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How does a man with Cerebral Palsy become a rap musician? Well, if you’re Keith Jones (aka FEZO), you do it through a sheer determination to put your voice, feet, and talent to use within the hip-hop community. He’s already recorded two CDs, the latest of which (and also his last) is called Vocal Tai Chi. Through his music—not to mention his attitude—Jones is re-defining what it means to be a disabled artist.

“The industry, much like society in general, has a schism towards people with disabilities. The reason I am and have remained un-signed is because they didn't know how to market me,” Jones said in an interview with fellow krip-hop artist Leroy Moore. “This is indicative of a larger issue: there is uneasiness around disability and what talents and contributions the individual has to offer.”

The 38-year-old, Boston-based Jones has limited use of his hands but uses his feet to more than make up for any lack of dexterity he experiences. Using his feet, he can write, type, draw and even cook. Accordingly, he doesn’t need any special equipment to make the music he loves so much.

But Jones is not only making his way through waters chartered previously by the likes of Puffy and Jay-Z, he’s also trying to roll through the Senate. While the world may not be used to seeing a disabled African American rapper in a wheelchair tackling politics and rap, Jones isn’t backing down.

"When I was a kid, there were no real role models for youths with disabilities, especially African-American youths with disabilities—no sense that you could grow up to be Barack Obama," Jones told the Boston Globe. "Even now, there still isn't."

Jones believes that actions speak louder than words when considering politicians’ stances on issues related to race, poverty, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians. He says that as a person who lives among these groups and advocates for them publicly, he knows that no political party has managed to really tackle the struggles surrounding any minority. That’s precisely why Jones will run outside of the two-party system, as an Independent/Third Party candidate.

The road ahead of Jones as a forceful disability rights activist, educating anyone who will lend him an ear about how the cause of people with disabilities is the next frontier of civil rights, is a tough one. And he acknowledges that frankly and believingly. He says that, disabled or not, if you want something, you have to work for it. And for him, more often than not, that means working significantly harder than anyone else.

This sort of determination isn’t anything new to Jones. When he was young, he told his teachers that he was more interested in completing math assignments than doing arts and crafts all day. “The one thing my family told me was: ‘Don’t ever let anybody try to limit you or put constraints on you,’” Jones says. “And I took that literally.”

Jones is featured in Including Samuel, a film by Dan Habib that focuses on the challenges facing young people with disabilities and their families on issues of inclusion.