To continue my research on Rastafarian Reggae and disability as you know I’m a big fan of who I call the godfathers of Reggae and that is Israel Vibration who all have polio and all walk with crutches. As a Black disabled poet before I started Krip-Hop Nation, I knew about Israel Vibration they were one of the reasons I started Krip-Hop Nation (Krip-Hop’s Mission is to educate the music, media industries and general public about the talents, history, rights and marketability of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities. Krip-Hop main objective is to get the musical talents of hip-hop artists with disabilities into the hands of media outlets, educators, and hip-hop, disabled and race scholars, youth, journalists and hip-hop conference coordinators around the world).

I used to carry the box set of Israel Vibration around with me reading the cd booklet that detailed their disability and how they got kicked out of institutions because of their deep beliefs in Rastafarian and they were poor, homeless and performed their songs. I always wanted to do a deep dive into Rastafarian culture and try to find why these disabled reggae musicians hold tightly on this culture.

Now in 2025 Krip-Hop Nation is organizing what we call Krip-Rasta, an all Jamaican music project and launching a Krip-Hop chapter in Jamaica, all of this have me researching going deeper into the history of Rastafarian looking for the disability connection and I found one of the early connection and that was when I found out that a man who empowered people with disabilities, I’m talking about Haile Selassie I who was the last emperor of Ethiopia, Africa and who was known for opening the first school for blind children in Ethiopia, Africa and he also dedicated his Imperial Palace to Addis Ababa University, which was one of the first African universities to admit students with disabilities.

If you’re a fan of Reggae music and the culture, then you will also know the teaching of Haile Selassie. From the article entitled, Emperor Haile Selassie, God of the Rastafarians by Murielle Schlup, put it as follows:

In Jamaica, an island nation in the Caribbean about 12,000 kilometres from Ethiopia, Haile Selassie was simultaneously endowed with a second ‘career’: that of Messiah and God. This happened without any active participation by the ruler. Many sources cite a prophecy made in the 1920s by political activist Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) as the origin of Haile Selassie’s divine worship: ‘Look to Africa, when a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand’. The father of the ‘Back-to-Africa’ movement and of ‘Ethiopianism’ in Jamaica foretold the coronation of a powerful black king who would bring about the long-awaited return to Africa and the liberation of the black peoples from colonial oppression.. Nature too has twice played its part, in the form of a ‘divine sign’ which the Rastafaris took as confirming that Haile Selassie was their God (Jah) incarnate. In 1930 Jamaica suffered an extreme, prolonged drought. But immediately after the announcement of the imperial coronation, the longed-for rains began to fall on the island. Another event that gave impetus to the Rastafari movement occurred on 21

April 1966. On that day, Haile Selassie was expected in Jamaica as a state guest. Tens of thousands of Rastafarians at the airport in Kingston ‘recognised’ their returned Messiah with jubilant cheering and rejoicing, after his plane landed just as the sun began to shine again after several hours of rain showers. Since then, the date has been celebrated as Grounation Day and is considered the second most important holiday for the Rastas after 2 November, the date of the imperial coronation….The Rastafari religious movement is mostly known only for an external feature of many Rastas, their dreadlocks, or for its music, reggae, whose most popular proponent to this day has been Bob Marley (1945-1981). Rising from the slums of Kingston to achieve global fame, Marley was instrumental in bringing Rastafarianism into pop culture and causing it to spread around the world.

(Source: Emperor Haile Selassie, God of the Rastafarians by Murielle Schlup – 01/28/22)

The disability link to Rastafari movement can be picked out from its tie to people in poverty. Rastafari originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in 1930s Jamaica. Its Afrocentric ideology was largely a reaction against Jamaica’s then-dominant British colonial culture. Rastafari, a religious and political movement, begun in Jamaica in the 1930s and adopted by many groups around the globe, combines Protestant Christianity, mysticism, and a pan-African political consciousness. Rastas, as members of the movement are called, see their past, present, and future in a distinct way. The link of poverty and disability in Black communities and countries like Jamaica should be understood as one of the ways it has spread among Black disabled people in Jamaica. In Jamaica like countries in Africa the poorest of the poor are Black disabled people.

