Written alongside Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith and producers Sounwave and Al Shux,[2][3][4] the song was released on January 4, 2018, as the lead single to the soundtrack album of the film Black Panther.

[3][6][7] Marvel Studios confirmed the news and revealed that Lamar was hand-picked by Black Panther's director Ryan Coogler to produce the soundtrack album.

[3][6] Upon its release, Lamar announced his praise for Black Panther and its director, Ryan Coogler, writing "the magnitude of [the] film showcases a great marriage of art and culture.

[7] However, Sheldon Pearce of Pitchfork gave the song a negative review, calling it "generic" and "pales in comparison to [Lamar and SZA's] recent works".

[12] Pearce further wrote that the song is "full of heavy-handed plotting and everyman cliches" and is "so nondescript that it reeks of compromise, devoid of personality or any true vision.

The beginning of the video references to the Middle Passage, with appearances of Fulani hats, La Sape, Pantsula, Kufi caps, traditional African masks, and Kandake at the end.

[20][21] In February 2018, British-Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor claimed that images of her 24-karat gold patterned artwork were used in the music video without her permission.