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Kendrick Lamar, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith & Top Dawg Entertainment To Produce Black Panther
Kendrick Lamar, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith And Top Dawg Entertainment To Produce Black Panther: The Album
Internationally-celebrated Grammy Award–winning global superstar Kendrick Lamar and Billboard Magazine’s Executive of the Year, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, are set to curate and produce “Black Panther: The Album.” The album will feature music from and inspired by Marvel Studios’ Black Panther film including the lead single, “All The Stars,” featuring Kendrick Lamar and label mate SZA, produced by Sounwave. “Black Panther” is directed by critically acclaimed filmmaker Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, among others.
Lamar and Tiffith will collaborate with Coogler directly in the creation of music specific to the needs of the film. This will mark the first time that Lamar, whom Rolling Stone dubbed “the greatest rapper alive,” will write, produce, perform and curate for a major motion picture.
This collaboration represents the first time in Marvel Cinematic Universe history that Marvel Studios will integrate multiple original recordings created specifically for the film.
Lamar was hand-picked by Coogler for this first film music collaboration. “I am honored to be working with such an incredible artist whose work has been so inspirational, and whose artistic themes align with those we explore in the film. I can’t wait for the world to hear what Kendrick and TDE have in store,” said Coogler.
Lamar added, “Marvel Studios’ Black Panther is amazing, from its cast to its director. The magnitude of this film showcases a great marriage of art and culture. I’m truly honored to contribute my knowledge of producing sound and writing music alongside Ryan and Marvel’s vision.”
Top Dawg added: “Working on such a powerful movie is a great opportunity. We’re always working on new goals at TDE, so teaming up with Disney, Marvel Studios and the Black Panther film makes perfect sense.”
Kendrick Lamar is one of the most streamed artists in the world with his latest album in excess of two billion combined streams. Fresh off his six wins at the 2017 VMAs, including Video of the Year, Best Hip Hop video, Best Cinematography, Direction, Art Direction and Visual Effects, he is regarded as one of the most important, critically acclaimed and creatively inventive artists globally.
About Kendrick Lamar:
Platinum-selling, Grammy-award winning artist Kendrick Lamar is one of the rare artists who has achieved critical and commercial success while earning the respect and support of those who inspired him. A native of Compton, California, Lamar released his debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city in October 2012 which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and earned him seven Grammy Award nominations. His second album, To Pimp a Butterfly, released in March 2015immediately earned rave reviews and topped the Billboard 200 with sales of 325,000 copies within its first week, despite it coming a week early due to a technical accident. The album garnered Lamar five Grammy nominations with a win for Best Rap Album.
On April 14 2017, Lamar released his fourth studio album, DAMN. which sold 603,300 copies in its first week, the largest first week of his career and any other release that year. The album shot directly to number one on the Billboard 200 where it remained for four consecutive weeks. Complex Magazine claimed it is his “most ambitious album to date”, NPR called it “introspective and unforgiving” and Rolling Stone named him “the most gifted rapper of a generation.”
About The Film:
Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” follows T’Challa who, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king—and Black Panther—is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people and their way of life.
“Black Panther” stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, with Angela Bassett, with Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.
The film is directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Nate Moore, Jeffrey Chernov and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole wrote the screenplay. Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” hits U.S. theaters on February 16, 2018.
South African actor Evan Hengst’s star is on the rise. His latest role is chaos-fuelled Ben in action-comedy movie ‘Novocaine’, which also stars Jack Quaid from ‘The Boys’. ‘Novocaine’ is about Nate (played by Quaid) who becomes a superhero when he uses his inability to feel pain to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend. Evan, who studied at Act Cape Town before beginning his acting career in the theatre, tells us about training for fight scenes, playing cops and robbers, and getting in the headspace of a maniac…
Tell us more about your role in ‘Novocaine’?
“Ben is a rocket-powered rage train fuelled by a love of chaos. Whatever he chooses to do, he’s going to cause as much mayhem as he can and enjoy every second of it. He’s that guy in the bar nobody wants to mess with because he’ll buy you a tequila, right before biting your ear off. Which was a joy to play, because I’m actually a big softy! I almost lost the role because I was working on three different projects at the time, so scheduling all the training and stunt rehearsals was a challenge. It’s truly miraculous how we managed to make it work out.”
What was your experience working on the film?
“Getting to work alongside such an extraordinary cast and crew was a dream come true. We were all just a bunch of kids playing cops and robbers, but with a lot more gore.”
“The directors Robert Olsen and Dan Berk cultivated such an infectious, fun and collaborative space on set from the get-go.”
“From the cast to the crew, the excitement was palpable and you could feel what we were making was going to be a really wild ride.”
What did you do to prepare for the role?
“It’s definitely the most physical role I’ve done to date and I was blessed to be given a whole team of trainers and coordinators to guide me. I annihilated so many chicken breasts to turn me into a tank, and got my ass handed to me by the stunt coordinators for a few hours each day. Lots of personal training and sparring sessions to get me moving like a fighter, and then I played video games – I played a lot of Grand Theft Auto 5 to prepare myself for robbing banks! I made this really wild playlist of country, German oompa, heavy metal and classical music to create a constant circus in my head. I also watched the movie ‘Heat’ about five times just to get a feel of the shootout scene.”
What was it like being involved in such an intense fight scene?
“‘Slow means flow’ was in my head every day for six weeks.”
“We would run through the scene meticulously piece by piece and in the end put it together like a beautiful dance.”
“It was an incredibly humbling experience to go through. My mind and body were pushed to the limit and was shown what I was truly capable of doing.”
What was your favourite moment on set?
“Being with Jack [Quaid] on his birthday. We filmed our big fight scene that day and were both exhausted between takes, but the crew got him a beautiful cake to celebrate. We both were on strict meal plans at the time and he was being extremely disciplined, but I managed to convince him to have a few slices. The satisfaction on his face was priceless.”
Who would enjoy watching this film?
“Anyone who likes action, romance and comedy with a touch of sadism and a great underdog story. For people who happen to be a bit squeamish about blood, this might cure you once and for all. Or maybe not!”
What does the future hold for you?
“I have a film coming out called ‘A Kind of Madness’, which I’m really excited about – it’s released in South Africa on 11 April. My focus is on building my career internationally and finding the right people to give me the opportunities to be a part of the stories I want to tell. I think South Africa has such untapped talent and I want the chance to show the world what we have to offer.”
‘Novocaine’ is released in US cinemas today (14 March) and is out in the UK on 28 March
Featured photo credit: Chris Pizzello, Invision
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