The Song of the Day is:
Cassius Clay – “I Am The Greatest”
From the album I Am The Greatest (1963)
This kid’s got a left; this kid’s got a right,
Peter Matz – Cassius Clay
If he hits you once, you’re asleep for the night.
And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts ten,
You’ll pray that you won’t have to fight me again.
For I am the man this poem is about,
The next champ of the world, there isn’t a doubt.This I predict and I know the score,
I’ll be champ of the world in ’64.
I’d like to start by wishing my grandmother a happy birthday. She died this April, but to her spirit in the afterlife, I want to let her know that we are thinking of her. This song is not a dedication to her, but I do find it important to acknowledge her. No, this song is much more of a dedication to the artist who performed it, Cassius Clay – who I will refer to by his name later in life, Muhammad Ali (changed after his conversion to Islam). Ali passed away five years ago today at age 74. I’ve always found Ali to be a great source of inspiration. Primarily known as a boxer, he has been listed as the fifth-greatest boxer of all time by Ring magazine and was named as the Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated. He was also one of the most significant and impactful social figures of the 1960’s due to his work advancing civil rights and protesting the Vietnam War. Most people aren’t aware of it, but Ali did release an album. No doubt, I Am the Greatest is the very definition of a novelty album, complete with spoken word portions, original songs, a cover of “Stand By Me” and comedy. Surprisingly, this album wasn’t released when he was already a title-holder, no, he was just a contender at this point. Sure he’s won Olympic gold, but he was just three years into his professional career when he recorded this album. Ali proved just how brazen he was by not just claiming to be “the Greatest”, but he also called out the then-current champion Sonny Liston by name, and boasting how Ali would beat him. Well, Ali did beat him, twice, but that really doesn’t impact the album, it just showed that Ali could backup his claims. Musically, Ali really couldn’t sing too well, which is why I selected a song that is really just a spoken word rap set to raucous R&B-style party music. This album as been cited as an influence on modern rap music, and given his antagonizing of Liston, Ali’s been credited as a creator of the rap diss track. It wasn’t just this album (and the one that followed it thirteen years later, The Adventures of Ali & His Gang vs Mr. Tooth Decay) that earned Ali credit for being one of the forefathers of rap music, it was his rhyme-heavy vocal patter that he often utilized before the press and on talk shows (some credit should go to Ali’s assistant trainer Drew Bundini Brown who was at times credited as a speechwriter for Ali, and wrote the famous boast “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”). This influence has been cited by musicologists and also rappers such as Jay-Z, Nas, Chuck D, Slick Rick and Eminem. Sadly, Ali – possessor of one of the most unique and impactful voices of all-time – was silenced by Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984, and for the next three decades, his condition worsened (that’s not to say he lost all quality of life, but I’m sure it was difficult for somebody who celebrated his voice and physical ability to lose it like that). He died at age 74 from septic shock.
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Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 