The Untold Legacy Of Muhammad Ali, by Thomas Hauser (2005)
Clay V. United States And How Muhammad Ali Fought the Draft: Debating Supreme Court Decisions, by Thomas Streissguth (2006)
What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States, by Dave Zirin (2005)
The psychodynamics of white racism: An historical exploration of white racial pathology as elicited by prizefighters Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali: (Dissertation), by Michal Louise Beale (2006)
I'm a Bad Man: African American Vernacular Culture and the Making of Muhammad Ali, by Shawn Williams (2007)
Asterix and the Big Fight - The way Chief Vitalstatistix's strategy of wearing down is opponent and his victory dance is based on Ali's. Likewise, his opponent is a Gallo-Roman chieftain named (in the English version) Cassius Ceramix.
The fifth Clayface's name is a parody of Ali's, named Cassius "Clay" Payne.
Books for children
More Than a Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Presented Through His Daughter's Eyes, by Hana Ali (2000)
I'll Hold Your Hand So You Won't Fall: A Child's Guide To Parkinson's Disease, by Rasheda Ali (2005)
Music
Featuring Ali himself
In 1976 Ali released the album Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay, which told a story meant to educate children about dental hygiene The album was narrated by Howard Cosell, with guest appearances by Frank Sinatra and Richie Havens. A sequel Ali and His Gang vs. Fat Cat the Dope King was planned, but apparently never released.
In December 1969, Ali appeared on Broadway in the musical Buck White.[1] The show ran for just seven performances; but Ali and the cast performed the number "We Came in Chains" on The Ed Sullivan Show.[2]
Ali influenced several elements of hip hop music, as a "rhyming trickster" in the 1960s with "funky delivery, the boasts, the comical trash talk, the endless quotables".[3] According to Rolling Stone, his "freestyle skills" and his "rhymes, flow, and braggadocio" would "one day become typical of old school MCs" like Run–D.M.C. and LL Cool J,[4] the latter citing Ali as an influence.[3]
Songs
In 1971, New York singer Vernon Harrell released a record about him called "Muhammed Ali" (sic) (Brunswick Records #55448) as Verne Harrell. This misspelling of Ali's name was printed on the labels of the 45s.
In 1975, a song about Ali titled "Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)" was recorded by British reggae group Johnny Wakelin & the Kinshasa Band.[5]
In 1981, Dutch guitarist Harry Sacksioni composed and played a song called "Ali's Shuffle".
The Freakwater song "Louisville Lip" on their 1998 album Springtime is a tribute to Muhammad Ali framed around the story Ali told in his 1975 autobiography about tossing his gold medal into the Ohio River after being refused service in a nearby diner.
The R. Kelly song "World's Greatest" is a tribute to Ali, and it is featured on the soundtrack to the 2001 motion picture Ali. In 2002, the song peaked at number 34 on Billboard's Hot 100 US singles chart and at number 4 on the UK singles chart. The song's video features archived footage of Ali as well as an homage to the firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical workers regarded among the greatest heroes of the rescue operations necessitated by the events of 9/11.
The British dance band Faithless recorded a song titled "Muhammad Ali" which was released as a single on September 23, 2001. The single reached number 29 on the UK singles chart. The song was included on their 2001 album Outrospective.
In 2015, Australian band William Street Strikers used Ali's Attica Prison Poem lyrics on their song "No Surrender", from their album Nothing's Going On. The song was aired on the show Living in the Land of Oz after the death of Ali and became a staple of community radio after its release.
In 2016, American soul group, KING, released a song titled "The Greatest", which was inspired by Muhammad Ali's unwavering confidence and grace. The song was included on the group's debut album "We Are King".[7]
The Louisville Orchestra premiered a multimedia dramatic work about Ali by the orchestra's Music Director, Teddy Abrams, in November 2017 at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The work presented Ali's own poems, speeches, and writings set as rap and spoken-word recitations, plus an original narration and numerous vocal settings of poems from many historical eras. Performers included Rhiannon Giddens, Jubilant Sykes, and Louisville rapper Jecorey "1200" Arthur, along with many other actors, speakers, and dancers from the Louisville community.
The band Fever 333 references Ali in one of their songs, titled "Burn It."
