The American Music Awards are an institution. This year several prominent artists have contributed to the soundtrack for Black Panther. This includes Kendrick Lamar and SZA. They’re both nominated individually for “Artist of the Year” and together for “Collaboration of the Year.” The Weeknd, who collaborated with Lamar, is nominated for “Favorite Male Pop Artist.”
The film’s director, Ryan Coogler, had originally intended for Kendrick Lamar to contribute just one song to the Black Panther soundtrack.
In an interview with LeBron James for Interview magazine, Coogler disclosed that much to the director’s (pleasant) surprise, the Compton rap artist decided to record an entire album for the Marvel blockbuster after being asked to contribute just one track.
“There were a few moments where I’d be like, ‘Oh man, this sh-t is getting crazy,’” he said while reflecting on the hit 2018 film. “For instance, Kendrick was supposed to do a song, so he and Dave Free came by and watched a bit of footage, and then bounced.
“Then a few weeks later they hit me back like, ‘Hey man, come listen to the music,’ and they had a whole damn album.”
“Each song had a reference to the movie,” Coogler added. “I’m like, ‘Man, this n-gga just wrote this.’ And then on set, Chadwick [Boseman] was doing incredible work every day, Mike was doing incredible work every day, but I couldn’t appreciate the moment.”
The filmmaker previously described how Kendrick became involved with the soundtrack for Black Panther. He is currently promoting his highly acclaimed new film, Sinners.
“I’ve been a massive Kendrick fan ever since I first heard him, since his mixtapes, and I’ve been trying to track him down,” he told NPR in 2018. “Eventually I caught up with him a couple years ago — first with Anthony ‘Top Dawg’ Tiffith, who runs his label, and then later on sat down with him and Kendrick and just spoke about much his music affected me.
“He talked about my movies that he had seen, and we said if the opportunity comes, we’d love to work with each other on something.”
“To Marvel’s credit, they really supported the idea of getting some songs from him,” Coogler added. “At first, he was just going to do a few songs for the film, and then he came in and watched quite a bit of the movie, and the next thing I know, they were booking a studio and they were going at it.”
In addition to curating the Black Panther soundtrack, Kendrick provided vocals for all 14 tracks on the album.
In addition to featuring cameos by artists like Future, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, SZA, and 2 Chainz, it gave birth to singles like “All the Stars,” “King’s Dead,” and “Pray For Me.”
Lamar has been featured in multiple Marvel projects. His song “Backseat Freestyle” appears in the “You’re a Winner!” episode of Jessica Jones. His song “Alright” appears in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever teaser video.
In the Captain America: Brave New World trailer, his song “N95” is played and his song “i” appears throughout the credits.
The BleauLive Theater in Las Vegas will host the 51st Annual American Music Awards on May 26, 2025. Jennifer Lopez will host the ceremony, which will be televised on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.
Do you think Lamar deserves his awards this year? Did you like his Black Panther album? Let us know in the comments below!
(Via (Interview Magazine, NPR)
