Moor Mother announces four-part play and album centered on housing injustice

Moor Mother AKA Camae Ayewa is releasing a play scored entirely with new music this Friday.

Circuit City is a four-part piece combining Ayewa’s poetry and productions to discuss systemic problems related to housing injustice, public vs. private ownership and technology. The soundtrack will feature music from the Philadelphia artist performed live with Irreversible Entanglements and the Circuit City Band. In the playbill, Moor Mother collaborator Rasheedah Phillips further details the central themes of the project:

“Single mothers and their children, seniors, Black people, LGBTQ people, immigrants and people living with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by evictions and lack of access to safe, habitable and affordable housing. The ACLU, for instance, highlights how ‘women of color bear the burden of eviction,’ noting that women of color made up 62 percent and 70 percent of the tenants facing in eviction in Chicago and Philadelphia respectively. This loss of housing has a distinct racial impact, where 63 percent of African-Americans live in project-based housing compared with 44 percent of the city’s population and where African-Americans are disproportionately more likely to carry severe housing cost burdens in the city.”

Circuit City comes in the midst of a prolific year for Moor Mother. It follows the release of her collaborative project with YATTA, Dial Up, a live album with Mental Jewelry, True Opera and the first installment of their new disability justice-focused ANTHOLOGIA series. Last month, Moor Mother put out a single, Forever Industries, via the Sub Pop Singles Club.

Watch Act 1 of Circuit City.