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Premiere: John Legend’s ‘Django Unchained’ song

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Last week Rick Ross revealed “100 Black Coffins,” his typically imposing contribution to the upcoming soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” The album, due out Dec. 18, is the first of Tarantino’s soundtracks to feature original songs he commissioned, and today Pop & Hiss brings you an exclusive premiere of another of those tunes: “Who Did That to You?” by John Legend.

Co-written and produced by Paul Epworth (of “Rolling in the Deep” fame), “Who Did That to You” presents a grittier sound than we’re accustomed to hearing from this smooth-voiced soul star; it finds Legend insisting he’s “not afraid to do the Lord’s work” over an organ-fueled garage-soul groove.

“Quentin Tarantino’s movies have such a specific sound to them, where the music plays such an important role,” the singer says. “When I first learned that Quentin was making ‘Django Unchained,’ a film set in the South two years before the Civil War, I felt a strong connection to the story, and I knew that I wanted to write a song for it, one that would give voice to this character Django, who was willing to stand up and fight for his lover’s honor.

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“The scene where the song plays is such a powerful moment in the film, a moment of redemption,” Legend continues, “and we wrote a triumphant and heroic song that underscores Django’s mission.”

We can’t vouch for the scene in the film, which doesn’t hit theaters until Christmas. But “Who Did That to You” kind of rules. Hear it below.

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