When Beyonce repeatedly intones "You're part of something way bigger" on the sweeping opening song "Bigger," she could be singing her own personal mantra. For an artist who prizes significance higher than the art itself, she's made a lot of great art.
It's certainly not fair to her that Kendrick Lamar (who appears here, natch) preceded her own curated fantasia of African musicians and black American pop royalty with the astonishing Black Panther soundtrack, whose significance was the art itself.
But a clutch of the 14 true songs here are excellent anyway, and they're usually hers. There's the addictive, club-ready "Water" with Pharrell and Salatiel, the subtly dembow-inflected love letter to (and with) Blue Ivy "Brown Skin Girl," the lovely Swahili-sung climax of "Otherside," and the war-ready "My Power" featuring Philly's finest, the always-on Tierra Whack, who could power an entire animated flick and its soundtrack all by herself. The esteemed likes of Burna Boy, Mr. Eazi, Childish Gambino, Jay-Z, and Kendrick are all too polite, though, as if they're afraid of upstaging their host. As if.