The film Django Unchained has set a lot of tongues wagging. The story of a freed slave who enters into an agreement to hunt down a pair of killers in exchange for the freedom of his wife, there’s obviously a lot of powder keg-type subject matter to deal with. The fact that the film is directed by Quentin Tarantino, who, despite what some would say is a deep desire to actually be black, isn’t known to handle issues like this with a ton of sensitivity, means that a lot of buttons are probably gonna be touched.
At any rate, this is the first Tarantino film in which he is actually commissioning a new soundtrack (soundtracks to previous films have been ingenious mash ups from a wide swath of musical genres.) A song by Rick Ross (which I couldn’t care less about) has already made the rounds. Next up, John Legend, who provides “Who Did That To You.”
The song is a collaboration with British producer Paul Epworth, who is best known for having co-authored Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” (a song that Legend himself covered and has performed in concert numerous times.) The result is pretty tasty, with a sound that recalls some of the best songs from Legend’s magnum opus, Once Again. Originally rumored to have an album completed and released by the end of this year, I can only assume that Legend will have product out sometime in early 2013. I’m hoping that he collaborates more with Epworth. The two definitely have some chemistry–maybe he can broker a duet with Adele? Now that would be worth checking out.
In the meantime, Django Unchained (which actually looks pretty good based on the previews I’ve seen) opens December 25th.