RVA rapper Michael Millions drops tribute track to late, great Muhammad Ali

by | Jun 20, 2016 | MUSIC

Father, fighter, leader – all of these words were used to describe the late great Muhammad Ali. On June 3rd, 2016, 74–year–old Muhammad Ali died of septic shock after battling Parkinson’s disease for 32 years.

Father, fighter, leader – all of these words were used to describe the late great Muhammad Ali. On June 3rd, 2016, 74–year–old Muhammad Ali died of septic shock after battling Parkinson’s disease for 32 years. For most Ali embodied a symbol of hope. His love for the community showed and taught people that anyone could be great. Over his lifetime, Ali put the fighting spirit into many people across America.

With that being said, 32–year–old Michael Millions has dropped a new tribute song to the late great Ali. The song “Ali” opens up with a very smooth fusion of jazz and hip-hop, with Millions gliding over the instrumental track with a rugged flow. Check it out below:

“I woke up that morning and to see that Muhammad Ali had past away I was just like ‘wow,’ it’s crazy we are losing all of these great individuals,” said Millions in an interview with RVAMag about the track and the news of Ali’s death. “There aren’t a lot of new individuals replacing their greatness… Muhammad Ali was our first representation of someone wanting to be great and I think his influence stepped people up.”

Millions uses “Ali” as a metaphor or placeholder for the word “greatness.” Towards the outro of the song, Millions states “good is the enemy of great.” That is among the most powerful quotes in the song because it forces people to push themselves to be great like Ali did.

“Ali just made people want to be a little better,” said the rapper.

For the people who don’t know, the song “Ali” was the first release from Millions since his November 2015 project Beautiful. Beautiful, like the song “Ali,” has a lot of live sounds of instruments flowing through the project. After listening to “Ali,” you can listen to Beautiful below.

Like Beautiful, the song “Ali” was recorded at Purple Haus Studio. Millions said he wants his music to reflect current events and topics that he feels need to be discussed. The rapper and producer is currently working and continuing to grow as an artist with a handful of tracks currently in the works. With that being said, make sure you stay up to date and continue to follow Michael Millions project’s on Twitter here.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




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