Muhammad Ali- the Legend

There are a lot of people who left their mark in history and many individuals worth remembering and mentioning. However, among this group of people, there are some “special” ones, that have achieved everything naturally, just by being themselves and following their ambition. For me, one of the special figures from the near past is one of the greatest boxers of all time – Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior, or Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali was born on January 17th , 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He came from a poor family, his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Senior was a billboard and sign painter, and his mother Odessa Grady Clay was a maid. It is ironic that such a great career began accidentally- the police officer and boxing coach Joe Martin saw him expressing his anger after his bike was stolen and offered him to begin boxing. Ali won his first title when he was 22, beating Sonny Liston, a heavyweight champion at that time. He went on to become the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship three times. Some of his fights like the “Rumble in the Jungle” on October 30, 1974, reached record interest and remained legendary in the history of boxing.
Besides being one of the greatest boxers of all time, Ali is also a great person, who is also notable and impressive outside the boxing stage. Cassius Clay became a Muslim because he felt he was in some way oppressed by white people and wanted to alienate himself from them. He rejected his name, and changed it to Muhammad Ali. He is a man with a very strong character and will. He has always done and said what he considered to be right, no matter the consequences. In 1966, Ali refused to join the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War. There is a famous quote: “ I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. They never called me nigger”. As a result of his refusal, he lost his title. Muhammad Ali is very socially active person. In the past, he talked about issues of the black people society in the USA in numerous interviews. Nowadays, long after the times of his boxing excellence, Ali participates in humanitarian missions all around the globe.
Muhammad Ali is an ambitious, brave and confident person, whose personality and way of thinking are very inspiring and thought- provoking. His energy is felt in each interview he gives, his words are strong and accurate. He is worthy of being considered one of these “special” people in history, who had left their mark not only with their achievements, but with the way they accomplished them, with their character and approach they demonstrated.

Hip Hop is Not Dead

Rap is a music style with deep roots, unique traditions and cultural background. Emerging on the commercial scene less than thirty years ago, it hasn’t taken long for it to take over a big part of the music business. Nowadays, rap has its listeners, fans and performers all around the globe. People with different cultural understandings, religious beliefs, ethnical heritage listen to or perform rap music, live according to the hip hop culture. However, through the years, the hip hop culture and rap music in particular has reached very high levels of commercialism. As a result, rap has began to change in order to keep up with the immense rates of public interest. Many rap fans and artists claim that some of the new popular rap artists have “killed” hip hop, changing its content and sound, thus taking away its uniqueness. However, there is still a significant amount of new artists, who produce quality songs and help for the development and conservation of the essence of rap music.
What makes rap music so unique and popular? There are a lot of reasons for that. Rap is an extremely flexible music style, which allows a lot of space for improvisation and innovation. It is also one of the few music styles that can successfully use samples from songs of totally different styles and sounding. Based on the power of the words, rap is extremely expressive and covers a huge range of various themes, issues, emotions. This is why many people find rap music so close to themselves. A rap song can be socially directed, aggressive, relaxing, provoking; it can really be anything that the artist decides it to be.
However, there are some artists who exploit rap music and use it only as a product to sell. There is no emphasis on the sense of the lyrics, they are focused only on completely material things like money, cars, shiny watches, rims etc. There is also no emphasis on the quality of the musical part, which should only be appealing to the masses and be easy to remember. This results in the production of similar songs, with no contribution to the real rap music, which flood the radios and television. They dominate the commercial area and thus other hip hop artists who produce quality and diverse rap music receive less attention and recognition.
However, there is a positive side of the things, because there are many artists who stick to the real rap music and manage to produce quality songs and albums with significant commercial success. Some of the older rappers, the pioneers are still active and continue to produce the kind of rap, which so many people feel with their hearts and live with. So I guess that as long as there are the real artists, who preserve the real essence of rap music and hip hop culture, hip hop will never die.

The Best Things in Life

What are the best things in life? Are there universal best things or is that question absolutely individual? It might not sound serious, but I would say that both suggestions are right. However, there is a catch – there are universal best things but it depends on each person’s personal view which of these he sees and in what form.
There is a saying “the best things in life are free”, which is rather optimistic in the world we live in. However, it is very interesting to look at the situation from this point of view. It is not only interesting, this is the real, the humane way of looking at the world. Which are these free things that are so good? That is a basic question, with a basic answer, which is so hard to understand. These free things are actually within us – dreams, love, faith, friendship, honor, trust, sympathy; it’s a long list. Every person develops these virtues ever since he is born. These things can give people pure happiness, a totally non-material happiness. However, in the world we live in, there is not much space, not much time for these beautiful human abilities to develop. Nowadays the material part of the human existence prevails over the spiritual one.
This is the moment where the best things in life aren’t free no more. A common belief among people is that the best things in life can be bought with money. It may sound disturbing to some and normal to others but it is true. Ever since money have become the main source of happiness and a powerful tool for getting the best things in life, the “free” things within us were no longer seen as best. We know they exist but we don’t pay that much attention to them. Many people dedicate their lives on earning and spending money, which is not wrong; the wrong part is that most of these people forget about the virtues within them. Once a person starts finding more happiness in the material part of the world than in the spiritual, humane part, he is lost. There are no best things, there are just material substitutes which offer a temporary relief.
Surely, the purpose of the statements above is not to promote a monk-like living style and approach. In our world, money and material things in general are a source of great pleasure and joy. It is impossible to refuse them or evade them. However, we must never forget about the other side of life, the spiritual one, because it is the source of a type of happiness that is impossible to reach even with all the money in the world. There are many good things you can buy with money, many pleasurable moments you can live through with money, but what you should never forget is that the best things in life are free.