A ESPN special about Muhammad Ali.
Air date: Repeats
Info here on ESPN's site.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=alirap1
(See story below)

Ali Rap 1

Ali Rap 2

Ali Rap 3

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Reason for the Rhyme
By Chuck Klosterman
Special to ESPN.com
The ESPN documentary "Ali Rap" (airing Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN) is built loosely on the premise that Muhammad Ali unknowingly invented rap music, simply by being himself in public. If true, this would mean that rap did not originate (as commonly believed) in the South Bronx during the '70s; it would mean rap was invented in Kentucky during the '60s.

This is hard to accept, as there are very few memorable rap songs about competitive horse racing and/or Rex Chapman. But it's still an interesting (albeit specious) hypothesis, and it permeates the framework of "Ali Rap," even in the moments when the show itself seems bizarre.

Public Enemy front man Chuck D, the host of "Ali Rap," is a man who has always understood the relationship between rap and sports. Chuck claimed to have adopted his rapping style from Marv Albert (listen to the opening 15 seconds of "Rebel Without a Pause" if you need proof). Half of the documentary features an undefined collection of modern-day celebrities (James Earl Jones, Diane Sawyer, Al Sharpton, Adam Corolla, Ludacris, Bill Maher, etc.) reciting famous Ali quotations as spoken-word poetry. This almost never works; almost all of the stand-in participants sound ridiculous, particularly the ones who are Caucasian and named Charlie Gibson. However, the actual archive footage of Ali talking is amazingly watchable and mildly shocking, even if you've seen most of it before. Ali is arguably the greatest boxer of the 20th century, but he also might be one of the most charismatic conversationalists ever
1 (which — all things considered — is a far more rarified achievement).

While it's difficult
2 to prove Ali invented rap music, it's almost indisputable that he spawned what is now referred to as "the modern athlete," a term that's generally used as coded, pejorative language. When someone complains about "the modern athlete," he or she is usually just saying, "This particular black athlete behaves like a rap star, even though I've never actually listened to rap music in my entire life." These perceived traits include overt self-promotion, indifference toward authority, and confidence that hemorrhages into arrogance. As such, the relationship among Ali, sport, and rap is latently omnipresent, and examples of that three-pronged relationship are everywhere: 50 Cent buys Mike Tyson's house, Master P tries out for the Toronto Raptors, Ron Artest releases "My World," dead-end kids in Houston drink cough syrup and wear McGrady jerseys, and Fort Minor's "Remember the Name" is used as bumper music for 90 percent of televised college football games that don't involve Notre Dame. You can see these connections without even looking for them. But the deeper (and more meaningful) correlation between hip-hop culture and sports is more opaque; it has less to do with what they tangibly offer and more to do with how they're similarly covered by the media.

More on Ali
Want to read more about the relationship between Ali and Rap? The new book, Ali Rap: Muhammad Ali, The First Heavyweight Champion of Rap, edited and designed by George Lois and published by Taschen/ESPN Books, is available in bookstores now.