Margret Wander, stage name Dessa, brings a type of intelligence and awareness that is seldom seen in the new age of hip-hop music. Her show kicked off Gabe’s Mission Creek performances, and her collaboration with the show’s opener, MONAKR, led to an performance that left the Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St., crowd with hands in the air.
Dessa’s Mission Creek performance is one of the first stops on her international tour. During her dates in the U.S., she will continue to play with MONAKR.
“If you didn’t like us, then you’re going to be upset,” said Saam Hagshenas, guitarist for MONAKR. “We are going to stick around and play with Dessa.”
Dessa fans were entirely pleased, and the floorboards at Gabe’s could barely handle the rhythmic pulse of dancing feet.
Dessa belongs to the Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, which has led her to a spiral of collaborations and projects, including most notably recording on the famed Hamilton Mixtape.
The rapper’s original music embodies the aggressive, spoken-word type of delivery that is popularly associated with Hamilton. This style translated to Gabe’s stage, as Dessa mounted stage monitors to look down on her audience with wide eyes and pointed fingers.
Dessa’s newest album, Chime, is a melting pot of the artist’s experiences producing hip-hop and pop tracks. Her ability to let her music grow organically provides a diverse selection of work.
During her work with Doomtree, her crew leaders advised her that some of her lyrics had begun to sound increasingly more like pop music. Her response led to the making of more electronic and pop-fused tracks.
“For all the guys out there, if you really love the rap music, and your girl really likes the slow songs, you better learn to love the slow songs,” said Dessa during her Mission Creek set, prefacing one of the love songs on her new album.
Letting the lyrics shape her music gives Dessa the ability to translate her music to a live setting more effectively. Her work with MONAKR is also an accurate representation of how her powerful delivery can be produced in several different ways, which gives way to more successful collaborations.