Tip On In

Janelle Monáe's "Tightrope", featuring Big Boi, has to be one of my favorite songs of 2010. Both artists bring their A-games here, rolling out their lyrics over a spastic, horn-and-handclap-driven beat to perfect effect. I'd even venture to say that Monáe outshines Leftfoot with her last verse. It's crazy. And the video doesn't disappoint either. It's fun and weird, and there's just something cool and hypnotic about a bunch of people in tuxes strutting and gliding.

I first heard Janelle Monáe on Big Boi's Got Purp? Vol. 2, and again on OutKast's Idlewild, where she played the typical female R&B singer role, belting out hooks and background vocals in slightly impressive but generic fashion. It's nice to see that since then, she's come into her wild and genre-bending own. She's creative and refreshing and unafraid of carving out her own path. Her Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) EP was bizarre and ambitious, introducing her audience to a world of androids, Afrofuturism and energy, but most importantly it sounded good. While I haven't fully delved into her follow-up effort, The ArchAndroid (Suites II And III)-- I'm ten tracks in and it's pretty damn solid-- it has been getting great reviews (currently sitting pretty with a 90/100 on Metacritic). I don't expect her to shatter any album sales records or anything like that, but I do hope she sees some commercial success so she can continue doing what's she's doing.