A great movie soundtrack can come in a variety of different forms: it could be a greatest hits collection, a musical assortment of hidden gems from your favorite artists or a personality-driven suite of songs that capture the spirit of the film it accompanies.
Taking inspiration from life and the movies themselves, Ricky Denham and I write about our five favorite movie soundtracks and the periods when they mattered most. Enjoy!
Childhood
Men In Black (1997) – John
If somebody was ever going to make a movie about my life, it would have to start in 1997. 1997 was the year I saw my first music video and bought my first album: the Men In Black soundtrack.
Before I had ever seen the film, I bought the album off the strength of its lead single which featured: (i) my favorite rapper at the time (Will Smith); (ii) backing vocals from SWV’s Coko; and (iii) a danceable groove liberally borrowed from Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots”.
Listening to Men In Black now takes me back – to the years when I was rocking a flat top and dreamed of having a pocket neuralyzer to get me out of a sticky situation.
Hearing the effortless cool of “Just Cruisin’”, the seductive slow jam of Ginuwine’s “I’m Feelin’ You” as well as debut songs from then little-known artists like Destiny’s Child and Alicia Keys reminds me of how spoiled for choice we were for quality entertainment during the ‘90s.
Men In Black: The Album may not be remembered as one of the best movie soundtracks of all time but it was important to me, a formative start to my musical journey.
Space Jam (1996) – Ricky
If you never had the experience of watching Space Jam in theaters or grew up with a VHS copy at your house (or your family member’s house), popcorn and a NERF hoop to practice on, then you haven’t lived.
The music itself felt like a playoff game against your top rival in its own right. Getting hyped by the opening title track and locking in to the heavy boom-bap posse cut “Hit ‘Em High (The Monstars’ Anthem)” felt like you were in crunch time. Those tracks made you ready to catch a body like Vince Carter off the jump while talking trash like KG. I’m still trying to figure out how Jay-Z and Bugs Bunny linked up to cook in the studio together. But this soundtrack wasn’t just about pumping up for glory. There’s a sentimental mix to calm the jitters, perfect for when you’re at the free throw line, like Monica’s heavy-hitting slow ballad “For You I Will” which provides a sweet balance to children and viewers, encouraging them to be the best version of themselves that they can be.
This is the game for all the marbles. The galaxy is on your shoulders and your teammates believe in you. The score is tied. It’s your ball. Crossover to the left. Your opponent’s ankles are in shambles. The audience gasps. You pull up with your fadeaway jumper. 3…2…1…*swish*. The crowd is overjoyed and you get to go home with another W in your hands as the space invaders get off your planet. Confetti is all over the arena, the world is chanting your name as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the rest of the Tune Squad lifts you up on their shoulders in unison like it’s a championship parade.
You keep on hearing your name but it’s actually your mom calling you back to reality. She knocks on your door and tells you to get ready for your first day of school. She’s packed your lunch and demands you to keep your Jordans clean (considering that she just bought you those from Foot Locker yesterday). You better not mess them up, otherwise you won’t be able to glide in the air like 23.
Teenage Years
8 Mile (Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture) / More Music From 8 Mile (2002) – John
You’re in the locker room. Everybody is getting dressed for the game happening in 15 minutes and it’s just you and your iPod. You cradle it as if you’re carrying the Bible and have the verses of “Lose Yourself” on repeat. As the music crescendos, you get up on your feet and jog on the spot, mimicking the movements of your favorite boxers until the drums come in and Eminem tells you that “time’s up, over, blaow”.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear to see that 8 Mile was the capstone of a blistering three-year run that hip-hop had not seen since Ice Cube went solo. It was Eminem at his creative and commercial peak.
The reason why songs like “Lose Yourself” still get quoted today is because of the vividness of its storytelling. Divorced from the film, the song still paints a picture and makes it relatable to the listener: the nerves, the pressure, the overwhelming desire to succeed.
Similar to other hip-hop movie soundtracks like Death Row’s Above The Rim, 8 Mile was an opportunity for Eminem to show off the talent on his label as well as to secure songs from other artists he respected in the industry.
