By Julie Cohen
Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation World Tour opened in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida, on February 27, 1990. I was there with my stepmom and a carload of friends. It was my very first arena concert and it blew my 11-year-old mind. Fast forward twenty-five years and Janet—Miss Jackson if you’re nasty—is still as fierce an artist as ever.
Pollen’s Program & Outreach Strategist Tenzin Kunsal and I were lucky enough to see Janet Jackson at the Target Center on Sunday, November 1, while on tour to promote her eleventh studio album, “Unbreakable.” Before the concert, the Givens Foundation hosted a Janet Jackson-inspired literary salon at Seven Steakhouse & Sushi, featuring spoken word performances by some of the Twin Cities’ finest poets and authors. Danez Smith, Sha Cage, Khary Jackson, Kamia Watson, and Tish Jones performed works inspired by the impact Jackson had on them—recollections of empowered sexual experiences, long lost loves, and what it means to own your body.
Photo courtesy of Seven Steakhouse
The Givens Foundation is actively involved in developing the next generation of Black writers through its Emerging Writers’ Mentor Program. The program helps Black writers of various genres strengthen their craft, supports production of new works by the writers, and creates a space for the writers to work intensively with three nationally acclaimed writers.
The literary salon was the perfect way to kickoff Jackson’s return to Minneapolis, a homecoming really. Janet Jackson first came to Minnesota thirty years ago to record her album “Control” with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The trio went on to record three other albums over the course of Janet’s career before reuniting to record “Unbreakable”: “Rhythm Nation 1814” (1989), “janet” (1993), and “The Velvet Rope” (1997).
It was fitting to hear the poets’ and artists’ work about owning their bodies and sexuality while performing at the “If You’re Nasty” literary salon. The second single off her “Control” album, “Nasty” was Jackson’s autobiographical account of confronting abusive men who tried to force their hand on her in Minneapolis. Reflecting on the experience in a Rolling Stone interview, she said:
“The danger hit home when a couple of guys started stalking me on the street. They were emotionally abusive. Sexually threatening. Instead of running to Jimmy or Terry for protection, I took a stand. I backed them down. That’s how songs like ‘Nasty’ and ‘What Have You Done for Me Lately’ were born, out of a sense of self-defense. Control meant not only taking care of myself but living in a much less protected world. And doing that meant growing a tough skin. Getting attitude.”
If the 10,000 adoring fans at the Target Center are any indication, it’s clear that Jackson has inspired multiple generations of women and men to feel empowered to have control over what they do and say. After attending the Givens Foundation literary salon, it’s also quite clear that our city’s Black artists and poets are doing the same.
Photo courtesy of Seven Steakhouse