Judas Black Messiah

'Judas and the Black Messiah' soundtrack features Jay-Z, Nipsey Hussle, Nas, Black Thought, Rakim & more

Judas Black Messiah

Judas and the Black Messiah — the Shaka King-directed film based on the FBI and Chicago Police Department’s role in the assassination of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton, with Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther, Black Mirror) as Hampton and fellow Get Out star Lakeith Stanfield (Sorry To Bother You, Atlanta, Uncut Gems) as FBI informant William O’Neal — hits HBO Max this Friday (2/12), and the very cool looking tracklist for the soundtrack has been revealed.

It includes a collaboration between Jay-Z and the late Nipsey Hussle, as well as collaborations from Smino and Saba, and Masego, JID, and Rapsody, plus songs by Nas, Black Thought, Rakim, A$AP Rocky, Lil Durk, BJ the Chicago Kid, G Herbo, Pooh Shiesty, Polo G, SiR, and more. The first single is H.E.R.‘s recently released, Civil Rights-era psychedelic soul-inspired “Fight For You,” which you can stream below, alongside the full tracklist.

Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield recently spoke to CNN about the film:

“This film and what what Chairman Fred said and what the Black Panther Party stood for is able to articulate how a lot of people feel in this current moment,” [Kaluuya] said. “I feel last year, after the murders of George Floyd and Breeona Taylor, there was a lot of feeling.”

“And I remember Shaka [King, the movie’s director] speaking to the rest of the class, thinking, wow, like these guys said exactly what was happening right now,” Kaluuya added. “Not only did they say it, but they had strategies and plans to help combat and to help deal with things and help empower people for themselves.”

Kaluuya spoke to E Online about portraying Fred Hampton as well:

I feel that the villainization of the Black Panther Party had nothing to do with the truth. It was to do with how they’re perceived, not how they feel about themselves and how they feel about people around them is how I felt about it. For me, the dignity of the man, the elegance of the man, this is who he was. This is the truth. This is what it is, you know? That’s the importance of narratives being from an empathetic perspective, that eye that understands that point of view, that understands that way of life. And so, I saw it as an incredible opportunity to be a vessel for that and to serve that and to understand, I’m going to look with the Black Panther Party not at the Black Panther Party. Because the people that look at the Black Panther Party were the people that wanted to annihilate the Black Panther Party.

[…] I did this for Chairman Fred, to serve chairman and be invested with Chairman Fred and to get this story out, to get this narrative out, to get these ideas out.

Fred Hampton’s son Fred Hampton Jr was also interviewed by E about what it was like to watch his parents’ legacy in the film, and he said, “It’s inspiring, because so many people were told don’t talk about this or whisper this and speak in coded conversations.”

Judas Black Messiah

Judas Black Messiah

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