Ayodele Fadele (8 August 1962 – March 2018) was an English musician and music journalist who was active from the mid-1980s. He wrote for the NME in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the first music critics to introduce then emerging US rap artists such as Public Enemy, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest to mainstream British music fans.
Fadele had broad musical tastes, ranging from hip-hop and acid house to shoegazing, industrial and grunge. He wrote long pieces on artists including Nick Cave, New Order, 808 State, Einstürzende Neubauten, Marianne Faithfull and Osibisa. He was gregarious and according to Andrew Collins was always "absolutely impassioned" when he arrived at the NME office each morning
He died in March 2018 after a battle with stomach cancer. His death was not known to his former music industry colleagues until August 2020. Many of them wrote shocked but highly appreciative obituaries in the following days. Most notably, Chuck D of Public Enemy said that Fadele was the "first black journalist from the UK that ever interviewed me", and that he "thought that was amazing. And it was for our first important spread in the UK music press too."