CD Review: Black Panther: The Album Music by Various Artists

Black Panther: The Album Music
Various Artists
Interscope Records
Score: A-

The thought of having Kendrick Lamar at the helm of making an album of music from and inspired by the new Black Panther movie was exciting. Coming off of the heels of an incredible amount of hits from his critically acclaimed album Damn. the expectation was that this album would be full of hard hitting tunes.

The soundtrack however, left me wanting more. I was expecting an album of powerful, empowering, strong hits emitting the sense of revolution from the movie it’s inspired by. Sure there are standouts like “All the Stars” with Sza and “Pray for Me” with The Weeknd, but it feels like the album is missing something. I want to feel the power of Wakanda throughout, but I only get a taste of that through the song “X” or “King’s Dead.” For the most part, the album sounds like pop fused with R&B. The standout tracks are definitely the five in which Lamar are featured.

But that being said, just like the movie, maybe it wasn’t necessarily made with me in mind.

Anna Junker