In Emily Blatter’s essay, Chant Down Babylon: the Rastafarian Movement and Its Theodicy for the Suffering it makes a point of the uplifting of Rastafarian for people in poverty in Jamaica as follows:

The Rastafarian movement was born out of the Jamaican ghettos, where the descendents of slaves have continued to suffer from concentrated poverty, high unemployment, violent crime,and scarce opportunities for upward mobility. From its conception, the Rastafarian faith has provided hope to the disenfranchised, strengthening displaced Africans with the promise that Jah Rastafari is watching over them and that they will someday find relief in the promised land of Africa. In The Sacred Canopy, Peter Berger offers a sociological perspective on religion. (Blatter p.1 2008-2009)

It’s not surprising to see disabled reggae artists from Israel Vibration of the 19970’s to Mighty King Kong in the late 1980’s to Yelloman in the 1980’s -today and Latifa ‘Tifa’ Brown who is a Reggae Dancehall artist in 2005 continue to not only carry on Rastafari movement but to be top of their game in Reggae music.

Another connection to disability and the politics of Rastafari movement was Marcus Garvey with his PanAfricanism and his love toward Black people around the world. Rastafari has its roots in the philosophy of Marcus Garvey. It has been said that Garvey gave Rasta’s the guidance they needed to rise above their oppressors which led them to create a movement for the black race in Jamaica. As we know later in life Garvey became physically disabled after two strokes. So you can see that Rastafari and Reggae have disability roots and from these roots disabled Reggae artists will continue to grow and we/I hope that this Krip-Rasta album and a Krip-Hop Jamaica chapter will blossom from these strong roots.

However what happens when something like surgery to save one’s life like we saw in the recent movie about Bob Maerley, the Jamaican singer and reggae pioneer, when he refused treatment  for his acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) cancer because his Rastafarian faith prohibited the amputation of body parts. At that time ironically, the only one that might have saved or lengthened his life – surgery to remove the cancerous toe – was the one that he refused. His Rastafarian religion considered it a sin to remove any part of the body. So as we see there are still disability issues, politics and today’s theories like Disability Justice to Krip-Hop politics that needs to mix with Rastafarian movement/culture.

Welcome to the Krip-RASTA Project! Coming in 2025

“Krip-RASTA”. Krip-Hop Nation is at it again! Just like Afro-Krip, Krip-Hop Nation creates new terminology to organize and create all over the world, this time in Jamaica, with guidance from the spirit and revolutionary expression of Bob Marley and our disabled Jamaican musicians like Israel Vibration, Tifa, Yellowman and more.

Krip-RASTA is more than just a music project, it is liberation aka a way to celebrate and connect with our disabled brothers, sisters and non-Non-binary in Jamaica. Krip-RASTA tells the disabled Jamaican story through music with help from the Krip-Hop Nation with a goal of building a Krip-Hop chapter in Jamaica. Help us build this chapter and the CD project.

Read below.

Krip-Rasta Project

Hi everyone!! This is an official announcement from Krip-Hop Nation!!! 2025 we will be working on a new Album! The Album will take the Krip Hop Nation directly into da yard (Jamaica). We´re calling out all Jamaican artists with disabilities to link! If you know Jamaican music artists with disabilities don´t hesitate —> tell dem fi link! Also we’re looking for riddim producers, reggae bands who want fi get on it!!! If yuh catch inspiration now and want to help us with the project with ideas, sponsorings, labels or other distribution possibilities plz let us know! Krip Hop is more than music! Bless Jah Rastafari, we count on your support!! Lez mekk this one really big fam… inbox open fi msg!!! 1 ❤😉

My poem-song, Krip-Rasta kicks off this project and will be on the album. Link to song.

Binki and Leroy Moore

Drop us an email here.

References:

Blatter, Emily. Chant Down Babylon: the Rastafarian Movement and Its Theodicy for the Suffering. Verge, vol. Five. p.1-46

Moore, Leroy. Krip-Rasta Project Krip-Hop Institute website 2025

Schlup, Murielle, Emperor Haile Selassie, God of the Rastafarians. 2008-2009)