Act I
Moses (Mo) is born out of wedlock to Jackie, a poor, Hispanic, 18-year-old from the low income Queens Bridge Housing Project (QB), New York City. Jackie is a very talented dancer and singer ("QB"). Jackie performs for change on the NYC subway platform ("One") ("Itza Flo…") to support baby Mo. In fact, Mo’s life seems destined for severe economic limitation, like that of his father, Shake Spear, a 19-year-old rapper and Golden Glove Champ, also from QB. Shake Spear, who raps an anti-drug message ("Change") is framed on a trumped up drug dealing charge and is sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. However, two young doctors, who run an adoption agency, give baby Mo a hopeful new life with Princess, a wealthy, Asian-American Manhattan professional. Princess adopts Mo as her only child and the agency connives that Jackie is hired as the live-in nanny.
At first, Princess and Jackie struggle, but then, transcend their class differences ("A We Thang"). Together they successfully raise Mo to the age of 18 where our story essentially begins. As planned by the agency, Jackie’s biological parentage is kept a secret from both Princess and Mo.
Mo lives in the super-rich suburbs of Plain White, NY. Although a child prodigy classical music composer, Mo has a severe stutter. King, the super-wealthy father of Princess, is CEO of Pyramid Inc. a top tier international financial investment company. King and Princess cannot cure Mo’s speech impediment--even with their tremendous wealth and the services of world-renowned speech therapists.
However, Jackie sets things up for a miracle with the help of Shake Spear, who is serving his time in New York’s Rikers Island Prison. Jackie’s niece, Kulet, a 17-year-old Philippine-American super talented poet/rapper/dancer, teaches Mo a rap which uses Shake Spear’s empowering verse ("Change Reprise"), so that Mo is completely healed of his stutter. Through this transformative exposure to rap and verse, Mo unlocks his own latent musical talents inherited from his biological minority parents: ‘soulful’ dancing, rapping and singing.
Mo ‘proves’ his in-bred talents when Kulet takes him from the safety of the ‘burbs’ and introduces him the ‘hood’ of QB. There Mo "battles" -- with words and dance moves --QB’s best rappers and dancers ("Um Down"). Mo excels. After his QB triumph, Mo solidifies his ‘true vision’ ("Make Me A Star"). He purposes to become a teen rap star who is also committed to helping his new found talented peers in QB. Mo falls in love with Kulet who has brought from him his classical music enclave to this broad new world of urban music, verse, and dance.
King’s newly acquired credit card company, MasterCalf Gold, desperately needs a charismatic young minority star to make commercials to draw in the targeted USA minority market. At first, King seeks a Black sports star. MFA, King’s business partner, reminds King that Mo would perfectly fit the bill because of Mo’s sudden rise in popularity. King is reluctant to bring his teen adopted grandson into his murky dealings, preferring instead to keep a firewall between family and business. However, MFA convinces King to draw Mo into the mix, as this would guarantee enormous financial returns via credit card purchases from the Hispanic and Black communities. They decide to use ASAP, a sexy Latina writer from QB, to help lure Mo on board. ASAP has lost all her values and has previously worked as a creative writer for King’s commercials.
Shake Spear wishes nothing more than to unite with his son. He wants to both protect Mo from the addictive "drugs and women" side of the music industry and to guide Mo spiritually to write socially conscious verse. He hopes Mo will fulfill the dreams unfairly denied him.
Shake Spear’s pending parole will be ‘a sure thing’ if he can but facilitate ‘gang peace’ within violence-ridden Riker’s Island Prison. Shake Spear gets the rival prison gang, ‘JOT’ (Join or Torture), to settle their on-going dispute with his own posse, ‘Nite Bus’ via a boxing match, instead of by gang war. The winning boxer’s gang will then get rule over the coveted top floor and will sign a gang truce. Shake Spear fights "Maniac" ("Imma Champion") the rival gang’s boxer but is knocked out. The truce is signed in JOT’s favor. Shake Spear, who never regains consciousness, later dies. (Maniac used brass knuckles hidden under his gloves.)
Mo is also eager to study with Shake Spear, the poet whose verse awakened his new life. Upon learning of Shake Spear’s sudden death, Mo accidentally discovers that Jackie and Shake Spear are his biological parents. Mo confronts Jackie who then tells him the truth ("Yes You’re Mine too"). Mo takes a deep emotional slide. ASAP, who met Mo in QB, competes with Kulet for Mo’s love and attention. ASAP, a genius with urban dance beats, writes a sexy single for Mo ("Get It Off") and in the process turns Mo on to marijuana. ASAP encourages Mo to use drugs as a means to ease his confusing emotional pain related to the adoption revelation ("How Do You Feel?"). As Act I ends, Kulet retains half of Mo’s heart, but ASAP not only takes the other half, but in a potential victory for King’s enterprise, ASAP also possesses Mo’s soul: in her dark web of addictive beats, sexuality and drugs. Everyone hopes Mo will be a star ("Make Me A Star Reprise").
