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| Courtesy of Bryan Underwood |
My life is like a
movie, changing roles whatever suits me, Champaign acts cameras snap, I’m just
like you kid... (Defmatic, Movie 2009)
How many of you are as excited about the coming Black
Panther movie as I am. If there’s one marvel character who I feel was deserving
of a proper origin story it would have to be the Black Panther. What’s got me
even more excited about this coming film is that our very own Lupita Nyong’o
will be staring in it as Nakia, who according to the marvel comic franchise,
was in an order groomed as one who the Black Panther would chose as a mate.
This movie is significant for two reasons; one it was the
first marvel black superhero comic character, and two the movie will feature
mostly a black cast and that’s huge from a Hip Hop stand point. Ask any Hip Hop
head and they’ll tell you that movies play a big role in the genre. I dare you,
grab any album and tell me if you don’t notice a reference to a movie or an
attribution towards a movie character in the lyrics.
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| 761 Black Panther's Insignia |
Although marvel’s Black Panther predates the civil rights African
American Black Panthers movement that was formed in 1966, they both drew
inspiration from the 1940’s 761 tank battalion of the United States armed
forces who were nicknamed the black panthers. The battalion was primarily made
up of African American soldiers who at the time were battling racial tension while
fighting for a country they were segregated by.
Okay so what does all that have to do with Hip Hop music?
Well, like I said, rappers usually tend to draw their inspiration from movies.
For example, one of the most successful rap groups in history the Wu Tang Clan
has been known to sample Chinese martial arts movies in their songs. It wasn’t
a common trend in the 90’s but they made that technique and style popular. Even
one of its members Ghostface Killah sometimes goes by an alter ego; Tony Stark
aka Iron man who also happens to be a marvel character.
It’s been a common trend for some rappers to pick up a super
human alter ego. Sometimes the rapper is a powerful villain; other times they
are super powered heroes raining divine justice on their foes and criminals at
large. In their songs the artist is free to be both the director and leading
character (depending on the subject matter) and take the audience through their
vivid tales. Some rappers are so gifted at storytelling that critics have even
claimed that visually their songs come across as short films.
So influential is music that an artist The Weeknd is
partnering with marvel comics to bring to life a new character influenced by
his 2016 album star boy, which I feel they should have credited Nigeria’s WizKid for being the first to popularize the term, but hey it is what it is.
Moreover you can’t beat the amazing Hip Hop movie soundtracks that come with
action films. The most famous one being Will Smith’s the Wild Wild West from
the 1999 film of the same name.
Naturally music and films have had a great relationship over
the years, with movies relying on music to set the tone for a film and
likewise, music drawing inspiration from films. So let’s sit back and wait to see
what the Black Panther has in store for us, because…
“Only YOU can decide
what kind of king you want to be” Nakia (to T’challa).
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