JAY-Z and D’Angelo are set to release a nearly 10-minute song that will feature on the soundtrack to The Book of Clarence.
A screening for the film was held on Saturday (January 6), where Hov — who is a producer on the movie — and director Jeymes Samuel were interviewed by Elliott Wilson.
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The British filmmaker, who also performs music under the name The Bullitts, revealed the collaboration to the crowd, saying: “It’s so deep. D’Angelo and JAY-Z on the same track. [It’s] 9 minutes, 33 seconds of absolute soulful biblical bliss.”
Watch the clip below.
It will be the first collaboration between the two legends, but JAY-Z did shout out D’Angelo on his 2003 track “Lucifer” where he rapped: “Pumping ‘Brown Sugar’ by D’Angelo/ In Los Angeles, like an evangelist.”
The Book of Clarence will feature more big names on its soundtrack, with Lil Wayne, Buju Banton and Shabba Ranks collaborating on the lead single, “Hallelujah Heaven,” which is a hybrid of gospel, rap and dancehall.
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Kid Cudi is also expected to contribute to the album.
As for the movie itself, The Book of Clarence is set to hit theaters on Friday (January 12). It stars LaKeith Stanfield as “a down-on-his-luck man named Clarence living in 29 A.D. Jerusalem, who looks to capitalize on the rise of Jesus Christ by claiming to be a new Messiah sent by God in an attempt to free himself of debt and start a life of glory for himself,” according to the synopsis.
Stanfield is joined in the biblical comedy by Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward and Alfre Woodard, as well as Teyana Taylor, Benedict Cumberbatch and Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin.
It’s Samuel’s second feature film after the 2022 Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, which was also produced by JAY-Z and featured the rapper on the soundtrack.
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He appeared on two different songs, “Guns Go Bang” with Kid Cudi and “King Kong Riddim,” which was a collaboration with Jadakiss, Conway The Machine and British rapper BackRoad Gee, who became the first U.K. MC to release a track with Hov.
D’Angelo has not released an album since 2014’s Black Messiah and has only released one single in the last decade — again for a soundtrack, the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.
