Afrobeats artists dominate ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ album

Fans are eagerly anticipating the release of the second instalment of the predominantly black superhero movie, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.

Just as the black and African community is strongly represented in the cast of the movie, so is the Afrobeats genre in the recently released official soundtrack album.

The studios unveiled the album’s track lineup on Thursday. Notable Afrobeats artists including Burna Boy, Tems, Fireboy DML, Rema, Ckay, and up-and-coming Bloody Civilian will all appear on separate tracks. Tems was the first of the artists on the album to be revealed as her rendition of ‘No Woman No Cry’ was played on the official teaser trailer in August this year.

“As revealed, Burna Boy performs the track titled ‘Alone’, while Fireboy DML performs ‘Coming Back for You. In track 13, Ckay features UK singer PinkPantheress on the song ‘Anya Mmiri’ (an Igbo phrase that means tears) all of which are Produced by Afrobeats producer P.Priime”. Mavin Records and Jonzing World singer and songwriter Rema appears as a feature artist on two projects in the album ‘Wake Up’ by other Abuja-based Afrobeats singer ‘Bloody Civilian’ and ‘Pantera’ by Alemán, a Mexican rapper.

Tobe Ngigwe, an US-based rapper of Igbo Nigerian descent, and his wife F.A.T Ngigwe performs ‘They Want It, but No Performed’ on the album. “We came from nothing without no foreknowledge of the industry and how it works. We built this with God and our cousins and we made it to the Black Panther,” he said on his Instagram page.

BusinessDay had reported in February that one of Afrobeats standout moments in 2022 would include features in soundtracks of Hollywood blockbuster films like the upcoming ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.

Read also: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever set for African premiere in Nigeria on Sunday

“Recently, there seems to be responsiveness infusing afro sounds to movies, especially movies that represent black culture, although they forget that the African culture is also part of the black culture and they neglected that for a very long time. We can see that they’ve started appreciating it,” said Dayo Adedeji, a social media and brand influencer, also known as ‘Dynasty’.

In addition to the Rihanna single ‘Lift Me Up,’ the soundtrack features Future, an American rapper who peaked the Billboard Hot 100 with his song ‘Wait For U’, where he featured Tems and Drake. The music video of ‘Lift Me Up’ has so far gained over 25 million views on YouTube.

The album was produced by director Ryan Coogler, composer Ludwig Göransson, Archie Davis (chief creative officer at Def Jam), and Dave Jordan. “Ryan and I talked about the importance of creating an immersive journey of sound and voice,” Göransson said in a statement. “If we used a song in the film, we wanted it to be the entire song, and to be connected to the story. Thematically, we wanted to move the audience from grief to celebration. When you listen to the soundtrack, you can close your eyes and relive the experience of the movie. That was the intention.”

On November 11, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ opens in theatres. It’s the follow-up to ‘Black Panther’, the Oscar-nominated film directed by Ryan Coogler. The soundtrack for the 2018 movie was composed by Kendrick Lamar and included songs by Lamar, SZA, the Weeknd, Anderson.Paak, Jorja Smith, James Blake, and others.