What's The Song In The Final 'Luke Cage' Trailer?

The final Luke Cage trailer did its' job in making the Netflix original series seem, if possible, even cooler than it already did. From a Method Man cameo, to the ice cold dramatic performances of the villains and heroes, to the groovy song in the Luke Cage " Streets Trailer" — it definitely seems like Marvel's Luke Cage is going to keep it real chill, just like the titular character when he's walking through bullets like they're just a light rain. All of the music in previous trailers has had hip hop influences through their background songs (I still have "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" stuck in my head and that trailer was dropped three months ago) or through references to hip hop icons like Biggie Smalls. This final trailer continues on with the tradition with a lively joint from the '90s, Nas's song "Made You Look" from his 2002 album, God's Son.

The trailer mostly uses the head-nodding, toe-tapping beat of Nas's song, but it also features lines from part of the chorus, "Aw, made you look/You a slave to the page in my rhyme book/Getting big money, playboy your time's up/Where them gangstas? Where them dimes at?" This line is perfect for someone like Luke Cage, who doesn't pull any punches and doesn't seem to give a care who he pisses off because he is literally a bulletproof man fighting seemingly indestructible bad guys like Harlem crime boss Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali) and his semi-accomplice politician Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard).

It's no surprise Luke Cage has such a heavy hip hop feel. Entertainment Weekly reports that '90s hip hop was in the mind of the executive producer and showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, though the original Luke Cage superhero came about in the 1970s. Coker claims, "it’s got a ’90s hip-hop vibe, but it’s really forward-thinking. We have Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad [of the hip hop group A Tribe called Quest] doing the scoring for us." Then, at Comic-Con, Coker talked about the importance that music plays in the show and the "Wu Tang-ification of the Marvel universe" according to Variety. He also acknowledged that every episode is named after a song by the '80s rap duo Gang Starr.

But the score of the trailer and the crew involved aren't the only thing that make this trailer, and therefore Luke Cage, a love letter to hip hop. Method Man's cameo, which adds some humor to the trailer, is just another example of this. In the trailer, Cage walks into a bodega to stop some burglars and happens to bump into the rapper, producer, and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. After Cage takes out the burglars, Method Man says, almost seeming unable to believe it, "It's you." To which Cage responds, "Naw man, it's you. Man, "P.L.O. Style" was my joint back in the day." The two then exchange hoodies, because the Marvel universe truly is a hilarious place sometimes.

This cameo is not only perfect for the hip hop cultural references and the fact that it means Method Man lives in the Marvel universe and knows who Luke Cage is, but also because Method Man is in reality a bit of a comic book nerd himself. The Wu Tang clan released Wu-Massacre in 2010, a collaboration-style album that featured art by Marvel artists Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, and Alex Haldi. Than, in an interview with Marvel in 2014, Method Man announced that his favorite hero at the moment was female Thor.

The trailer poignantly displays the unique nature of Luke Cage — a superhero franchise with a hip hop vibe. I can't wait to see if the show is able to keep up the good work throughout all of Season 1. We just have to wait until September 30 to find out. Patience guys, patience.

Images: Netflix (3)