When director Shaka King was looking for an artist to deliver the end credit song for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” he went to Grammy winner H.E.R.

Of the qualities that made her the perfect artist to complete the task, he says, “versatility in musicianship, soul, artistic and personal integrity. She’s a throwback.”

King’s approach was to give the Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter notes about what he didn’t want. He says, “I really wanted to give her as much space creatively as possible — while expressing a desire to hear something contemporary with echoes of 1968. When I heard the Curtis Mayfield inspiration, I was like, ‘Yes!’”

The end result was “Fight for You,” which she wrote with D’Mile and Tiara Thomas. The song has flavors of Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone and Sly and the Family Stone, and is reminiscent of the revolutionary sounds of the 1960s.

The film tells the story of Black Panther Party leader Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and centers on his betrayal by colleague (and FBI informant) William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) and subsequent muder. The song lyrics are very much relevant in the fight for social and racial justice. H.E.R says, “There’s not much that separates that time and that story from what’s going on right now with the Black Lives Matter movement in the Black community.”

When King first heard “Fight for You,” he thought it was perfect. “The nod to Curtis was just genius,” he says.

(SD-Agencies)