“Batman,” the soundtrack that Prince created to accompany Tim Burton’s 1989 film, is the only movie soundtrack I had ever enjoyed listening to — that is, until the soundtrack to “Black Panther” came out.

Years after I had already fallen in love with the “Batman” soundtrack, I learned that both Tim Burton and executives at Warner Bros. Studios were fans of Prince and wanted him to be involved with the music from the very beginning. They invited Prince to a private preview screening, and he was able to conceive a 10-track album after seeing a third of the full movie.

The soundtrack to “Black Panther” came about in a similar way when Ryan Coogler, the movies director, got support from Marvel to reach out to Lamar. In an interview with NPR, Coogler said that Lamar was invited to a screening of the movie with the intent of only inspiring a few songs, according to Coogler.

Thank God it became so much more. Lamar became the curator of an entire soundtrack.

Story continues below

In the opening track, Kendrick Lamar adopts the persona of T’Challa, the current alter-ego of Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman. Lamar raps about inheriting the Black Panther mantle over the sparse plucking of a piano and touches on many of the themes we’ve heard in his previous albums.

He emphasizes the importance of activism and bringing people together while drawing parallels to being appointed as the new “king”— of both rap and Black Panther’s fictional country, Wakanda.

The hopeful tone is a stark contrast to the grit of Lamar’s second verse on “King’s Dead” in which he speaks from the perspective of Erik Killmonger, a villian from Black Panther and one of T’Challa’s greatest rivals, played by Michael B. Jordan.

Lamar spits about taking the throne from T’Challa and reiterates the themes of guilt and self-importance heard in “DAMN.,” all over harsh 808s, gunshots and samples of cars peeling out.

Lamar doesn’t steal the show all for himself. Contributions by TDE labelmate SZA on “All the Stars” provide a catchy, melodic hook that shows off SZA and Lamar’s musical chemistry.

The soundtrack also presents a first-time collaboration by Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak, and James Blake. “Bloody Waters” fuses the styles of all three artists and creates a unique sound that’s familiar, but also offers a lot of surprises and subtle nuances that’ll keep you engaged during the entirety of the track.

Sacramento-native Mozzy even makes an appearance with “Seasons.” Accompanied by  Reason and South African artist Sjava, Mozzy creates an anthem that reflects on the inequalities that people of color in the United States face and describes how Wakanda is often generalized, and therefore marginalized, as a third world country despite being unfathomably wealthy.

This soundtrack doesn’t just shine because of the acts associated with it. It’s so good because it does what many soundtracks fail to do — it incorporates the plot and characters of the film without depending on them. It tells its own narrative by drawing from both the movie and the reality of the artists involved.

The “Black Panther” film is expected to pull some impressive numbers at the box office during its opening weekend.

Because of the expertise of Kendrick Lamar and a variety of radio-ready tracks, the soundtrack is likely to top the charts as well.