Janelle Monáe

They say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. Janelle Monáe said "No, thanks."

While growing up in Kansas City, the R&B-soul artist dreamed of becoming a Broadway star. But Monáe, who studied theater at NYC's American Musical Academy, shelved her plans after she was only offered "African-American roles." In 2004, the 22-year-old singer moved to Atlanta and began her singing career in earnest, crafting her Andre 3000-meets-Lauryn Hill style on the Southern club and college circuit. A year later, Monáe wowed OutKast's Big Boi during a Def Poetry Jam performance and parlayed it into guest spots on Big Boi's Got Purp? Vol. II compilation and OutKast's Idlewild soundtrack.

In 2007, Monáe was working on an ambitious four-part debut titled Metropolis. But a call from Diddy stopped Monáe in her tracks. He heard her music on MySpace and asked her to join Bad Boy Records. Monáe agreed, and the man who helped Notorious B.I.G. go "from ashy to classy" hailed his new artist as "possibly the most important signing of my career." A self-described sci-fi freak, Monáe dropped the first installment of Metropolis, The Chase Suite, last summer. Both retro and futuristic, the album tells the story of an android who faces death after falling in love with a human. "I love Octavia Butler and Isaac Asimov and The Twilight Zone, and Blade Runner, and of course The Matrix and Star Wars. I've always had a fascination with the supernatural. So I kind of meshed all this in my mind," explains Monáe, whose pompadour is a li.

The Grammy-nominated Monáe is currently on tour, opening for No Doubt on selected dates. The second and third installments of her Metropolis series are scheduled for release later this year but it's another gig that may help Monáe blur the lines between fact and fiction: this fall, she'll play herself in two episodes of the SyFy Channel's Stargate Universe.

See: myspace.com/janellemonae