Off the back of being complimented by Quincy Jones (film-scoring royalty, himself) Kendrick Lamar has once again proven he’s more than just a dope rapper and producer – collating a fire-on-absolute-fire soundtrack for Marvel’s Black Panther.
Kendrick and Top Dawg Entertainment dropped Black Panther: The Album late last week, providing us mere mortals with an insight into the music inspired by quite possibly the most powerful Marvel film to date.
King Kendrick kicks off the album with the wild titular track ‘Black Panther’, before leading into his ultra-catchy ‘All The Stars’ with SZA’s uplifting vocals dishing up the ultimate intro to a soundtrack of superhuman proportions. Straight into SchoolboyQ and 2Chain’s ‘X’ – be ready to dodge a fiery onslaught of spit-takingly savage rhymes – before slipping back into the false sense of serenity that Khalid and Swae Lee serve up in ‘The Ways’.
I could go on for the entire album, but honestly – just give it a red hot listen yourself. I will, however, give special mention to Vince Staples’ ‘Opps’, and Zacari’s ‘Redemption (with Babes Wodumo)’.
Call me clinically insane – hell, I’m expecting a deluge of comments below saying ‘Is this chick for real? Does she have rocks in her ears?’ – but I’m sticking to my guns on the Kendrick and Quincy comparison. Kendrick has proven time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with, both into the mic, and perched behind the proverbial glass window. His stats don’t lie, and if (arguably) the top-performing artist of our present can chuck another slash on his resume (on pure merit, too!) then we’re excited to see what the future of film music holds.
And if Kendrick is up for an almighty tea-spilling interview à la Mr. Jones when he’s eighty-five odd, then we’re totally here for that too.
Listen to the soundtrack below, and let us know what your favourite track is!
