Warning: this story contains spoilers for “Coming 2 America”.
Of all the musical moments not to be missed in the long-awaited sequel “Coming 2 America”, which arrives Friday at Amazon Prime Video, perhaps the most memorable belongs to the man himself: Eddie Murphy.
Or that Randy Watson.
That’s right: the crooked crooner in Jheri – one of several characters Murphy played in addition to Prince Akeem in “Coming to America” in 1988 – is back to his encore 33 years after singing “The Greatest Love of All”.
And this time – again accompanied by his support band, Sexual Chocolate – he is singing “We Are Family” with a lyrical touch: “We are family / I got Sexual Chocolate with me.
“That was absolutely Eddie Murphy’s idea from start to finish,” said Randy Spendlove, president of Worldwide Music and Publishing at Paramount, the film’s producer. “This is 100 percent Eddie Murphy, his brilliance … with all the original members of Sexual Chocolate in the background.”
It is just one of the ways in which “Coming 2 America” honors the musical legacy of the original.
“The original had a lot of music and the original soundtrack was a tremendous success, so it was a great place to fill,” said Spendlove. “The great news is that our director, Craig Brewer, along with Eddie, had a tremendous musical outlook. Much of this was planned in advance, and some of the great moments took place during filming in Atlanta. These incredible cameos appeared at the last minute, which really turned out to be something special. “
A special guest scene includes En Vogue and Salt-N-Pepa releasing their 1993 hit “Whatta Man” in “Whatta King”.
“‘Coming to America’ was such an iconic film for us and a milestone in African American culture,” said Cindy Herron of En Vogue. “So when we got the call to participate in the movie and got together to remake ‘Whatta Man’ with Salt-N-Pepa, we were on the moon.”
Filming the scene on the top-secret set at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta “was like stepping into Zamunda,” said Herron of the fictional African nation in which most of the film takes place. “The details of the setting, the details they gave to the costumes – everything was so exquisite. And then you had all that talent. “
Of course, this star-studded talent included Salt-N-Pepa, who reunited with “Whatta”. “Sal-N-Pepa, bring it! These girls are queens, ”said Herron. “All of us together, it seemed like, ‘Oh, my God, female power now!’ “
As if that were not enough, in the same scene there is also a musical participation by the legendary Gladys Knight, who transforms “Midnight Train to Georgia” into “Midnight Train From Zamunda”.
“It was designed in a kind of conference room setting,” said Spendlove. “When it was really happening, people laughed too much. You can imagine everyone rolling on the floor. It was really just one of those magical days on the set. “
Meanwhile, R&B star Teyana Taylor – who plays Bopoto in the film – puts his own sexy twist on Prince’s “Gett Off”. “Once again, the power to ‘Come to America’ [means] you can go after a Prince song, ”said Spendlove.
And in a nostalgic nod to the royal servant Oha (Paul Bates) singing “She is your queen to be” in the original, the character pops his falsetto once again in “Gett Off”.
“Everything was done with the sincere intention of paying tribute to the first film,” said Spendlove.
This included updating the title song “Coming to America”. Nile Rodgers, who produced the original System, returns to make a new version of the melody. “He said, ‘What if we can get John Legend to sing with Burna Boy and make it a global idea,” said Spendlove. “Nile Rodgers helped to pull this together.”
Burna Boy, from Nigeria, is one of many African artists represented in the film, on the soundtrack and on a complementary album entitled “Rhythms of Zamunda: Music Inspired by ‘Coming 2 America’”.
“It was part of the DNA of this film and it made sense,” said Sipho Dlamini, CEO of Universal Music South Africa and Sub-Saharan South Africa, who worked on including African talent. “This time, there is a chance to bring artists from the continent who have incredible sounds, rhythms and tones that celebrate the diversity of the culture that is Africa.”