Show 15: Minneapolis Sound (feat. Janet Jackson)

I want Minneapolis sound—safe and sound, like how I felt in 2016 when I made a solo pilgrimage to Paisley Park.

I knew nobody in the city, nor anyone in the entire state of Minnesota. Instead of a hotel, I stayed with an Airbnb host who graciously regaled me with his memories of Prince’’s rise in the city. I felt more secure in a stranger’s home in Minneapolis than in a corporate hotel chain. I even occasionally took the buses on the city’s Metro Transit lines for a self-guided tour of different parts of the city. The bus rides allowed for short, relaxing walks through neighborhoods like Whittier to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

I want the Minneapolis sound of strongly-accented dialogues among Hmong and Somali people in the city’s immigrant enclaves, proudly speaking their languages and reminding everyone with an open mind that being multilingual inherently means that one is able to communicate with more people in the world.

I want the Minneapolis sound of Cumbia, Salsa, or Tejano music emitted from the spaces inside of Mercado Central. These spaces are leased by 30+ entrepreneurs who exude the dynamism of an entrepreneurial America. Flower shops, bakeries, and dress makers alike provide vibrant energy that makes you adore the city a little bit more once you step foot on the corner of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue.

I want to hear the snapping of my homeland’s flag as it oscillates in 15mph winds as the Philippine Student Association student members gather for an outdoor party on the University of Minnesota campus.

I want the gentle noise from the waves of the Mississippi River as I near the edge of Raspberry Island in St. Paul or the echoes from my footsteps as I walk towards the altar to say a prayer inside the Cathedral of St. Paul.

I want these triumphant sounds of the Twin Cities, not those of gunshots and cries from twin killings.

In January 2026, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed in the same way: In close range, by an ICE officer’s bullet, for simply protecting their neighbors during the exercising of rights that countless Americans generations before us died to protect.

This perspective on these killings has much less to do with my history as an immigrant rights advocate and much more as a former Ph.D. Candidate in Criminal Justice. I was trained by a former Sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces and a legendary FBI profiler. FBI agents, NYPD Lieutenants, and Assistant District Attorneys became my classmates, my collaborators, and my friends. I’m confident that they would want Minneapolis sound.

We should all want Minneapolis sound.

We should all want 5-year old Liam or a 2-year-old girl to not be separated from a parent and then taken into custody by ICE. Minnesota-St. Paul is cold enough. It’s cold enough to force the construction of elevated passageways that connect countless downtown buildings, all seemingly owned by Target.

And it’s frigid enough to produce some of the coldest musicians of the past 100 years, like Bob Dylan, Prince, The Jets, The Time, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, and Mint Condition. Think heavy synthesizers, LinnDrums, and uptempo pop songs influenced by R&B, rock, new wave, and funk music. I have always loved that Minneapolis sound.

When Prince played “Controversy” during his December 2010 “Welcome 2 America” tour stop in Madison Square Garden, I thought of Minneapolis. Whenever I hear Stokley Williams sing an early-era Mint Condition song, I think of Minneapolis.

But if you want the crash course on what Minneapolis sound really is, look no further than Janet Jackson—namely her hits written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Nine of Janet’s hits produced by the tandem hit #1 on the Billboard charts. "When I Think of You” and "Miss You Much" are among the most Minneapolis sounding of them.

All nine #1 hits made the set lists for the shows Janet performed in NYC during her “Together Again” tour in 2023 and 2024. Yet, there was something extra special about the May 9, 2023 show at Madison Square Garden.

Perhaps the 2023 concert resonated more because it was a week before Janet’s birthday. Maybe it was the surprise appearance of Busta Rhymes to perform “What’s It Gonna Be?” with Janet for the first time live on stage 25 years after the song was released. Photo Credit: Cris_at_Concerts

Perhaps it was because of this Ms. Jackson-if-you’re-nasty moment with her dancer.

Or maybe this show was more special than the 2024 show because it was my first time seeing Janet Jackson live.

When I first migrated to New York City, I slept on the floor of my aunt’s apartment in the Lower East Side. The tiny apartment unit was connected to a larger building that housed a medical clinic that I unfortunately visited often. To keep me entertained, I watched a lot of MTV. If you did the same from the late 80s-early 90s, there’s no doubt that you saw plenty of Janet Jackson videos.

There was one Janet music video in particular that mesmerized me. It’s the video for “Escapade.” Its scenes conveyed a story of the biggest multicultural dance party ever and I was curious as to why there were so many different costumes and types of dancing. And a little over three minutes into the video, Janet—of the legendary Jackson family of Gary, Indiana—utters something that I did not understand as a little boy.

“Minneapolis!” she yells a little over three minutes into the song.

There is no lyrical or visual context in the video to explain why she’s yelling that. There aren’t even any words sung either five seconds before or after she yells it. What resonates most about that part of the song is that Janet yells the city’s name in such a triumphant, unifying tone.

