Moor Mother
Entry updated 22 May 2025. Tagged: Music, People.
Stage and recording name of US musician, vocalist and writer Camae Ayewa (1981- ), who has also published poetry and non-fiction under her own name. Her mix of socially conscious, highly literate and often inflammatory lyrics with a blend of hip-hop, industrial and experimental music has become increasingly influential, in her solo work, frequent collaborations, and as part of the groups Black Quantum Futurism and Irreversible Entanglements. Among her frequent themes, along with an urgent examination of the realities of being Black in the twenty-first century, are the ways in which Black engagement with sf pre-dates and expands beyond the usual delimitations of what is commonly called Afrofuturism. In "Creation Story" from Fetish Bones (2016), Black Time Travellers encounter violence no matter which era they visit. Black Quantum Futurism, a collaboration with artist and activist Rasheedah Phillips, joined an increasing number of musicians inspired by and paying tribute to Octavia E Butler, with Constellation 8/∞ (2015), which includes readings from several of Butler's works. In 2025 Ayewa returned to Butler in a musical setting of portions of Parable of the Sower (1993), which has been performed live but is yet to be recorded. [CWa]
Camae Ayewa
born Aberdeen, Maryland: 19 November 1981
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