Q-Tip Is Writing Music For A Muhammad Ali Broadway Musical

It must take a whole lot of confidence to even imagine a Broadway musical about the life of Muhammad Ali. But right now, the team behind the forthcoming production Ali has one good reason to be confident: Q-Tip, one of the all-time great rappers and producers, is getting involved in the project. The former leader of A Tribe Called Quest has joined the production as music producer and co-lyricist, and he’ll also produce the cast album.
On Ali, Q-Tip is working with composer Teddy Abrams, the music director of the Louisville Orchestra. In 2017, Abrams wrote what Deadline calls a “multimedia opera-rap-oratorio mashup” about Muhammad Ali. The team behind Ali also includes producer Richard Willis and director/book writer Clint Dyer. Saxophonist Casey Benjamin, formerly of the Robert Glasper Experiment, will serve as associate music producer.

In a press release, Q-Tip says, “I am very excited to be collaborating with Teddy, Clint, Casey and Sean in telling the Greatest’s story on stage. Muhammad Ali has always been a hero to me!” According to Deadline, Richard Willis claims that the show “will combine spoken word, verse, classical music and poetry, rap and hip-hop.” Willis also drops a nugget about a forthcoming Q-Tip album:

Q-Tip produces songs and albums for a massive audience so he knows how to do that thing that’s slightly different than what normal musical theater is. So we tip it and make it original and fresh and new and hummable… We’ll use his hip-hop beats, and his talents will be used in other areas as well. This show’s covering a lot of areas of music, and we’ll exhaust all of Q-Tip’s knowledge. You’ve got to remember that Q-Tip’s into all kinds of music, not just jazz and hip-hop. For instance, his next album is all rock ‘n’ roll, so hold on. Let’s see what he comes up with for Ali!

The idea of a Q-Tip rock album is fun, but new of any Q-Tip album should be taken with a grain of salt. Q-Tip hasn’t released a solo album since 2009. In 2020, Q-Tip teased plans to release three albums by the end of the year; none of them ever came out. He’s apparently already working closely with his Ali collaborators, though.

Ali plans to debut in Louisville, Muhammad Ali’s hometown, in fall 2024. Deadline reports that it’s likely to open on Broadway in 2025.