For this year's Black Music Month, Tiny Desk gives female artists their flowers

It’s Black Music Month for NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. Tiny Desk showcases a selection of Black musicians every summer, but this year is a bit different; the nine-act lineup features only women artists.

Tierra Whack, a singer and rapper, performed hits like “Mood Swing” and “Ms Behave” from her newest album “World Wide Whack” on June 7. Singer Chaka Khan played a concert on June 11. Khan squeezed her whole band, including backup singers, behind the cramped desk for a moving performance.

Still to come this month are performances by country singer-songwriter Brittney Spencer and rapper Flo Milli and R&B vocal trio SWV, or Sisters With Voices.

The concert series aims to give Black women musicians their flowers, figuratively and literally. Each performer receives a bouquet of their favorite flowers at the end of their performance.

Host and series producer Bobby Carter says that so many Black women haven’t been recognized for their contributions to music. He points to Khan — who’s been in the music industry for 50 years — and was only inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.

“That's a travesty,” Carter says. “Everyone that we brought to the lineup, they all deserve more, and we're just using our platform at the Tiny Desk to say, ‘Okay. If they didn't give it to you, we will.’”

Tems, June 3

Tierra Whack, June 7

Chaka Khan, June 11

Kierra Sheard, June 14

Kalyani Saxena produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Grace Griffin adapted it for the web.