘The ArchAndroid’ in 2010, presented to him with a handwritten tracklist and a flower for gratitude.
‘The ArchAndroid’ was Grammy nominated for Best Contemporary R&B album,
and Janelle’s breakthrough hit ‘Tightrope’ was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
♪I gotta keep my balance And just keep dancin on it♪
♪We gettin funky on the scene Yeah you know about it♪
♪Like a star on the screen Watch me tip all on it♪
Janelle Monae stepped forward as the CEO of Wondaland Arts Society,
which she founded with Nate Wonder and Chuck Lighting.
Seemingly, Janelle had just achieved steady footing in the industry,
but tragedy would give her much needed perspective to
On April 21, 2016, Prince passed away due to an accidental overdose.
In his absence, Janelle was confronted by the brevity of life and the necessity to define how she’d be remembered.
In the past, she’d been very open with fans about her mental health journey
and using therapy to grow as a person.
Now, Janelle was finally ready to stop hiding behind the cold, hard metaphor of Cindi Mayweather and
In October of 2016, Janelle made her big-screen debut in ‘Moonlight’
as a psuedo mother to a very scared and confused young man exploring his sexuality.
'And stop putting your head down in my house.'
'You know my rule, it's all love and all pride in this house. You feel me.'
Two months later, Janelle had fans running back to the box office to see her portray Mary Jackson,
one of a trio of exceptional African American women who were vital to NASA in the early 1960s, in ‘Hidden Figures.’
Both films were nominated for Best Picture at the following year’s Academy Awards,
but ‘Moonlight’s breathtaking cinematography and heart-wrenching story eclipsed the competition.
Janelle has also used her platform to speak out about the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements
sweeping through Hollywood and empowering women to speak up.
Prior to his death, Prince was offering his opinions and guidance on what would become 2018’s ‘Dirty Computer.’
While her creativity and talent were still out of this world,
this project invited fans to get a closer look at the woman behind the robot.
♪Pynk is where all of it starts... crazy♪
♪Pynk, like the holes of your heart♪
Her honesty was awarded with a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
What she didn’t realize was that there were millions of fans
just waiting for the representation that her radical artistry carried.