JAY-Z has returned with new music courtesy of the soundtrack to The Harder They Fall, an all-black Netflix Western movie starring Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regina King and more. Released via Hov’s Roc Nation imprint, the companion album contains two new songs from the Brooklyn rap icon that find him reuniting with a couple of old friends.
“Dot seventeen with the switch, it’ll change you/Mama always said, ‘You was an angel’/Papa got ghost but these doors, he never came through/He got ghost but those walls, he never came through,” Jay-Z raps, fusing his East Coast upbringing with the Western theme.
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Over a decade after linking up on The Blueprint 3‘s “Already Home,” JAY-Z gets back in the saddle with Kid Cudi on “Guns Go Bang.” Featuring cinematic production and gunshot sound effects, the track pairs Cudi’s soaring vocals with a short but sweet verse from S. Carter. Meanwhile, “King Kong Riddim” is sure to whet the appetite of any rap head as it finds JAY-Z trading verses with the resurgent Jadakiss and Griselda goon Conway The Machine. In between a chest-pounding hook from rising London rapper BackRoad Gee, the Empire State trio take turns over the bruising, bare-bones beat.
The Harder They Fall soundtrack also features original music from Lauryn Hill and CeeLo Green, as well as British singer Laura Mvula and Jamaican reggae stars Barrington Levy and Koffee. The movie premieres on Netflix on November 3. Stream the soundtrack below.