The coffee table in Leroy Moore’s third-floor Berkeley apartment is covered with literature and pamphlets, and his walls are lined with CDs, books and posters, all fighting for the remaining space on his walls. Moore is quick with his responses, and when he recalls a piece of music or an article that inspires a new thought, he doesn’t hesitate to jump from his seat and go grab it. He is a poet and an activist, but he is most passionate about Black Blind Blues Krip Hip-Hop, the radio show he hosts online.

The Krip in Krip Hip-Hop is not a gang reference; it’s short for The Black Kripple—Moore’s on-air moniker—and gives a shout out to the disabled artists that are the focus of his show. Moore was born with cerebral palsy—a neurological disorder that appears in infancy or early childhood and permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination—and his mission is to show the world that having a disability does not make people lesser musicians or artists.

“Ignorant teachers always told me I couldn’t be on the radio, but look at me now,” says Moore as he smiles, thinking about how wrong his teachers were. The show he hosts alongside co-host Vivian Hain welcomes disabled musicians struggling to find a place to showcase their work. The show is so unique in its mission that it recently got press attention from the not-so-local BBC.

The Black Kripple welcomes everyone to be part of the Krip-Hop Nation, which Moore calls “a global movement to support disabled musicians,” and provide a radio show where their music and their message of social justice can be amplified.

The radio show began as a hobby for Moore. Initially part of a radio collective in Berkeley, the radio show began as a three-part series on disabled hip-hop musicians. The initial search for musicians began as a call for tracks without swearing or misogyny and a social justice message. “It was especially hard to find something clean, something that didn’t put down women,” Moore says.

Although alternative news sources and the BBC are paying attention, the mainstream press in general is not running to interview Moore or listen to his show. Moore links this lack of interest to the notion that there’s no market for disabled musicians, that nobody would listen or care about the message. Moore is quick to disagree.

“Hip-hop journalism hasn’t approached artists with disabilities. The Source, Vibe, they’re not really interested. But oh God, look at the table—it’s covered with poetry, music, books and articles from disabled artists—there is an audience, there are people that would embrace it.”

The community of disabled hip-hop musicians with a positive message proved to be bigger than anyone could have guessed, and it continues to fuel material for Moore’s show. The show also plays bigger acts like Paris and Immortal Technique and other international acts.

The show has recently moved to the online station All Talk Radio Network, after doing the show on a local Berkeley-based pirate radio station, says Hain. The network is home to a variety of shows, from the Career Czar, an advice show for employment seekers, to The Shit That Irks Me, a comedy show. “It’s totally different, you can do it at home,” Moore says, pointing to his computer desk in the corner of the room. “It’s more relaxed than having to go into a radio station.”

Moore and Hain met through their affiliation with POOR Magazine, a grassroots non-profit media organization. Hain is involved in community work throughout the Bay Area, including her work with POOR as well as advocate work for LIFETIME (Low-Income Families Empowerment Through Education) and the Alameda Food Bank.

“It’s the local and global artists who are doing music independently without corporate big money sponsorship—artists with and without disabilities—are equally deserving of being heard on the airwaves like the music that is [on] mainstream on the radio that does get privileged airplay,” said Hain.

Krip-Hop provides a place for musicians who have turned to mainstream outlets only to be disappointed. Although a lot of the acts played on Krip-Hop can’t be found on the radio dial, like any other artist, they just want to be heard.

“I heard about Krip-Hop through the buzz on the Internet, but I only appeared on there once. My music is based on my disability—my curse—which through my music I have found it and put it to use as my gift,” says an artist named George “TraGiC” Doman, which stands for They’ll Realize A Gift Isn’t Cursed.

“I was born with cerebral palsy, a birth defect that causes me to walk awkwardly with tremendous struggles. Ironically, this disability has given me the strength to create music and start a dream of my own. Hip-hop gave me a reason to seek a gift within my “curse” and allowed me to believe that God may have took away any chance of me walking normal; however, instead gave me a gift to write and record songs,” says Doman.

Maxwell Silverhammer, a.k.a. “Sick,” hosts The Shit that Irks Me on All Talk Radio Network. Moore and Sick, a musician who is totally blind and has released several albums under the pseudonym “B-Sick,” met through Myspace. Like Moore and other musicians who are part of the Krip nation, there’s no agenda, just the chance that someone will listen to your music and say, “Yeah, I’ve been there! He’s making sense.”

“People don’t think it fits. It’s not sexy, or cool. But [music] is the universal language. You close your eyes and it’s all the same,” adds Hain. Both Hain and Moore seem to find the idea that there’s no audience willing to listen ridiculous. After talking to these alt-radio hosts, it’s hard to disagree.