Introducing: Rumble: Ali/Foreman and The Soul of '74

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's nineteen seventy four in the heart of Zaire, Africa.
Two heavyweight boxing champs are ready to rumble. In one
corner there's the outspoken, controversial and much beloved Muhammad Ali.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Ali was smart, he was bright, and he was handsome.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
In the other corner is George Foreman. Younger, fitter, far stronger,
and a hell of a lot prouder to be an American.
He's almost an abstraction. He's an arch guitar.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
George Foreman is champion in the world.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
The guy was bigger than Ali and Foreman as everyone
fearing for Ali's life, George Foreman could kill him.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
They thought he was going to be killed in the rain.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Fifty years on, the Rumble in the Jungle is still
considered one of the greatest sporting events of all time,
but few remember the legendary music festival that took place
before the heavyweight title bout James Brown Bill with Miriam Mkiba,
BB King, Hugh Masekela, all the biggest black artists on
the planet, black boxing stars, and Black Music Royalty together

(01:10):
for the first time in Zaire, a newly independent nation
ruled by the ruthless dictator Mabutu seyse Ciku.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Violence broke out immediately after DRC's independence.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
But Buchu would stop at nothing to play host to
both spectacles three days of music and then the boxing
event with the whole world watching to see if they
could pull it off. I said, I don't see how
you go and get all these people together at one
time to do the music federal in Africa, you know,
but due to surprise and circumstance, things would indeed go

(01:47):
off the rails once you throw Don King into the
mix along with Herbert Muhammad and the Nation of Islam Man,
it's amazing that somebody didn't end up dead. He pulls
out a knife and he's walking down the aisle and rage.
He's going after James Brown. I'm Zaren Burnett, creator of
Black Cowboys and co host of Ridiculous Crime, inviting you

(02:08):
to rumble Ali Foreman and the soul of seventy four.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Jan Brown said say it loud and said, I'm black
and I'm proud.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
This new podcast takes you behind the scenes of a
high stakes showcase for a fledgling African nation. What was
going on in the world at the time made this
fight as important that anything else is going on on
the planet. It's a story of a world in transformation.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Prior to that, you couldn't call a person black, okay
with Negro, and then it was say it loud, I'm
black and I'm proud.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Ultimately, what went down in Zaire in seventy four was
an epic confluence of black excellence and inspiring collision of cultures,
a peak moment in geopolitics, and a showdown of supersized
egos motivated by the soul power that connected them all.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
It all started with the drum. The rhythm was all
the same. We all came from the continent of Africa.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Listen to Rumble, ali Foreman and the Soul of seventy
four on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.