Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” was featured in a recent Black Lightning trailer, and now the West Coast emcee has signed on to Black Panther. Lamar will work with Top Dawg executive Anthony Tiffith to curate and produce Black Panther: The Album. The announcement came with the release of “All the Stars” featuring Lamar and SZA.
Kendrick Lamar’s verse is noticeably less intense than we’ve seen him spit on To Pimp A Butterfly and D.A.M.N., but the sentiment of his rhymes resonate with what Black Panther may be going through at the moment.
Tell me what you gon' do to me
Confrontation ain't nothin' new to me
You can bring a bullet, bring a sword
Bring a morgue, but you can't bring the truth to me
Fuck you and all your expectations
I don't even want your congratulations
The song is actually very SZA-heavy. She carries the hook and second verse over a futuristic, vibrative beat. “This may be the night that my dreams might let me know all the stars are closer, all the stars are closer, all the stars are closer.” The very first lines of the song are about love and so is her verse, suggesting the lyrics could reflect T’Challa’s relationship with Nakia.
Skin covered with an ego
Get to talking like a end-forth, like a rebound
No control, no off switch in the way that you bringing me down
It's a turn on, get it away from me
Know you mean wrong, keep away from me
And it's all wrong, get it away from me, yeah
While the song certainly isn’t either artist’s best, it’s far better than most film soundtracks and original songs. SZA and Lamar both flirt with the pop genre and this record feels less complex and more approachable for the mainstream audience, with good reason.
“Marvel Studios’ Black Panther is amazing, from its cast to its director. The magnitude of this film showcases a great marriage of art and culture,” Lamar said in the announcement press release. “I’m truly honored to contribute my knowledge of producing sound and writing music alongside [director Ryan Coogler] and Marvel’s vision.”
It will be interesting to see what else Lamar and Top Dawg come up with, considering the television and film industry’s recent attention to musical selection and original scoring. Could this be one of the best movie soundtracks of all time? Let us know in the comments. Black Panther arrives in theaters Feb. 16.
