Jessica Care Moore and Steffanie Christi’an have been performing music together for more than 15 years.

The Detroit duo has now gotten around to recording and releasing some of it.

The duo, as We Are Scorpio, put out its self-titled debut album on Aug. 16, nine tracks of bold, ferocious anthems of truth-speaking, empowerment anthems that fuse rap, heavy metal, punk, funk grooves and advanced poetics into an assault that transcends genre — which is kind of the point.

“This is a movement, not just an album,” explains Christi’an (nee Mosley), who grew up in Southfield and Detroit, “singing before I could talk” according to her mother. Though she holds a degree in sociology from Wayne State University, music has been her main focus. In addition to her own work and We Are Scorpio, she’s also part of Kevin Saunderson’s Inner City and the Don Was Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

Working with Moore is an entirely different endeavor than the rest, however.

“I think it’s amazing for people to be able to see Black women playing electric guitar, jumping into crowd, singing metal,” Christi’an explains. “It’s not something the (music) industry puts at the forefront. Black radio stations don’t play the type of music we play. It’s not easy for us to get on ‘white’ rock radio stations, either.

“So we have to create our own platforms and our own stages, which is what we’re doing here.”

We Are Scorpio (yes, that’s both of their Zodiac sign) is an outgrowth of Black Women Rock, which Moore — a Detroit-born poet, author and activist who came to prominence by winning the “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” competition five times in a row — founded in 2004 when she was living in Brooklyn. It’s one of the most enduring creations in a career full of achievements, including a wealth of books, her own Moore Black Press, a multi-media choreopoem “Salt City” and other works that have been performed nationwide.

Moore also has contributed to albums by rappers Nas, Jeezy and Talib Kweli, who guested on her 2014 debut album “Black Tea: The Legend of Jessi James” and appears on “Supa Dupa Star” from “We Are Scorpio.” She’s been a Kresge Arts fellow and received Knight Arts awards and an Alain Locke Award from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Christi’an and Moore met in the mid-2000s, after Moore returned to Detroit from Brooklyn, through Black Women Rock. That opened new musical vistas, particularly for Christi’an who was brought up listening to rock music but, she acknowledges, “wanted to be Rihanna and Beyonce before there was a Rihanna and Beyonce” when she started out.

“I do write music that is personal and authentic to me,” she says, “but I write pop music. I would not consider Jessica’s poetry pop; the underlying meanings sometimes can be very straightforward and very raw, real-life situations, and I wouldn’t necessarily write music that way.” Christi’an laughs as she recalls that “we were doing a show once and the band was trying to tell (Moore), in regard to her verses, that it needs to fit into these 16 bars. Jessica said: ‘I’m a poet. Sixteen bars feels like slavery to me!’”

“So it was very different collaborating with Jessica,” she adds, “because I felt like I had to reach inside myself in a different way to bring my lyrics differently.”

The “We Are Scorpio” collaboration took hold during the pandemic, when the two artists “had some time on our hands,” according to Christi’an. “I was at her house one day and was walking out the door, and she said, ‘We need to record some music.’ ‘OK. …’

“Within a week, we started writing stuff. Jessica was sending me voice memos. I’d add something and send it back and it just went from there.”

The duo had plenty of help from within and out of town. Guitarist Wayne Gerard, who works with Christi’an in the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, produced or co-produced six of the tracks and co-wrote four; he plays on every song, along with keyboardist Paul Wilson Bae, drummer Cinque Kemp and bassist Divinity Roxx, Beyonce’s former musical director.

Detroit rapper Sada Baby, meanwhile, features on the hometown-pumping “I’m From Detroit,” while Florida MC Niko Is rhymes on “Fire This Time” and New York’s Militia Vox, who fronts the all-female tribute band Judas Priestess, lends some additional slam to “Scorpio.” Trumpeter Maurice “Mobetta” Brown adds jazzy flavors to “Butterfly Stings;” the album was recorded at his studio in Brooklyn.

“It’s been a blessing,” Christi’an says of the collaboration. “It’s such a cool way to step out of the box and challenge myself because Jessica is a beast when it comes to her penmanship, an amazing poet and an amazing songwriter as well. I really had to pull my big guns out to match her.”

With the album out, We Are Scorpio is now planning to shoot big — or at least as big as it can — in getting the group and the music out into the world. Both remain “super busy,” Christi’an says; Moore recently penned the film “He Looks Like a Postcard” and is busy with her publishing concerns. “I can’t make her sit down for anything,” Christi’an says, with another laugh. Meanwhile, she’ll be touring this fall with both Inner City and Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

Nevertheless, finally getting some music out has only fortified their commitment to do more.

“This is special,” Christi’an says. “We’re definitely trying to put together a tour. We’re definitely going for the Spoken Word Grammy. Then once we get to where we want to be with this record, we’ll get going with another one. We’re just trying to gain some momentum — and change the world.”