Following the announcement made in September of last year that Baz Luhrmann’s modern adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” had been pushed back to May 10, 2013, there hasn’t been much more buzz about the film. However, earlier this week news broke that one of the most famous musicians in the world, the rapper Jay-Z, will be composing the score for the film.
The news was initially broken by Jay Z’s producer and fellow songwriter, The Bullitts (real name: Jeymes Samuel) via Twitter on Decmeber 30, 2012.
Jay-Z and myself have been working tirelessly on the score for the upcoming#CLASSIC The Great Gatsby! It is too DOPE for words!
Although Jay-Z is an unbelievably talented artist, his style of music doesn’t really seem to match up with the film’s theme. The film, like the book, is really an examination of the dissolution of the American dream in the 1920s, an era of characterized by unprecedented social stratification even among the exceedingly wealthy and ostentatious members of the upper class. Naturally, it’s difficult to see songs like “Brooklyn’s finest” and “99 Problems” mixing well with the posh, upper class 1920s lifestyle typically associated with Jazz and the blues.
However, Jay-Z is also known for his versatility, and his track “No Church in the Wild” from his 2011 collaboration with Kanye West, which was featured in the trailer of the film (accompanying the article), worked brilliantly in contest. Furthermore, some of his other tracks like “Empire State of Mind” and possibly “Song Cry” could fit into parts of the film quite well.
Director Baz Luhrmann has already shown his expertise with films like “Moulin Rouge” and “Romeo & Juliet,” so there’s a good chance that he knows how to work Jay-Z’s style into the film without over-modernizing the work and making it unpalatable to its intended audience.
“The Great Gatsby” stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire, and will hit theaters May 10, 2013.
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