Luke Cage | |||||
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Soundtrack album by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad |
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Released | October 7, 2016 | ||||
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Length | 1:35:09 | ||||
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Marvel Cinematic Universe soundtrack chronology | |||||
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Luke Cage (Original Soundtrack Album) is the soundtrack album to the 2016 first season of the web television series Luke Cage, featuring music composed by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The soundtrack was released on October 7, 2016, digitally and with a vinyl release by Mondo.
Younge and Muhammad were asked to join the series by showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, and strove to write a score inspired by hip hop. They were given a full orchestra to record the score with. In addition to their music, the soundtrack includes songs from various artists that gave onscreen performances during the season, including the original song "Bulletproof Love" featuring Method Man, which was also released before the album as a single.
In April 2016, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker revealed that Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad were composing the series' score, describing it as "a '90s hip-hop vibe" with "a lot of different musical appearances". Younge and Muhammad spotted each episode together with the episode's director, then went off and worked on certain cues each, though the two did work on some cues together.Marvel Television, Netflix, and ABC were extremely supportive of Younge and Muhammad's artistic process after hearing their first work for the series (the duo started by composing the bookending music of the second episode), always asking them to "push" the sound of the score as far as they could, and allowing them the use of a full, 30-piece orchestra for recording. The score was orchestrated and conducted by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and recorded and mixed at Raphael Saadiq's studio.
The series features onscreen performances by various artists, which Coker wanted to use to help capture the vibe of the neighborhood. Several of these songs are included on the soundtrack album, including the single "Bulletproof Love", featuring Method Man, an original rap song featured in the episode "Soliloquy of Chaos". The track was arranged by Younge and Muhammad, and includes much of the socio-political commentary that showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker wished to convey throughout the series. The track "Requiem for Phife", which is used in one of the biggest scenes of the series, was written by Muhammad as a tribute to his fellow A Tribe Called Quest member Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor, who died while Muhammad was working on the score.