The wait is finally over. Beginning with Iron Man , Marvel Studio’s 18th film — ten years later — the first black superhero gets its own film. Prior to the movie release, Kendrick Lamar produced: Black Panther: The Album that includes tracks in the film, as well as tracks that were inspired by the film. The album features various famous artists like Kendrick Lamar himself, SZA, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Khalid, and others.
The Album
Kendrick Lamar is a very well known artist that recently received 4 grammys, including Best Rap Album for “DAMN”, and Best Rap Song “HUMBLE.” Kendrick Lamar hinted that he was involved in the making of the “Black Panther” album when he released his music video for the song “LOVE.” in Dec. of 2017.
Finally, on February 9th, Kendrick Lamar dropped the album, and the world went wild. The album has tracks from Hip-Hop to R&B to Hip-Hop mixed with some Afrobeats. One of the most important things about this album is that it is NOT a soundtrack to the movie. After watching the film, I can say that the album does not have a big impact to the plot but it is definitely another work of art made by the artists present in it.
The Film
“Black Panther” tells the story of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who returns home to take the throne has the King of Wakanda after his father’s death, T’Chaka (John Kani). The cast features A-list actors such as Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Forest Whitaker, and more.
From the special effects to the costume design, this film is genuinely beautiful. The Black Panther is the richest superhero present in the Marvel Universe, and you can definitely see that by all the different technology that was present in Wakanda. Besides all the technical features and storytelling techniques that the film uses and thrives, people who have not seen any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films can watch “Black Panther” without prior knowledge.
As an Angolan woman, I went into this movie theater expecting the correct representation, and I can say that we got it. As I make my way into the movie theater, I noticed that the crowd was filled with people wearing traditional african clothes from dashikis to headwraps, including myself. For some, it is too much, but for me, that is what I call a revolution. The generation that is growing up watching this film, are seeing themselves represented on screen which is something that I did not have when I was younger.
You must watch this movie as soon as possible, and yes, you must watch it in a movie theater to get the full experience or you will be missing out.
Black Panther smashed box office records as it made $214 million in it’s first four days, it surpassed Justice League in sales and received an A+ Cinema Score – second to Marvel’s The Avengers.
