Wheelchairs don't limit rappers' drive

Namel “Tap Waterz” Norris thought his dreams of a rap career was over when a bullet paralyzed him as a teen.

Today, he uses hip-hop music to motivate a generation of youth to steer clear of violence and to inspire others with disabilities to never give up.

He and Ricardo “Rick Fire” Velasquez make up the rap duo 4 Wheel City, who will perform Thursday at the August Wilson Center. Each of the New York-based artists suffered spinal-cord injuries in their teens caused by gun violence.

“We want to impress to our youth that violence isn't the way to go. It changes your life,” says Paula Davis, assistant vice chancellor for Health Sciences Diversity at the University of Pittsburgh. The event is sponsored by her office. “And we want people with disabilities to know that their lives don't have to stop because they've lost mobility.

“They can still live out their dreams.”

4 Wheel City rappers say their brand of “rap therapy” aims to not only show the world their flow, but also to steer young people from making bad choices. Admission to the show is free.

It was the summer of 1999 when Norris' sister celebrated her Sweet 16. The party was going on in one room of their Bronx, N.Y., home, while Norris, then 17, and his cousin were in another playing with a .22 handgun. Norris' cousin borrowed the firearm from someone in the neighborhood.

“He was involved in mischief growing up ... and thought it would be cool to hold onto,” Norris says.

The gun accidentally discharged, sending a bullet into Norris' neck. The shot left him paralyzed from the chest down.

“Now, I try to tell young people to finish school and that you don't want your life to go down the drain for nothing,” says Norris, who is now 30 and uses a wheelchair. “There's better things out there for you.”

Velasquez grew up in a neighboring apartment building and had lost his ability to walk just three years before Norris was injured. He was shot while walking home after a party. The pair started 4 Wheel City in 2006 to spread their message.

The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center in Birmingham, Ala., estimates there are 12,000 new cases of spinal-cord injuries each year and that there are between 270,000 and 327,000 people nationally with such injuries.

While motor-vehicle crashes and falls are the most-common causes of spinal-cord injuries, acts of violence rank account for roughly 13 percent of all such injuries. Prevalence of spinal-cord injuries among blacks and Hispanics has increased each decade since the 1970s.

Wheelchairs haven't stopped the duo from dropping mad beats and making others feel the music.

In 2010, the group teamed with rap legend Snoop Dogg (who now goes by the name Snoop Lion) to lay down a stay-in-school-themed single “Welcome to Reality G-Mix.”

They followed up by extending their rap therapy to concerts and even performed at the Paralympic Games in London earlier this month.

“People out there may not know there's people like us with disabilities doing amazing things. They ... just need to believe in themselves,” Norris says. “With motivation ... they can pursue anything they want to in life.

Chris Ramirez is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at cramirez@tribweb.com or 412-380-5682.