by Bria Nelson
In February of this year, Kendrick Lamar released the highly anticipated “Black Panther” album featuring urban talents such as The Weekend, SZA, and Travis Scott along with a number of other popular hip-hop and R&B artists. South African talents such as Yugen Blakrok and Babes Wodumo are featured on the album.
The first track, titled “Black Panther” gave the album a soft and melodic—yet uniquely urban, narrative of the film’s lead protagonist, T’Challa. The song, both written and performed by Kendrick Lamar, perfectly sums up the essence of King T’Challa and his internal struggle throughout the entire film; and ultimately serves as a phenomenal build up for the rest of the album.
There are a number of other songs featured on the album like “I Am” sang by Jorja Smith; “Bloody Waters” performed by Ab-Soul, Anderson Paak, and James Blake; and “King’s Dead” performed by Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake, that display Kendrick Lamar’s artistic talents by using the perfect combination of ballads and up-tempo tracks to capture the essence of the film. This album perfectly narrates the story of Wakand and the Black Panther, while also addressing the issues facing Black America, and the Black Community as a whole.
