Warning: this story contains spoilers from ‘Coming 2 America’.
Of all the musical moments you have to see in the long-awaited sequel “Coming 2 America”, which arrives on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, the man himself belongs perhaps the most memorable: Eddie Murphy.
Or make it Randy Watson.
It’s right: The Jheri curled crooner – one of several characters Murphy played alongside Prince Akeem in 1988’s “Coming to America” - is back for his worship 33 years after tormenting “The Greatest Love of All”.
And this time – again accompanied by his rugby team, Sexual Chocolate – he sings ‘We Are Family’ with a lyrical twist: ‘We are family / I got Sexual Chocolate with me.’
“It was absolutely Eddie Murphy’s idea from start to finish,” said Randy Spendlove, president of Worldwide Music and Publishing at Paramount, the film’s production company. “It’s 100 percent Eddie Murphy, the brilliance of him … with all the original members of Sexual Chocolate in the background.”
This is just one of the ways in which ‘Coming 2 America’ honors the original musical legacy.
“The original music had a lot of music, and the original soundtrack was hugely successful, so it was great shoes to fill,” Spendlove said. ‘The big news is that our director, Craig Brewer, had such a great musical vision with Eddie. Many of them were pre-planned, and some of the big moments came together while shooting in Atlanta. These amazing cameos appeared on the spur of the moment, which really turned out to be something special. ‘
One como-heavy scene includes En Vogue and Salt-N-Pepa who turned their 1993 hit “Whatta Man” into “Whatta King”.
“‘Coming to America’ was such an iconic film for us and such a milestone in African-American culture,” said Cindy Herron, En Vogue. “So when we got the call to take part in the film and coming together and redoing ‘Whatta Man’ with Salt-N-Pepa, we were just over the moon. “
Filming the scene on the top-secret set at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta “was like walking into Zamunda,” Herron said of the fictional African nation in which most of the film takes place. The detail in the set design, the detail they gave to the costumes – everything was so superb. And then you had all this talent. ”
Of course, Salt-N-Pepa, who had the star-studded talent, made the ‘Whatta’ reunion. ‘Salt-N-Pepa brings it! Those girls are queens, ”Herron said. “All of us together, it just feels like, ‘Oh my God, the girl power at the moment! ‘”
As if that’s not enough, in the same scene there’s also a musical cameo by the legendary Gladys Knight, who turns ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ into ‘Midnight Train From Zamunda’.
“It’s set up in a kind of conference room,” Spendlove said. “When it actually happened, people just laughed. You might think everyone is rolling on the floor. It was actually just one of those magical days on the set. ”
Meanwhile, R&B star Teyana Taylor – who plays Bopoto in the film – sets her own sexy twist to Prince’s “Gett Off.” “Once again the power of ‘Coming to America’ [means] you can go after a Prince song, ”Spendlove said.
And in a nostalgic nod to the royal servant Oha (Paul Bates) singing in the original ‘She’s Your Queen to Be’, the character again makes his spicy falsetto on ‘Gett Off’.
“Everything was done with a sincere intention to honor film one,” Spendlove said.
This includes updating the title track “Coming to America.” Nile Rodgers, who originally produced the system, returns to do the tune anew. “He said, ‘Now let’s see if we can get John Legend to sing with Burna Boy and make it a general idea,'” Spendlove said. “Nile Rodgers helped pull it together.”
Burna Boy from Nigeria is one of the many African artists represented in the film, on the soundtrack and on a companion album titled ‘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 Africa, on the inclusion of African talent. “This time there is a chance to bring continental artists with amazing sounds, rhythms and tones that celebrate the diversity of cultures in Africa.”