Black Panther The Album Review

When choosing a person to create the soundtrack to the movie The Black Panther, Ryan Coogler had to be very picky. It is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, and after Kendrick Lamar alluded to his involvement with the album in his video for “Love,” everyone awaited some official announcement. Kendrick and Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith were chosen to curate and produce the album alongside producer Sounwave.

Coogler selected Lamar because of the themes in his music—foremost on that list: blackness as an identity, spirituality, power dynamics, self-doubt, and the onus of kingship—align with those in the film. Some of the music is from the movie, some music is merely inspired by it. Black Panther The Album is finely-tuned, aware of its audience, its objectives, and the stakes. 

This carefully curated album can stand as a piece of work on its own while working alongside the blockbuster movie, and it has a lot to do with Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick has five official features on the album, but he appears somewhere on every track. He puts his touch on every song, whether it involves only a hook or a whole verse, while the other artists bring their individual swag to each track.

The opening title track, “Black Panther,” finds Kendrick at his most explosive. The beat erupts beneath him as he draws parallels between his own internal conflict and T’Challa’s, weighing the burdens that come with being a leader of people.

“All The Stars,” upon hearing it as the first single from the soundtrack, provided a song of uplift and hope. But in relation to the entire piece of work, the song is underwhelming, honing a type of popular sound that stands as a strong single-song but not a strong song. The same rings true for the album’s finale “Pray For Me.” But Kendrick has never been the type of artist who focuses on making songs specifically radio-ready. Maybe we’ve found his Achilles’ heel.

The veteran rappers that Kendrick enlists do their job as expected, especially in songs like “X” where ScHoolboy Q and 2 Chainz’s flows compete playfully and cockily. Ab-Soul delivers some of his best raps in years on “Bloody Waters,” uncorking his signature wordplay. Jay Rock and Future slide and ride the upbeat “King’s Dead,” giving all the vibes of a super badass villain who’s side you really want to be on.

Yugen Blakrok

The Black Panther saga has strong feminist overtones – T'Challa is aided and goaded by a corps of female warriors called the Dora Milaje – and some of the strongest songs on the soundtrack shine the spotlight on women. Jorja Smith is a raspy songbird who croons out the ballad “I Am;” she is now certified famous, especially after her contributions here and to Drake’s More Life. There’s also a small violin break in this song that gives me real-life goosebumps. On “Opps” Vince Staples keeps up with and challenges Kendrick’s deadly flows, but it is Yugen Blakrok, a female MC from Johannesburg, who steals and out-lyricizes both men on the track. The sampling of this track along with the production is an earnest adaptation of the hip-hop sound with African influences. 

SOB x RBE

Kendrick’s collaboration with SOB x RBE presented their foursome to the world. “Paramedic!” brings the best aspects of West Coast rap to the forefront and shows its rough yet fun style. The ability to bring a style of rap and mix it with its originating African roots is impressive, and a task that Kendrick proved he could do. Speaking of African roots, in “Redemption,” Babes Wodumo is featured over a South African club beat called “gqom” – it’s the most upbeat song of the album and shows real authenticity.

“Seasons” is a mournful yet festive anthem that chronicles the struggles and inequalities of coming from Africa. It features California-rapper Reason (not to be confused with the South African raper that many excitedly hoped for) whose verse is reminiscent of a younger Kendrick with his story-telling style of rapping. But his verse, along with Mozzy and Sjava’s, helped to establish the common theme of the soundtrack. Within every song, whether it be chanted in the song’s hook or woven deeper in the verses, the album stands as a metaphor of the plights in the Black community that echo from the issues and sentiments from a past unknown, a past being represented with this movie.

And “Big Shots,” well, that’s just the proverbial taunting-celebratory-lap that Kendrick and Travis Scott take together. I mean, who other than Kendrick Lamar can use a refurbished hook and still make two hit songs from it? Another historical success on the books for Mr. Lamar. It’s got me amped and ready for the movie. And with some of the songs from the soundtrack being worked into the score of the film, we’ll get to see how some of the music translates directly into the movie.