Ryan Coogler says that the decision to include Kendrick Lamar’s music in the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was born out of his love for music from the 1990s. The trailer features a mashup of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” with Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”
As for why Tems was able to land a spot, Coogler explained that they were already working with her in Nigeria and that her career has blown up as of late.
“We were taking very seriously how we would come back to audiences,” Coogler told HipHopDX. “And that trailer is that first sign of what the film is going to be and it was very important to us that we didn’t misrepresent it. You know, that we leaned into what the audiences were going to get without giving away the movie. We wanted to protect the viewing experience and I thought that a song would be a great way to do it. But I wanted to do a song in a new way.”
He continued: “We were going to Nigeria to work with Tems and her career has just skyrocketed in the last few years and we were excited about that and we thought what if we had Tems do a cover of [No Woman, No Cry]? So we met up with Tems in her hotel room in Lagos with her team and she covered the Bob beautifully with Ludwig Göransson producing and he put it together…I’ve never been prouder in my career of introducing a film to an audience in that way.”
For Kendrick Lamar, Coogler's connection was personal, recalling listening to Father MC and Jodeci's "Everythings Gonna Be Alright," as well as Naughty By Nature's “Ghetto Bastard.”
“Really the 90s is when I was really consuming music,” Coogler said. “And what I remember about the 90s is that bridge, ‘Everything is gonna be alright’ would pop back up in songs. There was Father MC with Jodeci, my parents had the CD for that, ‘Everything is gonna be alright, let the music take control.’ I remember loving that song.”
He added: “Then there was the Naughty By Nature song “Ghetto Bastard” (Everything’s Gonna Be Alright)…’ so I was thinking about how just the bridge on ‘No Woman’ translated, and that Kendrick’s ‘Alright’ was like an evolution of that bridge, but a more declarative version of it. So what if we did a direct thruline in the trailer and that’s how that idea was born.”
Coogler also recently discussed Rihanna's involvement in the soundtrack with her song, "Lift Me Up." He explained that he wanted an artist who could speak to the “feeling of motherhood.”
Check out the trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever featuring music from Kendrick Lamar and Tems below.
[Via]