Janelle Monae Wants Her Music to Be a Drug

Janelle Monae wants people to get hooked on her music. The Kansas City native noted that she takes her position as an artist very seriously, and when it comes to her fans, she hopes that they just can't get enough.

"I just know that I definitely have the opportunity to say something while I have people's attention and it does matter," she told The BoomBox on the red carpet at the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Awards over the weekend. "I want to create music for the people, they inspire me. Knowing that we're going through oppression and depression I want my music to be their choice of drug."

Monae received the Vanguard Award from the performing rights organization, an honor reserved for new artists whose music works to help shape the future of American music. "I'm humbled," she said of receiving the award. "I'm just so thankful. For ASCAP to have recognized me at such an early stage in my career it's the beginning of my journey and I don't want to take that for granted. I want to do everything I possibly can. I'm using this award as a baton, I'm running with it. I pray that I pass it back next year to another young lady or young man who dreams even bigger than I do."

Atlanta rapper Big Boi, who put a then-unknown Monae's music on the soundtrack of his 2006 movie 'Idlewild,' presented her with the award. The Grammy nominated singer dropped her second album 'The ArchAndroid Suites II and III' in May and just wrapped up a tour opening for Erykah Badu.