But “Escapade” is surely not my favorite Janet song. I’m just not sure which one is, but hearing “Come Back To Me” live in 2023 gave me chills that made me think that it might be her best to my ears. What’s for sure is that both songs come from my favorite album of hers, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. That’s a clunky title for one of the top 20 albums of all-time. The title track, “Rhythm Nation” is such a great dance song that it overshadows the most important aspect of the song: It’s about social injustice.

The Minneapolis sound and choreography in the song bring ruthlessly positive, urgent, and relentless energy. The lyrics are undoubtedly a unifying call to action:

With music by our side to break the color lines / Let's work together to improve our way of life

Join voices in protest to social injustice / A generation full of courage, come forth with me...

People of the world today, are we looking for a better way of life? (Sing!)

We are a part of the rhythm nation… People of the world unite

Strength in numbers, we can get it right, one time…

Lend a hand to help your brother do his best / Things are getting worse, we have to make them better

It's time to give a damn, let's work together

“Rhythm Nation” is the greatest protest song in my lifetime. It’s also an exemplar of Minneapolis sound.

“Rhythm Nation” is the greatest protest song in my lifetime. It’s also an exemplar of Minneapolis sound.

My trip to Minneapolis came a few months after the highest and lowest points of my journey immigrant rights advocacy. After a couple of years of press conferences, private meetings with elected officials, and helping to organize public gatherings to discuss the broader need for immigration reform, April 2016 became the time to fight acutely for the expansion of the DACA program in the streets and chambers of Washington D.C. under one theme: “Keep Families Together!” It was a simple call to fight for five million directly impacted individuals and their countless loved ones and neighbors. We marched. We collaborated. We planned. For those in the front lines, the fight also meant risking safety, livelihood, and relationships. We immigrants tend to be risk-averse. But our existence in this country are literal examples that there is no reward without risk. 

The immediate payoff on my second day in Washington D.C. was meeting Lexi on the lawn across from the U.S. Supreme Court. She was there for the same fight as I was, serving as a student chapter representative of Define American.

Before I left for a speaking engagement at the Chamber of Commerce, she asked, “Want to go midnight monumenting later?”

I had no idea what she meant, but I wasn’t going to say no. Later that night, we were sliding down the edge of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and eating a late dinner in Chinatown. It just might be the greatest night in the most precarious and transformative year of my life.

Two months later, I fully took to heart that one person can make a big difference—or rather, the absence of a person can change the lives of millions.For 14 months, the highest court in the land was missing a Supreme Court justice. In June 2016, the fight to “Keep Families Together?” ended in a loss via a 4-4 split as the eight members were divided evenly across conservative and progressive lines. Four months after the decision, I travelled to Minneapolis.

It’s myopic to see Renee Goode and Alex Pretti as anti-ice protestors. Fundamentally, they fought to “Keep Families Together!” As someone who has been actively fighting for immigrant rights for over a decade, I’m confident that Renee and Alex did not seek out to be martyrs. They simply wanted to keep Minneapolis safe and sound.

We who fight actively for social justice want you to remember that collective and unrelenting small actions are what lead to long-term positive change. We’re not asking those with means to act like heroes. We’re simply challenging them to not behave like cowards.

There is an odd image of a soldier at high ready stance, with a gun pointed towards the sky, about a minute before Janet Jackson yells “Minneapolis!” in the “Escapade” video.

Two seconds later, the soldier disappears from the video for good. The multicultural dance party continues in uninterrupted joy, in Minneapolis sound.

In 2026 and beyond, we should all want Minneapolis sound.

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Concert access + more:

1. City Winery Atlanta has everyone from Talib Kweli to Kenny Lattimore to Robert Glasper

2. NYC’s Brooklyn Academy of Music has some amazing concerts on its calendar

3. Blue Note Los Angeles features Sheila E., Wyclef Jean, Jill Scott, and more

4. Free music at PAC NYC

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Job/Career Opportunities in Music and Entertainment:

1. Warner Music Group has marketing, creative, and finance roles currently open

2. Sony Music Group has open jobs in analytics, marketing, and more

3. Universal Music Group has open roles ranging from strategy, product, and operations roles

4. Spotify has many open roles in business development, HR, and engineering

5. Sirius XM is ramping up hiring for engineers, technical program managers, and more

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About the author:

Cris is the award-winning Founder & CEO of GrantAnswers, an NYC-based data, strategy & consulting firm founded in 2013. His journey to becoming an award-winning entrepreneur has been highlighted in NYT, WSJ, MTV, and Forbes. He has directly impacted +1000 individuals in launching careers in tech & securing acceptances to top colleges & programs. His speaking engagements for the likes of Columbia Business School, Teach for America and the US Chamber of Commerce encompass immigration, career development, entrepreneurship, and tech diversity & inclusion. He is also an avid concertgoer for +25 years and counting, and likes to tell stories about it.