At this rate, Kendrick Lamar is the King Midas of Hip-Hop: meaning that anything that he touches turns to gold. The Black Panther soundtrack is no different, as the album, curated by Lamar and Top Dawg, is an aural masterpiece. The soundtrack seems like it will tie in perfectly, which will be released on Thursday. The much anticipated album has an all star cast of artists lending their talents, which include Kendrick Lamar himself, TDE labelmates SZA, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul, as well as A-List artists such as Khalid, The Weeknd and Travi$ Scott.
It seems as though Kendrick’s purpose with the album was to make songs from the perspectives of the Black Panther himself, T’Challa, the movie’s main antagonist Killmonger, and the nation of Wakanda as a whole as well. The album starts with the Black Panther intro, and from there you go on a journey into how the movie is expected to go, giving an insight to the hero and villain’s thoughts, relationships and emotions as a whole.
What also makes this album amazing is the fact that it introduces you to artists that also effectively give a sneak peek to the movie as well. The “I don’t care” attitude of Killmonger is perfectly shown in songs “Paramedic!” by Northern California artists SOBxRBE and “Opps” by Vince Staples and Yugen Blakrok. The songs blend in with each other perfectly on the album and if the movie is as good as the songs on the album, this movie maybe the greatest grossing movie of all time.
Kendrick Lamar did a fantastic job with this album and it is pretty clear that he is the best rapper in the game right now. I personally feel that this album is better than his album “DAMN” which was released last year, and he won 5 Grammy’s for this year. After the critical acclaim of all of his albums, I believe that the conversation for the best rapper of all time has started for Lamar, and this album just further approves his greatness.
DJ SWOLE GRADE: This album will be talked about at the end of 2018 as one of the best for a reason, and may also be in the conversation for greatest movie soundtrack of all time. A+
Alex Jones is ½ of the DJ and Swole Show, which airs every Wednesday from 10 AM to 12 PM.
