By Liz Hammond, Digital Media Editor
Every issue I present to you all the best music from week to week and I would be lying if I didn’t mention “Black Panther: The Album.”
The album debuted at number one and currently has eight of 14 songs charted on the top 100.
Don’t be confused: yes, this was a collaborative album, but Kendrick Lamar is running the show. Doesn’t matter if he was credited or not, there was an ad-lib from him on nearly every track. But the genius behind it all included Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.
When Kendrick went to South Africa in 2014, he was presented with an inconsistency: he had just released “good kid, m.A.A.d city,” which brought worldwide success. He was still grappling with the desire to remain true to his Compton roots, while reaching new heights.
With this collaborative effort Kendrick was able to do just that and managed to change the way that people look at the relationship between a movie and the soundtrack.
Which, this is not surprising at all once you finish your first listen through. The opening song, “Black Panther,” appropriately titled, started out slow, but it did start out the album right.
With the lyrics, “King’s did it, king’s vision, Black Panther/King Kendrick/All hail the king,” I can’t tell if Kendrick meant that he was the king or T’Challa was, but either way, I was into it.
The next song, “All the Stars,” by Kendrick and SZA, was the first single released from the album.
This blew up and was at the top of every chart. Did it deserve it? No. Was it the best collaboration from the two of them? No. Was it catchy? Yes. In the end, that’s really all that mattered.
One song to keep on your playlist would be “The Ways,” which is by Khalid and Sway Lee: a magical pairing that not even I was ready for. Their smooth R&B sounds really make this a standout song compared to the rest of the star-studded album.
Another would be “I Am” by Jorja Smith. In all ways, this song is a ballad and I wouldn’t want to hear anyone else’s raspy tone on this song except hers.
“Paramedic!” has some of the best production on the album. The song is backed by DJ Dahi & CuBeatz, who are led by up-and-coming group SOB x RBE. This song is coldblooded and they don’t care what you have to say about it.
On the song “X,” Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz and Saudi come together.
Like most of the other songs on this album, it’s Kendrick’s lines that keeps the song afloat. His voice on every chorus line saying, “Are you on 10 yet?” leaves one consistency that gets stuck in my
head almost every time.
Other songs on the album include “Opps” performed by Vince Staples and Yugen Blakrok, “Bloody Waters” performed by Ab-Soul, Anderson Paak and James Blake, “King’s Dead” performed by Jay Rock, Kendrick, Future and James Blake, “Redemption Interlude,” “Redemption” performed by Zacari and Babes Wodumo, “Seasons” performed by Mozzy, Sjava and Reason, “Big Shot” performed by Kendrick and Travis Scott and “Pray for Me” performed by The Weeknd and Kendrick.
It’s clear across the board that this album would be nothing without Kendrick as the curator behind everything. He isn’t just the solo artist that is making an album for his own involvement, but this feels like something bigger than himself.
There was one of two ways that this could’ve gone. With the movie making such a splash, I see why Coogler would reach out to Kendrick. It was Coogler’s goal to have Kenya and South Africa translate on-screen and within the soundtrack. Kendrick then went above and beyond with who he had collaboration on this album.
This the best collaborative effort I have seen on an album in awhile. Not only did Kendrick embody the movie itself, but also somehow embodied what this movie was made for. It will be interesting to see if this happens more often.