What Is the Song in the New ‘Black Panther’ Trailer?

Marvel’s Black Panther full trailer reveals a lot more story and mythos to the character of T’Challa/Black Panther, and his world of Wakanda, and it does so not only with visuals, but with some slick and funky musical accompaniments, as well.

The first Black Panther trailer captured the ear by dropping the bass-booming sound of “Legend Has It” by Run The Jewels, a track that had eclectic sonics to represent the nation of Wakanda, and lyrics that perfectly dovetailed the story of Black Panther and Wakanda emerging from seclusion to take a place on the world stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This Black Panther trailer employs the same strategy with great effect, using two distinct tracks:

The Spoken Word

The first part of the Black Panther trailer soundtrack is the famous spoken word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron, from 1971. 

It’s an iconic piece that became a slogan for the real-life Black Panther movement in America during the ’70s, a spoken-word poem that essentially calls for an awakening of social consciousness in African-Americans, and a turning away from the mind-numbing elements of popular-culture such as TV. 

This is an ironic choice of song and reference, considering that Marvel Comics once shied away from even using the name “Black Panther” for the character during 1972, to avoid confusion with the political group. However, Black Panther has gone on to represent a lot of struggles of race and injustice, from “Panther vs. the Klan” in the mid-’70s, to the modern comic series by acclaimed African-American author Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

Hip-Hop Flavor

Of course, Gil Scott-Heron and  “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” have also been the inspiration for so many songs and groups in hip-hop, which is why it’s only fitting that this trailer mashes the poem up with one of hip-hop’s newest stars, Vince Staples. 

The actual song in the Black Panther trailer is “BagBak” by Vince Staples, which marries futuristic-sounding techno beats with hip-hop bass, for a song about being black in modern America and trying to seize a piece of the American Dream in the midst of racism and constant threats like police shootings. Here’s a sample:

“Clap your hands if the police ever profiled
You ain’t gotta worry, don’t be scary ’cause we on now
Ain’t no gentrifying us, we finna buy the whole town”

Black Panther opens in theaters on February 16, 2018. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Thor: Ragnarok on November 2, 2017, Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.

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