Brittnee Moore, who makes music as BbyMutha, is a Chattanooga Soundcloud rapper who can wield a bar like a broadsword. In the early 2010s, they started to gain attention through collaborations with Philly DJ and producer LSDXOXO, most notably appearing on “Black Widow” from his 2014 mixtape, Whorecore. Moore put out ten EPs and mixtapes over the next few years, and in August 2020 they finally dropped their first full-length—a 25-track behemoth called Muthaland littered with 90s-style rap skits and cameos from the likes of Baby Tate and Zelooperz. Soon after the release, they announced on Twitter: “After this album I’m never doing this shit again ever. Fuck this shit. Its way too stressful for no fucking reason.” Luckily, Moore came back to their musical grind, and last April they dropped their second record, Sleep Paralysis.
While Moore has been erroneously compared to all kinds of female rappers, they’re a nonbinary femme on a freak vibe all their own. They’ve got a black crescent moon tattooed on their forehead, and they crochet their own club gear. They’re also the mother of two sets of twins. Their stage name is the reclamation of an insult: On social media, the woman their boyfriend at the time was also seeing referred to Moore as “the baby mama.” That boyfriend had once forced Moore to get an abortion and then thrown a barbecue, which Moore saw as a celebration of the termination of the pregnancy. Adopting the moniker BbyMutha has allowed them to face the pain of that experience while honoring the strength required to be a single mom—though the name also nods to being something of an emotional child with adult responsibilities. Through their music, they can make art of their multitudes.
As a low-income parent pursuing music, Moore gets a lot of shit, especially on social media. “Everybody thinks I’m supposed to be doing something else,” they told Dazed in 2017. “They’re all like, ‘You need to get a real job,’ and it’s just like, ‘This is my job!’ I live in a small town, so a good ‘real job’ is working at the Amazon warehouse.” If those are your choices, why not pursue your dreams and present a new possibility of motherhood? Should artistic ambition be reserved for childless people with more resources or for people raising kids with a spouse? Moore boldly declares “fuck no.”
BbyMutha Eric Dontè and Noughtie Dee open. Fri 3/21, 9 PM, Sleeping Village, 3734 W. Belmont, $25, $20 in advance, 21+
