Judas and the Black Messiah will be released this Friday along with the soundtrack. The track listing has some star studded features in the likes of BJ The Chicago Kid, Masego, H.E.R, as well as a notable collaboration between Jay-Z and the late Nipsey Hussle
. Nas teamed up with producer Hit-Boy for the song ‘E.P.M.D.’ The record pays homage to the New York hip-hop duo E.P.M.D. – aka Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith – who released seven LPs between 1988 and 2008.Daniel Kaluuya recently spoke about portraying Fred Hampton, working with director Shaka King and more for Judas and the Black Messiah. The actor also addressed criticism he has faced for being a British actor portraying the late African-American activist.
“…it’s triggering for generations of African-Americans, and you have to address it, and accept it, and have the conversation, and then interrogate your reasons for doing a project, and your reasons why you’re going in, and going, ‘Do the pros outweigh the cons of it?’ And then if it does, then you move forward,” he said in an interview with Deadline
. “If you don’t, then you don’t. That’s why I don’t ignore the conversation. I try not to block it and ignore the conversation, let it flow. I just believe that we are stronger together as a diaspora. And I want to help that union, and if people don’t want to unite, then that’s what they want. I can’t force them.”Kaluuya also spoke about how he traveled to Chicago to received the Hampton family’s blessing to portray him.
Judas and the Black Messiah will be released on February 12, 2021, on HBO Max and in theaters.