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vanessa handy

@vanessabhandy

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Moments from Listening Session 029 of Minnie Riperton 1974 album Perfect Angel.

Presented by Vanessa Handy (@vanessabhandy) and Mustafa Ali-Smith (@mustafaalismith)

Photography by @ihaveperceived taken in Brooklyn, New York by @vanessabhandy

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2 months ago

😇 A little peek into @cuetherecord listening session 029: Minnie Riperton’s “Perfect Angel” (1974).

It was an utter delight to settle into a room full of strangers on a gloomy day and listen to this album on vinyl and in full. @mustafaalismith and I shared the story behind this record, from its role in Minnie’s journey as an artist to the methods in production that continue to resonate with listeners today.

“Perfect Angel” is an album of tenderness and bliss abounding. It marks a moment in time when Minnie and Stevie Wonder found in each other not only a musical partnership, but also a lifelong friendship. The album was commercial success yes, but more importantly, a masterclass in making space for what you truly want and creating art that honors what’s in your heart.

📸: @ihaveperceived (Adrian is incredible!!) by @vanessabhandy

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2 months ago

Listening Session 029: Minnie Riperton, Perfect Angel (1974) Presented by Mustafa (@mustafaalismith) and Vanessa Handy (@vanessabhandy) | Sunday, August 16th, 2026, 4:30 pm

Perfect Angel arrived as Minnie Riperton’s second solo album, the record that transformed a beloved session and ensemble singer into a household name. Built from sessions produced by Stevie Wonder, working under the pseudonym El Toro Negro alongside his band Wonderlove, the album pairs Minnie’s voice with Wonder’s harmonica, keyboards, and drums, and with songs written by Minnie and her husband and lifelong collaborator Richard Rudolph.

Minnie’s writing draws on the everyday textures of her own life, marriage, motherhood, the garden, the morning, transforming the domestic into something devotional. Anchored by a voice that critics reached for celestial language to describe, the record treats tenderness not as softness but as a discipline, a way of insisting that Black womanhood could be rendered in full light, joyful and unguarded.

Today, Perfect Angel remains a touchstone, its influence audible in generations of vocalists from Mariah Carey to Solange, standing as both the commercial peak of a career cut short, Minnie passed in 1979 at just thirty-one, and a lasting testament to music’s power to make the ordinary holy.

Tickets available via the link in our bio. taken in Brooklyn, New York by @vanessabhandy

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3 months ago

trip so good I had to make a collage by @vanessabhandy

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5 months ago

using my 25th bday to inform everyone I know that pink pantheress and I have the same bday and also I’m cited on her Wikipedia page ❤️ by @vanessabhandy

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6 months ago

computer screensaver simulator aka 5 days in Iceland taken in Southern Iceland Glaciers, Waterfalls and Beaches by @vanessabhandy

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a year ago

summer on film by @vanessabhandy

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a year ago

summer on digital by @vanessabhandy

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a year ago

that time one month ago in Paris taken in Paris, France by @vanessabhandy

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a year ago

a few things from early fall by @vanessabhandy

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2 years ago

summer all over by @vanessabhandy

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2 years ago

wouldn’t miss an opportunity to say ~cheers~ to 5 years by @vanessabhandy

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2 years ago