Early this morning, Universal announced that Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg CEO and founder Anthony Tiffith are producing and curating the soundtrack to the forthcoming Marvel movie, Black Panther. Minutes later, the first single from Black Panther: The Album came out. “All The Stars,” which you can hear above, is another collaboration between Kendrick and his TDE labelmate SZA, though it’s not as hazy or heady as Z’s “Babylon” or CTRL’s “Doves in the Wind.”
It’s crisply produced, with a heavily modulated hook, lush strings, and a canter-pace beat. SZA’s voice is irrepressible, untethered but perfectly controlled, and no amount of polish can corrode that. And Kendrick has been bringing out his embattled inner superhero a lot lately—tell me DAMN. isn’t the soundtrack to a film about a masked and misunderstood idol—so he slots into his role pretty easily: “I hate people that feel entitled / Look at me crazy ’cause I ain’t invite you / Oh, you important? / You’re the moral to the story, you endorsing? / Motherfucker, I don’t even like you.”
Videos by VICE
Black Panther is out in theaters February 16.
Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.