Great news: "Rumble: Ali/Foreman and the Soul of ‘74" was nominated for a Webby Award – and YOU, the people, get to vote in the People’s Voice Awards!

LINK TO VOTE: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/individual-episode/history 

Make your voice heard by voting for us by April 17th. 

The episode “Coming Home to Africa… If James Brown Don’t Kill Us All” was nominated in the History category for Best Single Episode. 

And what an episode it was: the overloaded plane, Bill Withers pulling a knife on James Brown, and all those many musicians of the diaspora jamming together at 36,000 feet as one big musical family. It’s a rare glimpse into a moment in time… that still resonates today. 

Vote on or before April 17th! Encourage others to vote. Ali was the People’s Champ, and you are the People’s Voice. 

From the whole team: thank you for your support!

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What do our heroes leave behind? Nico Ali-Walsh shares memories of his grandfather, The People’s Champ. George Foreman transforms after The Rumble in the Jungle, realizing that Ali “beat the devil” out of him. Hugh Masekela is finally able to return home to South Africa and his son, Selema follows in his footsteps. Fred Wesley can still play the trombone and will do so as long as he can. After Vietnam, the momentum behind the Civil Rights Movement seems to all but disappear. History moves on. What’s left is the legacy of these soul rebels.

LITERARY REFERENCES

“The Greatest, My Own Story”by Muhammad Ali (autobiography)

“The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg

“Ali: A Life” by Jonathan Eig

“The Fight” by Norman Mailer

“Shadow Box” by George Plimpton 

“Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage” by Budd Schulberg 

“King of the World” by David Remnick

OTHER REFERENCE MATERIALS

“When We Were Kings” (Documentary by Leon Gast and David Sonenberg)

“Soul Power” (Documentary by Jeffery Kusama-Hinte and David Sonenberg)

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The infamous fight. Play by play. It's a punishing display of brutality and endurance. The avatars of America’s Culture War stand tall and fierce in the African ring. Foreman is fearsome, throwing haymaker after haymaker. Ali is classically savvy, inventing a new technique on the spot: The Rope-a-Dope. It’s all he can do to survive the onslaught of Foreman’s violence. This fight is considered by many to be the greatest sporting event of all time. 

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The show must go on! The Zaire ‘74 Music Festival is underway. The sounds of the diaspora grace the stage, united by the drum. Bill Withers stuns listeners with his raw talent. BB King wails on his guitar in one of his all-time best performances. Celia Cruz croons to the crowd, who finds an unexpected familiarity in her Afro-Latina rhythms. Miriam Makeba hypnotizes her audience and ties the whole ensemble together with her unifying spirit. And finally, James Brown emerges to close out the show. His performance makes history as he steps into the crowd and shares the mic with his fans under the rising sun; together they shout “I’m Black and I’m Proud”. This is the Soul of ‘74.

LITERARY REFERENCES

“The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg

“Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) 

“LATIN N.Y.” magazine, editor-in-chief, Diane Weathers

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy: The True King of the ‘50s” by Lloyd Price and William Waller (autobiography)

OTHER REFERENCE MATERIALS

“When We Were Kings” (Documentary by Leon Gast and David Soneberg)

“Soul Power” (Documentary by Jeffery Kusama-Hinte and David Sonenberg)

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Stuck in Zaire, Ali stays busy winning The People to his side. Foreman remains sullen and sequestered. Don King keeps the hype going as the festival is ramping up, and all involved insist: The Rumble in the Jungle will happen. In the meantime, we recount the tragic history of Zaire's decolonization attempts and Pan-Africanism 2.0; the rapid rise and fall of beloved independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, and the role of the CIA and the Western World in all of it. The consequences of this corruption are tangible to the musicians, photographers and festival-makers, who experience first hand, Mobutu's tyrannical grip on his country.

LITERARY REFERENCES

“The Greatest, My Own Story”by Muhammad Ali (autobiography)

“By George” by George Foreman (autobiography)

OTHER REFERENCE MATERIALS

AP Archive: Syndicated Press Conference with George Foreman, June 23, 1974 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbJjZHf5xRo)

AP Archive: Syndicated Press Conference with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, September 20, 1974 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyZ9vHqOh1M)

CIA Archives (Church Committee Report –– on Congo activities and Patrice Lumumba assassination)(https://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/ir/pdf/ChurchIR_3A_Congo.pdf)

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The music festival promoters hustle hard to secure a plane to Zaire. Finally on board, all the artists are nearly killed by James Brown and his oversized ego. Despite the high drama, the flight is a magical experience for all aboard when the musicians turn the plane into an epic jam session. This shared joy carries the crew through to Zaire. Upon arrival, they are greeted by the drums and voices of The Motherland. Meanwhile, fight promoters scramble to rearrange the weekend after Foreman’s cut and, in doing so, find out who President Mobutu really is.

