Janelle Monae

She was handpicked by Big Boi to guest on his Got Purp mixtape and on Outkast's Idlewild. She's a cofounder of the Wondaland Arts Society, an indie label/superhero-cape-design outfit/art project inspired by a 1927 silent film called Metropolis. And her debut EP for Bad Boy Records is the story of an alien android named Cindy Mayweather who's been persecuted by the government of futuristic city Metropolis for her illegal love affair with a human. Oh, and did we mention that she claims that Mayweather is not an alter ego, but an actually existing android? Yeah, sure seems like Janelle Monae has got this whole psycho-soul, hip-hop freakshow thing in the bag.