Pelé


Philadelphia-born Pelé also goes by “Rap’s Revolutionary”, a nom de guerre he attributes to his grandfather’s revolutionary struggle against South Africa’s former Apartheid regime. His Grandfather, Ambition Muthle, was an anti-Apartheid activist and remained true to the revolutionary cause even during his 15 year incarceration on Robben Island, where he served with the likes of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Pelé’s song “Freedom Fighter” is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the anti-Apartheid movement and to the late Lucky Dube, South Africa’s biggest-selling reggae artist who first came to prominence protesting the institutional racism of apartheid. Pelé, too, speaks out against injustice wherever he finds it, be it in the halls of government or his own backyard. In 2004, his father Sydney Maree, an Olympic athlete and South African national hero, was wrongly convicted of fraud, the result of a vicious and politically motivated prosecution. This searing experience is captured in the song “No Respect,” from Pelé’s third album, The Verdict. Featuring Stic.Man of the politically oriented rap duo Dead Prez, “No Respect” finds Pelé illuminating: “My father’s naysayers say he tried to run off with company profits/ Now we facing major losses/ Couldn’t even tell you what four years in court cost us...You know I ain’t a killer/ But Pops needs an acquittal, and my youngest sister’s so little/ Growing up without a father/ I wanna bri...

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