Krip-Hop is a movement demonstrating alternate arrangements by which hip hop artists with disabilities can communicate through social media, including

educators A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s and conferences. The movement uses hip hop music as a means of expression for disabled people, providing them an opportunity to share their experiences.

History

Krip Hop was founded by Leroy F. Moore Jr., an African American writer,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

, community

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...

and feminist who was diagnosed with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be p ...

. Moore was born in New York in 1967 to an activist father loosely connected to the Black Panthers. His upbringing sensitized Moore to the challenges faced by African Americans and disabled people. As a youth, Moore discovered that most people had little knowledge of the historical impact of disabled African Americans. This led him to begin research, initially in the music industry. Moore first spotlighted disabled hip hop artists in the early 2000s. He co-produced and co-hosted a three-part series on what he called "Krip Hop" for a Berkeley, California radio station. The "Krip Hop" series appeared on

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sig ...

's ''Pushing Limits'', which focuses on news, arts, and culture for the disabled community. The series' popularity inspired Moore to create Krip Hop Nation for disabled musicians, since little cultural work or music by people with disabilities had been recognized. "The Krip-Hop movement really makes the pain of the people feel visible", Moore said. "It goes a lot deeper than what people can see."

Krip Hop Nation

The primary goal of Krip Hop Nation is to increase awareness in music and media outlets of the talents, history and rights of people with disabilities in the hip-hop industry. In an interview, Moore expressed the hope that by listening to his music the audience would understand the need to question authority and the information provided to them. He said he wanted his listeners to learn about their community and to become open to all people. Issues such as racism and sexism are commonly discussed, and Moore hoped that people would examine possible ableism in their attitudes. According to Moore, Krip Hop Nation goes beyond producing music and the

bling-bling Bling-bling, often shortened to just bling, is "flashy jewelry worn especially as an indication of wealth or status; broadly: expensive and ostentatious possessions" such as grills and designer bags. The term arose as slang, but grew into a cu ...

associated with hip hop; the movement is about advocacy, education and overcoming oppression. For Moore the movement has sought to reclaim negative terms associated with disability (such as "crazy", "lame", "retarded" and "cripple"), using them to shock people into understanding and respecting the disabled African American community. Krip Hop Nation addresses discrimination against disabled artists in hip hop by publishing articles and hosting events, lectures and workshops. It has over 300 members worldwide. Moore has explained that "Krip Hop" is a play on "Hip Hop." Although the "Krip" part of the name refers to "crippled", it is spelled with a "k" to avoid association with the

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the Coastal California, coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially ...

Accomplishments

Krip Hop Nation has released two mixtape CDs, held conferences with the PeaceOut HomoHop organization at UC Berkeley and New York University, organized and hosted a six-artist performance in Sacramento, California, staged a show at Disability and Deaf Arts (DADA) in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and hosted a Krip Hop Nation conference in Atlanta, Georgia for

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

in 2011 featuring musicians, writers and activists. In February 2012, DJ Quad of 5th Battalion joined Krip Hop Nation to co-produce a CD with 17 disabled artists from the UK, the US and Germany on police brutality and profiling. Among the collaborators was Emmitt Thrower of Artist Magnet. The documentary was scheduled for release in 2014.

Notable musicians

Krip Hop Nation includes artists such as Counterclockwise, Preach-man, Wheelchair Sports Camp, Miss Money and Fezo. Kalyn Heffernan is a rapper from

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, Colorado. With brittle bone disease, Heffernan is tall and uses a wheelchair. She heads Wheelchair Sports Camp, an experimental hip-hop group with jazz and avant-garde influences. Her raps are political, with many discussing the difficulties she faces as a disabled person in America. Heffernan created beats for Haitian rappers in the area dealing with extreme poverty after the 2010 earthquake. In July 2017 she was arrested after a 3-day sitdown protest at her GOP Senator's office, remarking "I'd rather go to jail than to die without

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and ...

" in regards to Trumpcare.

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web, publisher=Amoeba Music, work=Amoeblog, date=11 July 2008, title=Krip-Hop Project's Leroy F. Moore on being Black and Disabled., url=http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2008/07/jamoeblog/krip-hop-project-s-leroy-f-moore-on-being-black-disabled.html {{cite web, author=Lisa Hix, date=17 February 2011, publisher=KQED, accessdate=6 November 2013, url=http://www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=43903, title=Interview with Leroy Moore, Founder of Krip Hop Nation {{cite web, last=Moore, first=Leroy, title=Krip-Hop Nation is Moore Than Music, url=http://www.wordgathering.com/issue22/essays/moore2.html, work=Wordgathering, accessdate=8 November 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111052245/http://www.wordgathering.com/issue22/essays/moore2.html, archive-date=11 November 2013, url-status=dead {{cite web, work=Where's Lulu?, date=20 December 2011, title=An Interview with Krip-Hop Nation's Leroy Moore, url=http://whereslulu.com/2011/12/20/an-interview-with-krip-hop-nations-leroy-moore/, access-date=2013-11-11, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111005938/http://whereslulu.com/2011/12/20/an-interview-with-krip-hop-nations-leroy-moore/, archive-date=2013-11-11, url-status=dead {{cite web, publisher=eMinor, Inc., work=ReverbNation, title=Krip-Hop Nation Ent., url=http://www.reverbnation.com/kriphopnationent ,

External links