Although we will have to wait a bit more for Marvel’s upcoming hit Black Panther to hit the theaters, the movie’s soundtrack is already here. Officially titled Black Panther The Album: Music From And Inspired By, the soundtrack was produced and curated by rapper Kendrick Lamar, who is also featured on five of the 14 songs. Upon its release, Lamar shared the streaming link and the artwork for the soundtrack on his Twitter profile.
https://t.co/v1K8meoDX8 pic.twitter.com/m1uqjPJimj
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) February 9, 2018
Besides Kendrick Lamar, the soundtrack features numerous other artists including SZA, Travis Scott, Mozzy, Zacari, ScHoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Jay Rock, Future, the Weeknd, Vince Staples, James Blake, Khalid, Swae Lee, and Ab-Soul among others.
Kendrick Lamar was hand-picked by Black Panther’s director Ryan Coogler to be the producer of the soundtrack. Although Lamar initially intended to do just a couple of songs for Black Panther’s soundtrack, he changed his decision after watching the majority of the movie and decided to do a full album. The 30-year-old rapper started working on the ideas for the songs during his Damn Tour, and proceeded with the work in late 2017.
The first single from the album, titled “All the Stars“ and featuring SZA, was released in January 2018 and met with generally positive reviews from the critics. Two more songs, “King’s Dead” (featuring Lamar, Jay Rock, Future and James Blake) and “Pray for Me” (featuring Lamar and The Weeknd) followed soon, meeting with a similar response.
The movie Black Panther is set for release in the United States on February 16, 2018.
