“Let’s get retarded,” says spoken word, hip-hop artist Leroy F. Moore Jr. on the opening track of his unique new compilation Krip-Hop Mixtape. It’s a term coined to mean “crippled hip-hop,” putting a new spin on that long-used hip-hop catch phrase.
“We want to put an empowering meaning behind words like retarded … We are taking back the word ‘krip’ or ‘crippled’ on our own terms,” explains the producer of this first-of-a-kind collection of hip-hop artists with disabilities. Included on the independently released (www.leroymoore.com) 19-artist compilation are such krips (spelt with a “K” so as not to be confused with the Crips gang) as the deaf Helix Boys from D.C., the sight-impaired Professor Blind F8 (a blind Californian DJ who scratches and mixes), the quadriplegic DJ Quad and the NYC wheelchair-bound MC, Four Wheel City.
The Buffalo, N.Y. born, California-based, Moore is 38 years old and has cerebral palsy, which slurs his speech and radically affects his mobility. But never does that hinder this self-described “black disabled man with a big mouth and a high I.Q.” from accomplishing his always-ambitious goals. In addition to being a prolific mixed-media artist (theater and radio), he is also an activist and educator who regularly hosts workshops for disabled minorities. In fact, one of the workshops he taught, titled “Black Disabled Art History Series: Music”—which includes an overview of the numerous disabled artists in the history of American blues music—led to him putting together the Krip-Hop Mixtape project.
Initially it was simply a teaching tool to encourage his young, disabled students but then became an actual release. His wish for the disc, he says, is that it will help change society’s and, more specifically, the music industry’s attitude towards those with disabilities.
That attitude, says Moore is, “‘OK, we’ll deal with you when you get better.’ Like, remember when Foxy Brown lost her hearing? Everyone was like, ‘Oh she’s gone. She can’t do music anymore.’ But then, fortunately, she regained her hearing and after she did, she went back into the studio. But what about the Helix Boys who have been deaf from birth and have made hip-hop all along?
Compilation contributor and veteran keyboardist Rob “Da Noize” Temple, who is blind in one eye as well as having Erbs Palsy—which affords him use of only one arm—has been making records since 1980. “The music business, being an image driven business, wasn’t ready for a one-arm artist visually,” explains Temple. “So, although I’ve had some success, I’ve had to remain in the background for over 25 years. It has always been a fight just to be accepted.”
Haitian-born MC Preechman, who’s now based in Yonkers, N.Y, has one of the compilation’s stand-out tracks with “On A Track Like This.” Polio has restricted Preechman to using crutches since childhood, but he recalls a sit-down he landed with a representative from Interscope Records a couple of years back.
The label had been attracted by his music but didn’t realize he was disabled until that first (and only) meeting. “They liked my music but said to my face, ‘How are we going to market someone on crutches?’ That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard ‘cuz, at the end of the day, you’re not gonna market my crutches. You’re gonna market my music!”
Poppa Wheely, the wheelchair-bound Bronx MC (born with spinal muscular dystrophy), has a track on the Krip-Hop compilation and is currently working on his fourth album. He explains that prejudice against artists with disabilities isn’t limited to the music biz. “When the average person sees someone—especially a black man—in a wheelchair, they automatically think the worst: That he was involved in some crime and got shot to end up in that wheelchair!” he says. “Before you even open your mouth, there is an immediate negative assumption.”
And what about the music industry ever catching up with Krip-Hop artists, not to mention with hip-hop fans who happen to be disabled? All involved in the Krip-Hop Mixtape project agree that it’s just a matter of time … and money.
“They don’t yet realize what an untapped market the disabled market is,” says Moore, “But once they do, you watch out!”
