For Christian Zabala, Associate Music Supervisor, his favorite album of the year was not a debut release, but rather a soundtrack. Check out his review of the Black Panther Soundtrack below!
While there are many albums that I enjoyed this year, my favorite may not be what you’d expect. It’s not an album that was a debut release (Cardi B’s album was great though!), nor was it a record that people have been waiting years for to see if it was worth the hype (I did enjoy my visits to Astroworld). Instead, I’ve chosen the Black Panther movie soundtrack. Yes, the soundtrack for the Marvel superhero movie that may very well be responsible for more representation of people of color in film moving forward (hey, Crazy Rich Asians came out this year too, it’s legit!).
Politics aside, the Black Panther soundtrack was put together by Compton native Kendrick Lamar, paying homage to the characters and the overall story of the film. This soundtrack was amazing and will hopefully make soundtracks cool again (remember Space Jam?!). The soundtrack received help from known artists like ScHoolboy Q, Travis Scott, SZA, and Anderson .Paak to newcomers like SOB X RBE, Khalid, Jorja Smith and even artists from Africa like Saudi and Yugen Blakrok. This soundtrack did a great job capturing the spirit of the film with storytelling and banging beats (listen to “Paramedic!” or “X” if you don’t believe me). It all comes together to create a sound for a film that changed the landscape of future movie making. Thank you Marvel for being you and not DC.
Artist: SOB X RBE
Track: Paramedic! (NOTE: Explicit Lyrics)
Album: Black Panther The Album (Soundtrack)
Twitter: @SOBxRBE
