Hip Hop isn’t just a genre of music, it’s a lifestyle.
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If you are a fan of urban poetics, Marvel’s upcoming street-level superhero series Luke Cage should be heavy on your radar.
The series, which takes place in Harlem, is already being described as “a powerful fusion of dark drama, hip-hop, and classic superhero action.” Not only does the legacy of Notorious B.I.G have a rather inspirational role, but each episode is aptly named after a Gang Starr song.
The ’90s was a definitive era for prodigal sons and supreme lyricists. Luke Cage, the first black Marvel superhero to make the jump to live-action as a lead in his own series, is heavily influenced by East Coast hip-hop of that particular era.
You know, when rhymes and beats still reflected real-life in New York City. Let’s discuss the first reason you should be excited for Luke Cage.
Cheo Hodari Coker, showrunner, has promised to bring hip hop to the forefront of the series by “Wu-Tangifying the MCU” with Harlem’s unbreakable hero played by actor Mike Colter.
Coker is quite the hip hop legend himself – he began his career as an acclaimed music journalist with the LA Times, Spin Magazine, Rolling Stone, and of course VIBE. He was one of the only journalists to become personal friends with rap legend Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls) and was the first on the horrific scene of his prolific murder.
Coker went on to write Notorious, a biographical film based on the life and death of Biggie Smalls and later worked on the LAPD crime drama Southland. In addition to Luke Cage, his future projects include the upcoming Tupac biopic, All Eyez on Me.
In other words, if anyone is capable of properly introducing Luke Cage (a bulletproof black man) and highlighting hip hop culture in a world of predominately white superheroes, it’s Cheo Hodari Coker. He promises that the series will not be “playing it safe.”
Now, onto the second reason you should be excited for Luke Cage is the men behind the music – Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Yes, yes ya’ll! Who got the vibe it’s the Tribe y’all.
For those of you that don’t know, Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a member of the definitive ’90s hip-hop group, A Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife Dawg). Both Adrian Younge and Ali Saheen Muhammad are big names in the game, and have recently worked with groundbreaking artists like Kendrick Lamar.
Adrian Younge, a multitalented musician and producer is well-known for scoring films like Black Dynamite and his lengthy 2-part instrumental project Something About April. He’s worked with artists like The Delfonics, Ghostface Killah, and Bilal. His provocative sounds have been sampled by artists like Jay-Z, Royce da 5’9, Common, and Phryme.
They are scoring all of the music for Luke Cage using a full orchestra.
In a recently released featurette for the show, Younge explained their approach to scoring Luke Cage:
“From a musical perspective, Ali and I look at this as we’re creating 13 albums, know what I’m saying? It’s 13 episodes like 13 albums. We have music that is inspired by A Tribe Called Quest but at the same time inspired by Wu, and Ennio Morricone, and we all came together and said that we all wanted to make something great. Not just for black people or minorities, just something great, that just happens to be based on our culture. It was one of those things where I was like yo, we have a chance to make history here.”
All of this, right here, is exactly why hip hop heads should be excited for Luke Cage, coming to Netflix on September 30.
