Liberace invented rap

Below is some footage of young Cassius with Liberace on the Jack Paar Tonight Show. It was in February of 1964, on the eve of the first Clay/Liston fight. While Liberace plays piano, Clay recites this poem:

This is the legend of Cassius Clay
The most beautiful fighter in the world in the world today
He talks a great deal and brags indeedy
Of a muscular punch that’s incredibly speedy
The fistic world was dull and weary
With a champ like Liston things had to be dreary
Then someone with color, someone with dash
Brought fight fans a-runnin with cash
This brash boxer is something to see
And the heavyweight championship is his desitiny
This kid fights great, he’s got speed and endurance
But if you decide to fight him… increase your insurance
This kid’s got a left, this kid’s got a right
And if he hits you once you’re asleep for the night
And as you lie on the floor while the ref counts ten
You pray that you won’t have to fight me again
For I’m the man this poem is about
The next champ of the world there isn’t a doubt
Here I predict and I know the score
I’ll be champ of the world in sixty-four
If Cassius says a mosquito can pull a plow
Don’t ask how…
Hitch him up!

As Ali poems go, it's a winner, and yet somehow for me Liberace upstages him right at the beginning. He's telling Clay to recite something and he'll play in the background, and then he adds as a perfect throwaway, "For a change, do the one about you."

All right, Liberace... you win this round...