Hear Kipp Stone’s “100 Black Panthers” From Ta-Nahesi Coates’ The Black Panther Comic
Author extraordinaire Ta-Nehisi Coates was tapped to script an 11-issue series of The Black Panther, Marvel’s first black superhero comic, which debuted in 1966. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet is a great read in itself, but the unofficial soundtrack of sorts featured in the recap videos for the comic should be more than an afterthought.
Artist To Watch alum Kweku Collins, femme fatale Jean Gray, and veteran Queens MC Prodigy all made solid contributions to help the illustrations jump off the page. The story follows T’Challa, the king of Wakanda, a mythical and technologically advanced African country. By day, T’Challa mediates conflicts within his nation. By night, he battles Dr. Doom. The soundtrack fittingly marries traditional African sounds and various forms of black music with the popular sonics of today’s rap scene. Cleveland MC Kipp Stone’s “100 Black Panthers” continues down that path. Stone spits pro-black rhymes over a minimal trap-leaning beat driven by beautiful piano flourishes and faint tribal chanting in the background, making for a cinematic experience. Check it out below along with the Black Panther clip it soundtracks.