Barry Jenkins Gave The ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ Soundtrack A Chopped And Screwed Redux

If Beale Street Could Talk — Barry Jenkins’s highly anticipated follow-up to 2016’s Academy Award-winning breakthrough Moonlight and an adaptation of the 1974 James Baldwin Novel — was nominated for three Oscars. While Regina King took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the film ultimately lost the Best Picture race.
Some feel the greatest injustice of the night, however, was that Nicholas Britell’s sumptuous score for the film did not take home the prize for Best Original Score. Despite this, it seems Britell’s score is receiving the ultimate honor.

On Tuesday, Jenkins announced If Beale Street Was Chopped a new, “chopped and screwed” sonic accompaniment to the film. Brought to life by legendary Houston DJ’s OG Ron C and DJ Candlestick, the project is 27-tracks and 111 minutes of syrupy, slowed-down, and chopped up versions of songs from Brittell’s score mixed alongside the screwed up versions of iconic R&B love ballads from the 70s and 80s and jazz classic’s like Mile Davis’s “Blue in Green.”

In a tweet celebrating the project, Jenkins said If Beale Street Was Chopped was a nostalgic ode to his childhood in Miami. The director said the project captured, “the feeling of being a kid circa 1989 and going to the 79th St. flea market to buy Oldie Goldie tapes from the mixtape man.”

You can listen to the project here.