As the Swedish composer's third collaboration with director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan, Ludwig Göransson's original score for Marvel's Black Panther was also his most adventurous and cross-cultural to date. Pushed by Coogler to utilize as much traditional African music as possible, Göransson traveled to the International Library of African Music in Grahamstown, South Africa, where he collected hundreds of sounds that would find their way into the score (such as the tambin flute that was central to Killmonger's recurring theme). Göransson also recruited Senagalese singer Baaba Maal, whose haunting vocals appear throughout the album, most prominently on the grand anthem "Wakanda" and the moving "A King's Sunset." Throughout, tribal chants, a crew of percussionists, and a 40-person Xhosa choir collided with American hip-hop trap beats and Western string orchestration, supporting the multicultural sound of the fictional kingdom of Wakanda, especially on standout moments like "Killmonger's Challenge" and "United Nations/End Titles." Motifs from the triumphant score also found their way onto the Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack, like on the Jay Rock single, "King's Dead," which shared vocal samples with the exhilarating "Casino Brawl." In the same week that the soundtrack topped the charts, the score also landed in the Top 100. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

After the death of his father, T'Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T'Challa's mettle as king -- and as Black Panther -- gets tested when he's drawn into a 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.

Format: Vinyl Official Film Score Original Motion Picture Score

TRACKS

A1 Wakanda
A2 Warrior Falls
A3 Waterfall Fight
A4 Ancestral Plane
A5 Killmonger
A6 Casino Brawl
A7 Busan Car Chase
B1 Killmonger's Challenge
B2 Killmonger Vs T'Challa
B3 Burn It All
B4 The Great Mound Battle
B5 Glory To Bast
B6 A King's Sunset