For his feature film debut, The Harder They Fall, director Jeymes Samuel (aka The Bullitts) gathered an ensemble of surefire talent including Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Idris Elba, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, and LaKeith Stanfield to bring to life the largely untold stories of real-life Black cowboys who rode in the Old West of the 1800s. “The Harder They Fall will put something into our culture that has been missing forever. Most every character in this film is based on a person that really existed — I just assembled them like Black Gods and put them in one space at one time,” says Jeymes, who also co-wrote and produced the film’s original music and soundtrack with Jay-Z.
Relative newcomer RJ Cyler plays the film’s resident flashy hothead Jim Beckwourth. “He talks a little too much; he’s fast with his two guns, one on each hip. Every one of these characters has a different nuance that makes them pop,” says Cyler. The actor produced his own playlist to prepare for his role.
EarthGang
MediaPunch Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
This was the song I listened to most frequently during prep and production of The Harder They Fall because it’s the right tempo for Jim Beckwourth. I practiced my gun training and horse riding to this song when I wasn’t listening to instruction.
Kevin Saurer of Hippie Sabotage
Rick Kern / Contributor
It’s soft in tone but has the kick of a Spartan that makes it the perfect “blam blam” track. This song always brings a calming but epic feel to the character of Jim.
Bankroll Fresh
Prince Williams / Contributor
I used to wake up to this on hard days. The tempo and bassline will definitely get the blood flowing and the body hyped.
A great prep song because of the Southern feel it brings to this Southern boy. On and off set, this song plays heavy.
Rick Ross
Burak Cingi / Contributor
One of my favorites because of the dark trap, gully type of tone. They mixed the country and the rap perfectly on this song; it was great for horse training.
CeeLo Green
Leon Bennett / STA 2020 / Contributor
Great for vibing to, but also great for training gun choreography.
I used this song in gun training to practice balance and control. The tempo is slow and smooth which made my movements more precise and led to better accuracy when we needed to speed up the movements.
This is one of my daily morning songs: Whether on set or at home, this song is always on the list.
Ish is one of my favorite musical artists and also a close friend of mine, and his vibe in this song only pushed me to keep cranking up my craft. This song kept me going through tired times and heavy days.
Darius Campbell
Leon Bennett / STA 2020 / Contributor
This morning wake song could play throughout the day, for sure. It always added a beautiful tone to our shooting location.
I would think of this song when I was mid-scene as Jim because he is a baaaad mutha ooowee with the “blam blams.”