Black Panther: The Album – Review

By: Brandon Ben

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Twitter @brandonbenmusic

Black Panther: The Album is the soundtrack album for the new Marvel film Black Panther. This album is curated by Kendrick Lamar, thus, he is heavily prominent on the album. There are also many other artists featured on this album, many of which are from Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE for short). Interscope released this album on February 9th, 2018. Artists involved with this project include: SZA, ScHoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Khlaid, Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak, and even James Blake, among others. So, right away, I was looking forward to this release.

Confession, I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I’m really just talking about this album purely based on the music. I understand that the film itself is important, for a variety of reasons, but I think the music needs to stand on its on! First impressions, if you’re a Kendrick fan, you’ll enjoy this album for sure. It’s quite different from his other albums though, which is okay for two reasons. 1. Kendrick always creates different music and blows listeners out of the water. Kendrick always takes risks, and usually doesn’t stick with one style entirely. 2. This album is not just Kendrick, its curated by Kendrick, and its associated with the film. So, it’s important to look at this album within that context. This album is not as “hardcore” as many of his other works, but as I said, it’s understandable.

‘The Ways’ featuring Khalid and Swae Lee is a killer track. It has a pretty standard trap beat, with the smooth singing of Khalid over the top. Redemption with Babes Wodumo is an awesome track as well. The beat has a pretty solid calypso-reggaton kind of feel. But, my favorite track is Bloody Waters with Anderson. Paak, James Blake, and Ab-Soul; an unlikely group which got my very excited. This track, despite not being Kendrick, feels so Kendrick to me. Its smooth, simplistic, and of course, woke. If you examine Ab-Soul’s rhymes, he discusses the first time he witnessed a shooting.

I had to be about 9 when I first had seen it

Low lows pulled up outside of the Ralph’s

After a car show at Dominguez

They had a disagreement, they had to air out

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is no doubt that this album is impactful, especially within the context of the Black Panther movie. In conclusion, the album stands on its own and I’m sure once I see the movie it’ll be even better. Please check this thing out!