Dessa is the lone female rapper in the Doomtree collective-one of the most celebrated groups in underground hip hop. Her work with Doomtree has appeared on the Billboard regional charts, and held the #1 slot on the CMJ music charts, and earned praise from Urb Magazine and Pitchfork Media. Dessa's great strength is as a lyricist. She combines wit, tenderness, and poetic sensibility to rare effect-her music implies she divides her time between the studio, the study and as a careful note-taker on the street. In the span of a three-minute song, Dessa spins delicate and charged stories and animated them with her expressive alto voice, arresting for its honest, clear simplicity. Under the Doomtree banner, Dessa has also recently published her first book. Her work now appears in literary publications across North America. She contributes regularly to the Spin book club and performs her work at venues throughout the United States.

"If wordsmith-songbird Dessa isn't the future of hip-hop, she should be." -Insight News

"Profound and moving" -Star Tribune

"equal parts Ani Difranco and Mos Def" -Rift Magazine

"Dessa combines the dry wit of Dorothy Parker with the beat of Mos Def" -Minnesota Public Radio

"clear-eyed candor...understated realism and dark wit." -Culturebully.com

"witty, sardonic, and keenly observant of human behavior." -TheDecider.com