LITERARY REFERENCES

“The Greatest, My Own Story”by Muhammad Ali (autobiography)

“By George” by George Foreman (autobiography)

“Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) 

“LATIN NY” (Magazine, Issue No. 20, Nov 1974 Editor-in-Chief, Diane Weathers)

           Courtesy of Lola! Love

OTHER MEDIA

US State Department cables (available online in the US State Dept Archives and Wikileaks: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974KINSHA07638_b.html)

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Ali and Foreman continue to train for their upcoming title fight and the great writers of the day document the progress.  Across the Atlantic, Don King and Hank Schwartz oversee the preparations for the title fight and sweetens the deal by announcing the music festival. On the plane to the mother land, Ali instantly recognizes the significance of this moment. Upon arrival, he instantly wins over the people of Zaire, pitting them against Foreman automatically. When Foreman arrives, an unwitting faux pas seals his fate as the villain. 

LITERARY REFERENCES

“The Greatest, My Own Story” by Muhammad Ali (autobiography)

“The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg

“Ali: A Life” by Jonathan Eig

“The Fight” by Norman Mailer

“Shadow Box” by George Plimpton 

“Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage” by Budd Schulberg 

“Ego: the Life” article by Norman Mailer (Life magazine Cover Story, March 19, 1971)

FILM & VIDEO REFERENCES

“When We Were Kings” (documentary, 1996) directed by Leon Gast (available on streaming)

“Soul Power” (documentary, 2008) directed by Jeffrey Kusama–Hinte (available on streaming)

Richard Nixon resignation speech (CBS News, Aug 8, 1974) (available on YouTube)

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Fight promoter Don King and his business partner Hank Schwartz join forces with African strong man, President Mobutu of Zaire to put on an epic boxing event. To up the star power of this international affair, Don King joins forces with Hugh Masekela and Stuart Levine to build the three-day music festival, Zaire ‘74. It will serve as the lead-in to the next great superfight. As Ali and Foreman get into fighting shape, jazzman Hugh Masekela pushes both musical and social boundaries, strengthening the bond between Black Americans and their roots.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

“The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg

“Ali: A Life” by Jonathan Eig

“Only in America” by Don King (autobiography)

“The Fight” by Norman Mailer

“The Harder They Fall: Celebrities Tell Their Real Life Stories of Addiction and Recovery” by Gary Stromberg

“Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) 

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Don King swans into the boxing world and manages to get both Ali and Foreman to trust him completely. By working their egos and their dreams of a huge payday –– Don King’s able to persuade the two heavyweights into setting a date for a new title fight. The twist? This title bout, Ali’s latest attempt to reclaim his lost crown, will take place in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali nicknames their upcoming fight: The Rumble in the Jungle.

NEWS REPORTS (AVAILABLE ON NEWSPAPERS.COM)

“The Akron Beacon” March 25, 1974

“Philadelphia Daily News” March 25, 1974

"Akron Beacon" March 29, 1974

REFERENCE BOOKS

“Ali: A Life” by Jonathan Eig

“Only in America” by Don King (autobiography)

“Lawdy Miss Clawdy: The True King of the ‘50s” by Lloyd Price and William Waller (autobiography)

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In the wake of the Attica Prison Uprising, BB King performs for the prisoners at Sing Sing Prison in 1972. The Thanksgiving Day concert sparks a new conversation about prisoner rights. Documentarian Daivd Hoffman recalls his time behind the camera, watching BB King perform, and how he softened the hearts of otherwise life-hardened men. Meanwhile, with the surly Sonny Liston as a role model, George Foreman rises in the ranks as a heavyweight. He fights the Champ, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, and is held hostage in Venezuela.

FILM/VIDEO REFERENCES

Muhammad Ali poem from the Cathal O’Shannon TV show (available on YouTube)

Sing Sing Thanksgiving, documentary by David Hoffman (available on YouTube)

BOOKS

“The Rumble in the Jungle” by Lewis Erenberg

“Angela Davis: an autobiography” by Angela Davis 

“Hit Me, Fred” by Fred Wesley (autobiography) 

“Smokin’ Joe” by Joe Frazier and Phil Berger (autobiography)

“Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier” by Mark Kram Jr. 

“By George” by George Foreman (autobiography)

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