Artists
American singer Cautious Clay took his stage name from Ali's birth name.[9]
ESPN produced specials in honor of Ali's 65th birthday. The shows include Ali Rap, Ali's Dozen and Ali 65. They premiered on December 9, 2006, at 9 pm EST on ESPN.
Facing Ali is a 2009 documentary on the topic of all the fighters that Ali faced during his career. Each one is interviewed at length. The film made the shortlist for the 82nd Academy Awards in the category of Best Documentary Feature, but did not make the final list.
Ali's fight with Larry Holmes was the subject of one of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series; "Muhammad and Larry" by Albert Maysles first aired on ESPN on October 27, 2009.
Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami is a 2008 WLRN documentary that charts Cassius Clay's transformation from young boxing hopeful to a cultural icon. The film traces Ali's rapid rise through the heavyweight ranks, his friendship with Malcolm X, his historic clash with champion Sonny Liston, and his subsequent refusal to fight in Vietnam.
In Young Justice, the high school cheer squad in Happy Harbor is named the Bumblebees and uses Ali's "Floats like a butterfly Stings like a bee" line as a cheer.
The China, IL episode "Displays of Manhood" includes Ali as a character.[14]
In 1980, Ali appeared in a television ad for d-CON Roach Proof: after hitting a heavy bag (a training device suspended from above that simulates the bulk of an opponent for punching), he turns to the camera in his boxing gear, raises and shakes a fist, and exclaims to the audience, "I don' want you livin' wit' roaches!"[citation needed]
He also appeared in a commercial for fish sticks circa 1981.[citation needed]
Ali appeared in one of the posters for the "Think Different" campaign by Apple Computer in 1997.[citation needed]
Photography
Muhammad Ali: The Birth of a Legend, Miami, 1961–1964, by Flip Schulke (1999).
GOAT—Greatest of All Time. Published by Taschen (2004), the limited edition was autographed by Muhammad Ali and Jeff Koons.
Muhammad Ali, by Dave Anderson and Magnum Photographers (2006).
Greatest of All Time - A Tribute to Muhammad Ali (2010), published by Taschen.
Ali has appeared in numerous video boxing games, some of which feature him as the title character. Examples include Foes of Ali, Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing and the Knockout Kings series and its follow-up, the Fight Night series. Ali appears and is playable in WWE 2K24 as part of the celebration of 40 years of WrestleMania.
Trading cards
Ali has many trading cards from sources around the globe but the 1965 Collezioni Lampo I Grandi Campioni Cassius Clay is widely considered his most valuable rookie card.
Other
Ali with clowns Charlie Frye and Skeeter Reece in 1980
Dance
After Ali knocked-out German boxer Karl Mildenberger in 1966, there was a dance craze in Europe called "The Muhammad Ali Dance" which mimmicked Ali's footwork and punching stance to a swinging up-tempo beat. "The Muhammad Ali Dance" appeared in various teen dance television shows across Europe in 1966.[15]
Institutions
Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ—One of the world's largest dedicated Parkinson's Centers.
Martial arts
Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee was influenced by Ali, whose footwork he studied and incorporated into his own style while developing Jeet Kune Do in the 1960s.[16] In turn, taekwondo fighter Jhoon Goo Rhee later taught Lee's AccuPunch, a non-telegraphed punch, to Ali while coaching him; Ali used the technique to knockout Richard Dunn in 1975.[17]
In Billy Elliot the Musical when Billy's boxing coach sets up a match between Billy and Michael, he points to each in turn saying, "You are Muhammad Ali and you are Cassius Clay".
Will Power's Fetch Clay, Make Man is based on the friendship between actor Stepin Fetchit and Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali. The play explores how each handled life in the public eye as black men in their respective eras: Hollywood in the 20s, where a black actor's career depended on playing caricatures, and the mid-60s, after the assassination of Malcolm X.
An officially authorized musical Ali, based on Ali's life is being directed and written by Clint Dyer, deputy artistic director of London's National Theatre, and scored by Louisville Orchestra's music director and conductor Teddy Abrams. Rapper and record producer Q-Tip has joined the production as music director and co-lyricist, along with Rich + Tone Talauega as choreographers.[a]
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