"elite"

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

I was watching the Clint Eastwood movie "Heartbreak Ridge" the other night.  In it, Moses Gunn's character (a black actor) says (paraphrasing, slightly):  "Me and Major Powers are building a team of elite fighting men."

He pronounced elite as EE-LIGHT, rather than EE-LEET, which is how I say the word.   The only other time I've ever heard it said that way was when I was talking to a Negro Leagues baseball player, and I mentioned I was from Nashville, and he said that the "Elite Giants" were there for a time.

So, is the EE-LIGHT pronounciation peculiar to AAVE?