With movie soundtracks taking center stage recently with movies such as Bright and Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2, the once quiet genre is finding itself a new home in 2018. The release of Black Panther The Album is an incredible feat curated by the man himself, Kendrick Lamar. Since the release of DAMN in 2017 and a slew of awards and nominations during this year’s Grammy’s, Kendrick Lamar has been seemingly unstoppable when it comes to making the highest quality of music. This month saw the release of Black Panther The Album on February 9th and the hype and praise have been growing stronger ever since.
With Kendrick Lamar at the helm of this project, his voice and style lead the way on each song and set up some insane hype songs fit for King T’Challa himself. With the album starting off with Kendrick speaking about culture and the king-lifestyle one can tell the theme of this album is exactly what Black Panther represents: culture. Black Panther is the symbol of culture in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe and has given fans a figure to believe in and represent their culture on the big screen. With a cast of almost all African-American’s, the symbolism and culture that the movie is going for is already set to satisfy, however, the album must also do the same to be worthy of the film it accompanies.
Black Panther The Album sets out to represent culture, life, and royalty in 14 songs and a length of 49 minutes, but does it meet these requirements? I’d say that the album does that exactly and that it raised the bar more than usual due to Kendrick Lamar’s creative talent and unending urge to outdo himself on each album he releases. The 14 songs that are on this album each deserve their spot as they each represent a different side of music.
This album serves as a vehicle to move the audience from hype to hope as each song shows a new side of being the Black Panther. Songs like “X” and “Paramedic” serve as bangers for the album while songs like “Bloody Waters” and “Seasons” serve to invoke the true emotion and feeling that comes with being the king of a nation. Each song is relatable and suggests that everyone has the opportunity to be the king of their own life and can lead things their way.
Overall, if you’re a fan or not of Marvel and the Black Panther film, I highly recommend this album. This album gives the people what they want: culture and quality music from the mind, heart, and soul of Kendrick Lamar himself.
I’d also like to thank fellow writer Zada for her suggestion of this article and feel free to check her site out here: Molasses.
