Redemption

Album: Black Panther: The Album (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • South African gqom singer Babes Wodumo croons the first verse of this song recorded for the Black Panther soundtrack album. She is joined by Zacari and an uncredited Kendrick Lamar (who curated the soundtrack) on the tune. The latter pair previously teamed up on DAMN. for the hit tune, "LOVE."
  • Gqom is a rough-edged, minimal form of house music that emerged early in the 2010s from Wodumo's South African home city of Durban. She told Billboard that the collaboration came completely out of the blue.

    "I was so surprised," she said. "I'm a girl from Africa. My genre is gqom music. They call me gqom queen. I was too shocked. Kendrick Lamar and me? Hip-hop and gqom?! What? I'm so happy. It's such a privilege and an honor."
  • When Kendrick Lamar's people sent Wodumo the drum-laden beat she knew she had to do some research. "I didn't know about the movie or anything," the South African singer said. "I didn't know anything. They told me it was about Black Panther. Like, I didn't know. On Thursday, I'm gonna view it. I was like, 'Aye man. Why me?' I think it was favor from God. I think God chose me. Of all people in Africa, of all girls in Africa, he chose me. That makes me want to rejoice and want to say, 'Thank you God' and praise him every day."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Tommy James

Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews

"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

David Gray

David GraySongwriter Interviews

David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.