The soundtrack for Jordan Peele’s next big horror film, Us, is stacked with bangers and bops, from Migos’ “Stir Fry” to Childish Gambino’s “Redbone.” It also features a healthy dose of old-school feel good songs like Nas and Lauryn Hill’s “If I Ruled the World” and a stand-out eerie remix to Luniz’ “I Got 5 On It.” Ahead of the movie’s release this weekend, Peele took over Spotify’s Film and TV Favorites playlist on Monday to school listeners on his favorite uses of music in film.
Peele’s playlist mostly features songs from 80s and 90s horror/adventure films like Beetlejuice, Silence of the Lambs, Lost Boys, Goonies, and Judgement Night. For those unfamiliar with the flicks, he sets the scene for a number of songs with some short commentary. For example, when he introduces Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat” song from Beetlejuice, he says, “It’s fitting that the apex of this bonkers ghost story involves a dinner party becoming possessed by Harry Belafonte’s ‘Banana Boat’ song just prior to the guests getting attacked by their own shrimp cocktails.”
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There are also multiple shoutouts to Spike Lee joints. Peele threw in Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” that blasts from Radio Raheem’s boombox in Do the Right Thing, and the truly majestic Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose song “Too Late to Turn Back Now” that holds down a slow-mo 70s dance party in Blackkklansman. (That last one was also kind of a nod to himself considering Peele was a producer on Blakkklansman and asked Lee to direct the film.)
Peele’s takeover is part of an Us playlist series sponsored by the movie’s distributor Universal Pictures, and it’s the first time a movie rollout has involved curated content on Spotify’s TV and Movies hub, Variety reports. As a part of the takeover, Us star Winston Duke also released a narrated “Black Boy Joy” playlist, which features artists like Joey Bada$$, Chance the Rapper, Saba, and J. Cole.
Peele’s 2017 film, Get Out, didn’t have a particularly flashy soundtrack. But having good contemporary tunes is becoming an essential hallmark of any major movie from new-school black directors. Black Panther’s star-studded soundtrack produced by Kendrick Lamar was a phenomenon on its own, bringing the music-lover excitement that’s usually reserved for prestige TV shows like Insecure or Atlanta to the big screen. And come this weekend, audiences will get to check out Peele’s twist on using popular music.
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