1. Often called as "white boy"
Being born in rural Jamaica to an Afro-Jamaican mother and a white British father, Bob Marley as a youngster faced rejections presented through a host of issues as his local friends often labeled him as “white boy”.
As he begun his quest of spreading love through reggae music, such childhood discrimination became a powerful tool for him to eradicate the racist concept of "differentness" as he compose the song entitled "one love".
2. Was born a catholic
Before having converted as rastafarian in 1966, Bob Marley was previously born as a catholic. Rastafarianism as a religion gained dominance in Jamaica where people believed that the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie was their messiah. They believed that his second coming like Christ would lead them to salvation.
Marley remained a steadfast as a Rastafarian till his last breath. He was then baptized by the Ethiopian church in 1980. Others would say that it was because he accepted that Haile Selassie was a godly man, but not God. It was also believed that his conversion had helped him cope the pain cased by cancer where he refused any conventional cancer treatments.
3. Loves playing football
One on the memorabilias of bob marley was a recorded video that was seemingly timeless, as he played wearing Adidas Copa Mundial, combined with his cotton tracksuits. This amazed his fans knowing him for being a diminutive singer rather than a football player.
Fighting cancer, Bob Marley was said to be a well rounded footballer. Indeed, he took part in a match at the private field of Brazilian famous musician Chico Buarque which included the host, Jacob Miller of reggae band Inner Circle. Although the game had resulted to Marley's lack of skill still he showed confidence and quoted "Football is a whole skill to itself. A whole world. A whole universe to itself".
4. Anti-Political Albums
Advocating for the rights of black people, Bob Marley was one of the world's most popular musicians who stood said rights against western oppression. He believed that righteousness can make way for a positive change, thereby raising up awereness in human rights.
His well-grounded belief derived from the Old Testament bible as well as the Rastafarian movement which began in Jamaica in 1930s including Jamaican nationalist and freedom fighter Marcus Garvey, sighting the latter's qoute "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind”, in his song Redemption song.
5. Lyrical Genius
As Time Magazine declared the "Exodus Album" of Bob Marley, the album of the century, it gained unusual popularity considering that its lyrics represented the anguish and optimism of the oppressed which gained universal appeal.
It can be traced as history told us that Jamaica was once exploited by Christopher Columbus which thereafter increasingly populated by transported slaves. This cruel hypocrisy of this colonial rule is a constant theme of Marley's work.
6. Ganja as a Sacrament
Being committed to Rastafarian Religion, Bob Marley considered Ganja as a sacrament. He believed that it should not be used recreationally rather it must be consumed for religious and medicinal purposes.
In fact, Marley is described as “a staunch supporter of the plant’s meditational, spiritual, and healing abilities, and a fierce opponent to those who tried using marijuana as a vehicle for oppression, and to keep certain groups of people out of the societal mainstream.”
7. Dreadlocks
Not for purposes of fasion, dreadlocks are so symbolic in expression as it calls to disregard for physical appearances. What dreads tries to symbolize is to simply live in service and peace.
This belief was quoted by Bob Marley from the bible on one of his interviews, "Neither shall they make cuttings upon their flesh, nor baldness upon their heads".
8. The Ring
Pictures of Bob Marley wearing a ring captures too much attention from his fans. The ring was said to have belonged to Haile Selassie I, which symbolizes the Lion of Judah worn by Marley within the last five years of his life.
The same figured out by Bob Marley one evening while resting at his mother's house. He dreamed a short man who handed to him a black ring who then took his hand and pushed it into his forefinger. Thereafter, when he met Crown Prince Asfa Wossen (son of Selassie I), and during the two-hour meeting between him and Bob, the crown prince said he had something for him. It was a ring, the same ring he had seen in his dream a black stone bearing the figure of the lion of Judah.
9. Items Burried
Bob Marley died and was burried on May 21, 1981 at Nine Mile, (a village where, 36 years earlier, he had been born). His heavy bronze coffin was carried to the top of the highest hill in the village and placed in a temporary mausoleum painted in the colours of red, green and gold.
Alongside Marley's corpse, the casket contained his red Gibson Les Paul guitar, a Bible opened at Psalm 23, and a stalk of ganja placed there by his widow, Rita, at the end of the funeral ceremony earlier in the day.
10. Final Destination
Marley's grueling battle with cancer lasted after his final concert at Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As he flew to Jamaica to be with family and friends, his health deteriorated and never finished that last trip to his birthplace.
The plane made an emergency landing in Miami, Florida and his organs started to shut down. Marley died, on May 11, 1981 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital