Minneapolis rapper Diane Miller, aka D Mills, creates thought-provoking hip-hop music that expresses her authentic self and engages the audience with a fusion of sonic flavors.
“You just really, as a female rapper, have to endure because there’s not a lot of you out there,” Miller says. “I mean I’ve had experience of being in Minneapolis basically being bullied on stage. And I was on stage next to this other rapper and they basically put their arm out in front of me when I started rapping. And oh my gosh did that ever cause me some rage and anger and then I kinda took it out just back free styling and it felt really good. But, yah that was one of the most blatant displays I’ve ever felt of like the struggle of being a woman and being a rapper and being respected.”
“The more women we can get out there, the better.”
Audio portrait produced by Dixie Treichel. Listen below.
Photo by Erin Piesert. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Fresh Fruit Host on the Third Thursday of the Month
Producer, Host, Engineer, Editor, Composer, Sound Artist. Sound Designer
Dixie creates audio documentaries and stories, collaborates with artists in many disciplines, and her sound art has been heard internationally on radio, in art galleries, sound art festivals and streaming festivals. She is a recipient of a 1996 Hollywood Drama-logue Award for Theatrical Sound Design (San Francisco); Best Sound Designer 2010 from Lavender Magazine (Minneapolis-St Paul); 2015 Page One Award from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists for Getting a handle on ham radio, a radio documentary. Fresh Fruit: 35 Years of Queer Radio, an audio documentary by Dixie Treichel for KFAI MinneCulture
This Way Out Correspondent and Contributor to Free Speech Radio and WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service
Audio stories, portraits, documentaries on Ampers, PRX, MinneCulture soundcloud
Plus special interviews & shows throughout the year
Contact: [email protected]
International Women's Day on KFAI March 8
2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008
Selected Fresh Fruit interviews (listed in alphabetical order)
- Gaye Adegbalola, musican, educator, activist, founding member of Saffire – the Uppity Blues Women
- Edward Albee, playwright
- Representative Susan Allen, Minneapolis, district 61B
- Kevin Allison, comedian, storyteller, Risk! Host
- Ann Bancroft, arctic explorer, author, educator
- S. Bear Bergman, trans writer, performer, activist
- Alexandra Billings, trans actress, singer
- Bain Boehlke, Artistic Director/Founder, The Jungle Theater, actor, designer
- Kate Bornstein, trans playwright, perfomance artist, author, activist
- Bill Burleson, writer, author, bisexuality activist
- Charo, entertainer, flamenco/classical guitarist
- Judy Chicago, feminist, artist, author, activist, educator
- Margaret Cho, comedienne, singer, actress, activist
- Shamey Cramer, Officer, Ceremonies, Federation of Gay Games
- Venus de Mars, trans singer/songwriter, guitarist
- Senator Scott Dibble, Minnesota Senator
- JD Doyle, Queer Music Heritage, OutRadio, Queer Voices on KPFT Houston
- Jefferson Fietek, educator, activist
- Leigh Fondakowski, playwright, director
- Tret Fure, singer, songwriter, guitarist
- Carolyn Gage, feminist, playwright, activist
- Jewelle Gomez, writer, activist
- Ricky Ian Gordon, composer
- Judy Grahn, poet, writer, social theorist, teacher
- Guerrilla Girls-Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz, artists, activists
- Ellen Hart, mystery author, teacher, Mystery Writers of America 2017 Grand Master Award Recipient
- Ian Harvie, trans comedian, actor
- Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe, poet, filmmaker, performer
- Kim Hines, playwright, director, actress, teacher, former Fresh Fruit Host
- Horse, (Scotland) singer, songwriter
- Janis Ian, singer, songwriter, author, activist
- Ione, writer, author, Deep Listening Institute
- Joe Ippolito, Founder/Executive Director of Gender Reel Film Festival, trans activist
- Andrea Jenkins, trans poet, writer, performer, activist
- Dale Johnson, Artistic Director, MN Opera
- Myron Johnson, Artistic Director, Ballet of the Dolls, dancer
- Mara Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality
- John Killacky, Executive Director, The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, filmmaker, activist, former Fresh Fruit Host
- Maxine Klein, director, playwright, author, educator, activist
- Michael Korie, librettist
- Richard LaFortune, "Anguksuar", director of Two Spirit Press Room, artist, writer, activist
- Nancy Manahan & Becky Bohan, authors
- Beverly McClellan, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
- Pamela Means, singer, songwriter, guitarist, activist
- Tim Miller, performance artist, writer, educator, activist
- Miss Richfield 1981, comedian, performer
- Meredith Monk, composer, vocalist
- Kevin "Kaoz" Moore, musician, activist
- Peter Neofotis, author, performer
- Charles Nolte, actor, playwright, director, educator
- Nhojj, singer, songwriter, musician
- Robyn Ochs, bisexuality expert, speaker, teacher, writer, activist
- Rev. Canon Albert Olge, president of St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation, activist
- Pauline Oliveros, composer, performer, Deep Listening Institute
- John Ottman, Hollywood film composer, editor
- Dean Otto, film curator at the Walker Art Center
- Dr. Sharon Preves, author, professor of sociology, Hamline University
- Sandy Rapp, singer, songwriter, activist
- Amy Ray, singer, songwriter, activist, Indigo Girl
- Ann Reed, singer, songwriter, guitarist, author
- Robbie Rogers, pro soccer player with the LA Galaxy, author
- Romanovsky & Phillips, folk music-comedy duo, musicians, activists
- RuPaul, entertainer, singer, actor
- Eleanor Savage, producer, activist, former Fresh Fruit/Forbidden Fruit Host
- Bettina Schelker, (Switzerland) singer, songwriter, boxing champion, activist
- Ina Nicosia-Schelker, (Switzerland) teacher, former professional basketball player, activist
- Patrick Scully, Patrick's Cabaret founder, dancer, educator, activist
- Bishop Christopher Senonjo, Anglican Bishop from Uganda, activist
- Stephen Silha, filmmaker, writer
- Steven Solberg, filmmaker, activist
- Joe Stevens, trans singer, songwriter, guitarist, banjo man, activist
- Foxy Tann, cabaret/burlesque performer, educator
- Lily Tomlin, comedienne, actress
- Diane Torr, (Scotland) performance artist, educator, author
- Jean-Nikolas Tretter, LGBT historian, The Tretter Collection Founder, former KFAI Host
- Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, United Church of Christ, IWR & Faith Work Program Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, activist
- Stewart Van Cleve, LGBT historian, author, activist
- Harry Waters Jr., actor, director, assistant professor of theater, Macalester College
- Rob Yaeger, Activist, former Fresh Fruit Host
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