Heroes for Hire
Various Artists (Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad) – Luke Cage
Marvel, Netflix – D002532221
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Limited Edition, US, 19 Jul 2017
Info
A few days ago, I was listening to a member of the union jump into an important discussion at a training I attended. He made some really thoughtful points, but in the middle of his comment he mentioned Luke Cage. Right away he paused to explain to everyone: "Sorry. Luke Cage was a comic book reference if that didn't make sense." Well, apparently we live a world right now where a good number of union members sitting in a meeting not only know who Luke Cage is, but have opinions on where he would stand on police, black lives matter, and union struggles. (The consensus, by the way, among people I spoke to was that he would clearly be on our side.)
Ten years ago, if you had told me that one day there would be a Luke Cage TV show and that it would actually be good, I'd have been skeptical. If you said that the show would have something to say about racism in America or that it's politics would be good enough that you wouldn't have to feel like an idiot watching a series about a Black superhero called "Power Man," I would have rolled my eyes. And if you threw in that first episode would open with a Raphael Saadiq performance or that every episode would be named after different Gang Starr songs, I would have definitely known that you were just effing with me. "Come on. That's something I would make up! Next you're gonna tell me that Marvel's hiring Ta-Nehisi Coates to write Black Panther and Captain America or something."
It's a strange world.
Music was a major part of Netflix's Luke Cage series. The Hero For Hire not only met a member of the Wu-Tang Clan (who then raps about him in a key scene), but Netflix hired two brilliant musicians to score the soundtrack: LA composer and producer Adrian Younge (whose soul, hip-hop and jazz records pull heavily from film scores and '70s R&B) and the great Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest and Lucy Pearl). A nightclub, Harlem's Paradise, is a regular backdrop for the story and features old school soul and classic hip-hop artists performing in almost every episode. Two seasons of Luke Cage also left us with two excellent soundtrack albums, filled almost entirely with Younge and Muhammad's instrumental score. (Maybe I'll get to those records for this project sometime?)
Today's record is a bit of an oddity: a 7" single, released in 2017 as a novelty set of Marvel's Defenders records sold online- a "Disney Music Emporium Exclusive" according to the ugly silver sticker on the front of the record. Inside though, you get Method Man's Bulletproof Love, a two minute Johnny Blaze rap ode to Luke Cage over a great beat by Muhammad and Younge. (That bassline!) The backstory: In the show, Luke saves the rapper from getting robbed and they trade hoodies after recognizing each other. Meth meets Sway at the radio studio and spits this song to rally the hood to Luke's defense as the cops are after him for a crime he didn't commit. From the song:
Power to the people and Luke Cage's the cause
And the cops got it wrong, we don't think Cage involved
Look, dog, a hero, I never had one
Already took Malcolm and Martin, this is the last one
I beg your pardon, somebody pulling a fast one
Now we got a hero for hire and he's a Black one
And bullet-hole hoodies is the fashion
We in Harlem's Paradise, tell the Captain
That I'm about to trade the mic for a Magnum
Give up my life for Trayvon to have one
You can't make this up. Wu-Tang meets Power Man in a Black Lives Matter superhero hip-hop track. Like I said, I wouldn't have believed it.
The B side is a gem too. Faith Evans performs Mesmerized in Harlem's Paradise, where a crowned portrait of her late husband prominently hangs in club owner's office. She was reportedly told by Ali Shaheed Muhammad that she couldn't just do her scene performing over the 2005 hit recording, but had to record a new version of the track with him and Adrian Younge. Lucky for us, but as far as I know, the only place that recording slipped out into the world (besides watching the episode on Netflix) is on this mail order Disney record. Again, it's a strange world. (And I had forgotten how good this song is, with Evans giving a quality swing at '60s soul.)
The record was especially noisy on the Faith Evans cut. I did my best to remove clicks, especially in the quiet parts, but you'll notice a few deep knocks from flaws in the record that were impossible (or would take too much work) to fix. But shitty modern vinyl pressings aside, turn this one up and enjoy it.
Tracklist
A Method Man - Bulletproof Love
B Faith Evans - Mesmerized
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https://mega.nz/file/YPQjxQzT#FkWDnZSgOwo9Wi5vKM5Yj6kBhthEHxYjMt15hs39FKs
I mean that real thing in MP3 (stream or download):
https://mega.nz/folder/dWZHXSYI#cdDlhkW8aeRsr0U0XRShFg
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