26.10.2016 – News – Pitchfork – Jenn Pelly —   –  Details

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Moor Mother

As a musician, writer, activist, and teacher, Camae Ayewa turns her truth and anger into a vital protest against injustice. — »Basic» may be the most chilling pejorative of our time. And it is never more severe than when Philadelphia›s Camae Ayewa, aka Moor Mother, churns it out on one austere, Nicki Minaj-sampling single from last year: «Look ma, we made it/Only lost a hundred thousand coming over on them slave ships/That›s just one ship,» she booms. «Muhfuckas, I›m jaded/I›m in one big room, and everybody basic.» Ayewa articulates so lucidly and irreducibly that it›s like she is writing with a ballpoint pen; if you have chosen to remain silent in the face of injustice, which is to say in the face of our world, this artist is staring you in the eye.