Thug Life Army

Tehran-Canadian hip-hop emcee Imaan Faith and Sikh-Indian producer Raoul Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra) will be debuting their "Aids Awareness" rap song September 2005 to raise donations for the Mandela Children's Fund, a follow-up to Imaan and Raoul's "Honour Mandela" PSA release aired across North American campus radio stations this past February 18, 2005 for the "Annual Fundraising Day" of the anti-apartheid legend.

Known as "Toonie Day" to school children and university associations across Canada, the Mandela Fund's past six February 18th fundraising events have already raised a record $2 million from over 40,000 Canadian kids to their South African pen-pals, a point former President Mandela recently emphasized in a statement to Canadian schools assuring them that "The children you teach are the rock on which our future will be built."

Imaan, in the midst of releasing "Just Freeze," his debut single with Dominican-American rapper JR Writer, and Raoul, currently on a promotional tour for the Van Peebles'' "Revolutionary Sweetback" Canadian CD release, are also scheduling a series of Toronto high school fundraising performances for the Mandela Children's Fund as part of Raoul's on-going ''Hip-Hop Literacy'' campaign drawing attention to hip-hop rap poet Tupac Amaru Shakur and Canadian conservationist Archie Grey Owl amongst other authors.

For more about the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund or to make a donation please visit Canada's Mandela-Children.ca web site. And be sure to check out the urban/ethnic programming on Toronto's CKLN 88.1 FM & CHRY 105.5 FM, London's CHRW 94.9 FM, Ottawa's CHUO

89.1 FM, Vancouver's CITR 101.9 FM, Montreal's CKUT

90.3 FM, Edmonton's CJSR 88.5 FM and Calgary's CJSW

90.9 FM to hear the "Honour Mandela" PSA by Imaan Faith and Deejay Ra.

Hear the Mandela PSA HERE.

*Photography with audio courtesy of NMCF Canada ("President Mandela")