Act II
Princess, Jackie and Kulet manage Mo’s now exploding pop career. Mo’s debut socially conscious five-CD concept album is entitled "The Birth of A Nation." Mo "flips" the old racist reference and creates an inspiring historic musical account of the spread of hip-hop across the globe.
"Birth of A Nation" unifies a never before ‘new international nation’ of hip-hop youth, across racial, class, and geographic boundaries. "The Birth of A Nation" is a commercial crossover success and sells triple platinum.
Mo dreams that Jackie takes him to visit Shake Spear in Rikers. In the dream, Shake Spear warmly welcomes Mo. But after the initial friendly banter, Shake Spear "calls" Mo on being high. Mo denies it. Shake Spear aggressively criticizes Mo for his lead single, co-written by ASAP, entitled "Get It Off" (which is essentially valueless and only about "booty and bling.") Offended, Mo then disses his dad. A rap battle ensues ("Father vs Son") and Mo wakes up screaming.
Now that Mo is firmly in the addictive clutches of ASAP, King pitches Mo to sign on to a long-term contract and make commercials for Master Calf Gold. Mo then learns the secret of his adoptive grandfather’s immense wealth: Pyramid Inc, King’s international investment company, secretly launders hundreds of millions in drug money and profits from other illegal underworld activities. Master Calf Gold is yet another front for King’s "double life" in international money laundering. By promising Mo unlimited girls and cocaine, King gets Mo to represent Master Calf in high visibility media endorsements ("Mastercalf Gold Commercial"). Mo now lives the identical double life as his grandfather. A double life committed to lies, women and drugs, completely unknown to Kulet, Jackie, and Princess.
Mo wins three awards at the 2012 Grammies and performs his title single "The Birth of A Nation."
Mo’s has a private after Grammies party at Kilo, an upscale Manhattan club ("Kilo"). Here the competitive tensions between ASAP and Kulet come to a head. Both ASAP and Kulet dance a hot tango duet with Mo and battle to show whom ultimately owns Mo’s love ("I Want You"). But the celebration party turns tragic when Mo’s arrogant cocaine-induced attitude (egged on by ASAP) draws Mo in an accidental homicide. Mo escapes the crime scene with Kulet and becomes a fugitive in QB.
Kulet confronts Mo about his relationship with ASAP. Mo confesses his affair. Kulet is devasted and leaves. Having suddenly stained a stellar storybook career and having lost his teen true love, Mo hits bottom. He contemplates suicide as he sits in an abandoned QB basement.
Mo looks into a mirror. But he sees only Shake Spear’s Ghost. Shake Spear then has Mo understand that addiction has become the ‘new slavery,’ affecting the entire world. Shake Spear tells his son that he cannot have "true freedom" until he can live in honesty and addiction free. Shake Spear then trains Mo for the "fight of his life," that is, of "saying no" to lies, women and drugs.
Staged as a surreal "Play Station Game" which represents the interior of Mo’s soul/psyche, Mo battles his own addictive demons, which are manipulated by ASAP from her remote. Mo, defeats his demons and becomes "one" with himself, as a liberated whole person.
Shake Spear’s Ghost then instructs Mo to go to outside to the graffiti wall in QB. There he will find a "new calling" based on spiritual priorities. Facing the wall, Mo sees a fire ignited in a trashcan left by a homeless man. In the flame’s reflection, the graffiti wall reveals a vision of truth: King’s extensive Asian slavery brothels that use under-aged girls--all financed by his international money laundering. In the wall’s revelation, the under-aged girls are being auctioned to various sex club reps from major cities of Asia and Europe. They are then put in a cage. Using their bodies as an artist’s pallet, the girls text message Mo in graffiti to rescue them. They ask Mo to confront King and expose his secret financial world thereby freeing thousands enslaved via international money laundering.
Mo becomes a teen hero, who not only redeems himself and reconciles with Kulet, but also deftly uses a major sports rivalry turned dance battle, to lure King into confession (though King’s confession would involve another tragic death). King’s confession also clears Shake Spear posthumously, who King framed to protect his NYC drug empire. Mo gives an internationally televised concert. Performing the song "One" Mo inspires all-- regardless of race, nationality and religion-- to seek personal freedom from the mental and spiritual slavery of addiction and to live a life in the unity of honesty.