Chuck D's Video "Ali Rap" Theme

Mohammed Ali the world's most famous boxer of the 20th century was arguably a rapper of his time. "Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee", Ali used his "rap" like music to the ears of his opponents - remember Shakespeare's "if music be the food of love play on". These rhymes were all part of Ali's clever psychological tools to get into the psyche of his opponents that he could beat them.

Some people may say that Ali was taunting his opponents but if you examine his rhymes, it much resembles the rap that rappers use to tell the stories of their environments. There's a ESPN documentary "Ali Rap", set to Chuck D's music as the theme, that examines if Ali unwittingly invented rap music by his public pronouncements. While this may be controversial, it is one that's worthy of discussion - Ali would have it no other way.

You can read about the Ali's relationship and rap in a new book, Ali Rap: Muhammed Ali, The First Heavyweight Champion of Rap, edited by George Lois.

If you are a famous athlete such as Michael Phelps that listens to Chuck D's rap music, download new Vanguard rap music here.