Ghostface Killah - Malcolm
Arguably the best song off Supreme Clientele, it’s the perfect song for the initial scenes of the great, unmade blaxploitation thriller. The opening bars have the protagonist leaving his Brooklyn apartment, hopping on a dusky, skeletal subway car all while clutching a small package underneath his jacket. The director of my film (hopefully either Singleton or Mann) can splice the song over the opening credits anyway he chooses, but it’s essential that as soon as the protagonist (perhaps an unshaven Derek Luke?) hits the street in lower Manhattan, the brilliant Malcolm X speech-sample on the song picks up around the weak piano right as Brother Malcolm hits with “By any means necessary!” It gets no realer.
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U.G.K. - 3 In The Mornin’
A cold burner like the GFK lick, but a looser, certainly less thought out version of the twilight-rap anthem. When Bun-B compares himself to current NBA journeyman Lindsay Hunter you can tell how soaked with age this beast is. I’d probably use it for one the film’s early scenes, when the protagonist is crawling all over the city, searching for the man who might just help him leave the game forever. Think creeping through Union Square before hitting the downtown train to Battery Park. Think a Houston vibe perched on the edge of Manhattan Island.
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Lil’Kim - No Time (ft. Puff Daddy)
Like all the great Westerns, the best blaxploitation movies always were anchored by the women. Now right now Lil’Kim doesn’t look like the best choice for someone to ride off into the sunset with, but this song, the lead single from her shocking debut, Hardcore, has all the ingredients of a glamorous yet toothy song for the end credits: the ballroom piano, Lil’Kim’s bragging about her Evita Peron methods for success, and a perfect balance of female braggadocio and the Horatio Alger-born-in-the-Bronx smirk.
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