The sequel soundtrack (More Music From 8 Mile) functions as a love-letter to the songs Eminem listened to as he battled his way through the rap olympics and made it to superstardom. With classic tracks like The Pharcyde’s “Runnin’”, OutKast’s “Player’s Ball” and Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones, Pt. II”, the soundtrack also served as my introduction to old-school hip-hop, a collection of songs that I devoted time to knowing inside out as I continued my musical journey.
Get Rich Or Die Tryin': Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (2005) – John
It’s hard to describe what it was like to have been alive during the G-Unit era: the sneakers, the spinning chains, the bulletproof vests. 50 Cent came into the game like a hurricane. Similar to Eminem, what 50 achieved during his initial three-year run was unbelievable. Not only for himself but for his crew.
By the time 50 Cent released the soundtrack for Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, he had the gangsta rap formula to a tee. He had the hit single, the storytelling track powered by a soulful ‘70s sample and the inevitable but catchy song for the ladies. It was a formula that worked for himself (twice), Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck and The Game – until the landscape changed and people suddenly traded in their durags and jerseys for polo shirts and shutter shades.
Goodfellas (1990) – Ricky
The gangster lifestyle is cool and smooth…in the beginning. You’re cruising in your drop-top Cadillac down a road paved in silver and gold with 8 track doo-wops in your radio system. You pride yourself as a self-made man with the right to brag about your rags-to-riches struggle to the top. Some snarky neighbors say you’re arrogant but you can’t see them beyond your sunglasses.
You gradually feen for a streetcar named desire manifested by deceit, murder and greed but you can’t handle the speed. It’s too fast. Your sweaty hands (caused by your natural nerves or the coke you consumed) can barely control the steering wheel. You swerve over potholes and drift across the New Jersey turnpike running past five red lights and almost knocking over a family of three. You don’t notice the close calls because of the guitar riffs from The Rolling Stones blaring through your stereo system and blocking out your paranoia. You knew the stakes but you sense that this good ‘ol life of yours is over. Ready to jump into the fire you prepared your sins for? Too late. A cop pulls out his gun and says “freeze”. The jig is up. People watch the cinematic depiction of your downfall and call it an ‘epic masterpiece’.
New Jack City (1991) – Ricky
This is the soundtrack for the folks that drive in the fast lane of a cold world. Where the spark of a dream can go out in a flash. Thanks to the innovative sounds of Teddy Riley and the ‘Afristocracy’ environment created by Uptown Records, there is a new soundtrack of hip-hop and R&B to enjoy the party life amidst a depressive crack era in New York City. A place where lemonade tastes like sour limes and excessive materialism outweighs the punishing cost of living.
New Jack City is a collection of records that touches on all the deadly sins as you hustle for money, power and control. Try not to rot as you give this syrupy soundtrack a sweet listen.
Adulthood
Dead Presidents, Vols. 1 & 2 (1995 / 1996) – John
It all starts with some horns. You know the ones I’m talking about. The horns at the beginning of Jay-Z’s “Can I Live”. During one of your regular deep dives on YouTube, you find out that those horns were sampled from Isaac Hayes’ “The Look Of Love” and it’s a song from a movie soundtrack named Dead Presidents.
You listen to the album and find another sample (Biggie’s “Warning” from Isaac Hayes’ “Walk On By”) and your mind slowly starts to understand the deep-rooted connection between hip-hop and soul. You find other soul songs that you grew up hearing: The Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around”, Barry White’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”, Al Green’s “Tired Of Being Alone”, and your love of music grows even deeper.
You become enamored with the way music acts as a form of time travel and how it connects people from different eras, making you nostalgic for a time you weren’t even around for.
You finish the soundtrack, desperate to press play again, until you find out that there’s a second volume and decide to listen to that instead.
Love Jones (1997) – Ricky
After thanking the most high for the morning, and later waving goodbye to it, the temperature drops to 40 degrees – blue.
You just finished writing your chapter for the day. Your landlord at your bungalow is bugging you as he increased the rent…again.
After pissing you off, you hop on your motorcycle and ride down Lake Shore Drive. It’s 7:30pm and it’s open mic night.
