The movie trailer for ‘Gladiator II’ is out and let’s just say that its epicness makes up for that quarter century that film enthusiasts had to wait for the sequel of Russell Crowe’s first movie from 2000: Battle ships in Rome’s water-filled Colosseum. A manned and armored rhinoceros. Sword fights. More battle ships, but outside of the Colosseum. Actors Pedro Pascal, Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington. And there’s Jay-Z. Wait, what?
Scrolling through social media comment sections, the trailer’s visuals – following Paul Mescal as Lucius, the son of the first movie’s Lucilla, returning to Rome as a gladiator – seem to be secondary to the audio: Met with mixed reactions and starting at the 1:57 minute mark, the trailer features the song ‘No Church in the Wild’ by Jay-Z and Kanye West (featuring Frank Ocean) off of their 2011 ‘Watch the Throne’ album.
When Jigga raps “tears on the mausoleum floor, blood stains the Coliseum doors” later on in the trailer, this a) is probably the main-and-only reason the film studio chose the song and b) this makes for a full circle pop culture moment:
Not only is there the connection between Jay-Z and Denzel Washington, who plays arms dealer/ eventual Roman emperor Macrinus. Back in 2007, Washington starred in ‘American Gangster’, a film based loosely on the life of drug lord Frank Lucas. When the film studio allegedly denied Jay-Z’s request to record the official soundtrack, Washington didn’t want to hear any of that, re-recorded spoken excerpts from the movie exclusively for HOV and the latter’s tenth album still came to fruition under the name ‘American Gangster’ and the eponymous film’s unofficial soundtrack.
What really rounds out the full circle moment of the trailer and Jay-Z’s song though, is that the rapper’s 2003 song ‘What More Can I Say’ sampled one of the most iconic scenes from the first Gladiator movie. Over the track’s intro, Russell Crowe can be heard shouting at the crowd after brutally fighting his way through the arena: “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you’re here?” It seems as if two decades later, people still are. And now Gladiator sampled Jay-Z.
