Lil Peppi is a 10 year old rapper that can make you groove to his tunes about global warming

We got you hooked with our post on Recycler the Rapping Robot, a robot with cool beats that raps to UK children about the importance of recycling. Well, there’s a new American MC in town, and although he’s not a musical machine (literally), he is a 10 year old real-life Eco Rapper named Lil Peppi who wants to share his message of protecting the planet through a few catchy rhymes.

His real name is Cardell Hopkins and he’s from Brandon, a small community located in Hillsborough County, Florida.  He’s basically your average 10 year old with average 10 year old interests: playing Nintendo Wii, shooting basketball, skateboarding and supporting his community’s football team called the Brandon Broncos. But what sets him apart from other 10 year olds is what he did once he saw the animated film Happy Feet.

That and this picture of him with Captain Planet:

Yes, Happy Feet is about cute penguins and their quest to be loved, but it’s also about the melting of Antarctica and the Earth’s quest to save itself from global warming. Cardell was touched by the message in the movie, as well as from the 1971 Keep America Beautiful campaign he saw titled “People Start Pollution, People Can Stop It,” so he decided to use his interest in music to become “Lil Peppi” and to create a few rap songs about environmentalism. The rest is music history.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, Cardell got his alter ego star name “Lil Peppi” from a nurse at the hospital where he was born.

Take a look at these introductory lyrics for “Mother Nature’s Crying, “ the first rap that he wrote with his father:

What’s going on in this world that we live in-Too much taking and not enough giving
Mother nature keeps on crying -She’s kind of sad cause the planet keeps dying
I’m telling ya... If I were the king of the world-I would make a better place for the boys and girls
I would clean up, all of the pollution-If we work together we can find the solution

Of course, no child rap song would be complete without a cute video:

Since he recorded that song Lil Peppi has been on NBC’s “Daytime” show, his video won a Whole Foods Market contest where he got to film a spot for a “Whole Earth Generation” environmental series, he made another eco video titled “Melting Ice,” and he was chosen as a United Nations Environment Programme Hero of the Month.

Did I mention that he also plants a tree every time that his favorite football team, the Brandon Broncos, scores a touchdown?

10 year old Lil Peppy, aka Cardell Hopkins, is an amazing inspiration for people of all ages, young and old. At such an early age he has already been able to combine his passion for music and for protecting the planet into something that has educated thousands of people about the perils of global warming. We should aspire to do that no matter how old we are.

Now throw your hands up for the Earth!