You see your homeboys and your homegirls again. Daps, hugs, and shit talkin’ all around. The smell of cigarette smoke and incense clouds the air looping around the venue like ribbons as the players sit in their chairs.
Groove Theory is on the jukebox. Leather jackets, black shades, berets, beads, sweaters, high heels, lockets and hoop earrings have a conversation in the background. Poets, playwrights, painters and professors mingling with musicians, dancers and filmmakers…and a couple of hustlers too.
You see your muse to your story. Her eyes pierce your heart like a razor sharp pen on a thin line of paper – leaving a permanent mark. Her image is stuck with you as she tells you that she’s a photographer and that Gordon Parks is a source of inspiration for her work. You tell her that you’re a writer and that Sonia Sanchez is a source of inspiration for your novel. You exchange numbers. Then you exchange poems and pictures. Then you exchange a range of CDs and vinyls: Duke Ellington, Kenny Lattimore, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Brand New Heavies and this new young cat named Maxwell who has been breaking through the scene with a suave flavor of his own.
The two of you share a slow dance to the music, both feeling a little sedated after smoking and sipping on a lil’ sumthin’ sumthin’. The music fades out and all you can hear are the heartbeats and deep breaths you both share. The last dance takes place between your tongues as you kiss with the rain falling down the side of your bedroom window. Is this a dream, real life or another case of you feeling down bad after rewatching Love Jones? It doesn’t matter. “Love has always had a way of having bad timing.”
Soul Food (1997) – Ricky
Don’t step on the uncracked eggshells. You’ll need that for the cornbread. Mama, grandma, and your auntie try their best to cook the dysfunctionality away, but it’s so frustrating that these hot temperatures of ego and insults keep bubbling beneath the surface – like unleaded gasoline before the fire.
You wish for your tribe to be cool like the other side of the pillow, instead of bearing trauma and devolving into total chaos like last year.
What about the children? Just like Babyface’s touch on this soundtrack, you try to do your best to curate happiness and good memories.
Can’t we just have one night where we xscape our personal problems with hysterical laughter and soul train lines? Where we pop champagne (and apple cider for the kids) instead of cussin’ out cousins leading to upper cuts?
Your kinfolk is not a paper cut where you can simply rub some alcohol and place a band-aid over the wound for two days. This is something that requires surgical procedure with regular check ups, professional therapy and prayers. A whole lotta prayers.
You can’t fix this by yourself. They gotta do the work too. But this is family business. And the food can only get y’all so far. So keep this in the family and at home. Sometimes peace means accepting the broken pieces. Practice patience and have faith that you’ll get what you’re owed in due time.
Waiting To Exhale (1995) – John
“The most disrespected person in America is a black woman”. You didn’t really understand what that phrase meant until you finished watching Waiting To Exhale.
Over the course of two hours, you saw four black women who could have been your mom, your aunt, your cousin, your sister be disrespected by men of all shapes and sizes – men who often shared the same color and shade as you.
You felt for these women and finally got the context to that gif that always made the rounds on Black Twitter. You promise to yourself that you won’t be like those men portrayed in the film and remember Whitney Houston’s call to breathe and “exhale”.
You inhale the sounds of peak ‘90s R&B as you listen to the film’s soundtrack. You marvel at how perfectly paced it is and succeeded at being an all-star, ladies-only affair. You long to hear soundtracks as good as this again as you sit up in your room, write and reminisce.
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Oh I love this soooo much! Definitely smiled the entire time reading!
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Hayes contributed to the soundtrack of the neo-noir heist film Dead Presidents, the Hughes Brothers’ follow-up to Menace II Society. Released that October, Dead Presidents featured Hayes’ classics “Walk on By” and “The Look of Love,” introducing those songs to a new generation. “We wanted to embrace, transcend and reclaim Blaxploitation while taking it to another level,” co-director/co-writer Allen Hughes said in 2021 while taking a break from shooting the Tupac Shakur documentary Dear Mama. “We needed music that captured the feel, so, when I heard those (Hayes) songs I was like, ‘Yo, this is the movie.’” https://crimereads.com/isaac-hayes-memphis-michael-gonzales/