Warning: Major spoilers for HimJustin Tipping’s stylish sports horror movie Him smashes modern football culture with cult horror, and its dynamic soundtrack provides the perfect backdrop to the movie’s twisted narrative. The movie’s potent soundtrack leans heavily into hip-hop and modern rap, accenting with hymns and powerful orchestra pieces for impact in some of the movie’s most gruesome yet important scenes.
Starring Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans, Him chronicles an up-and-coming star quarterback’s week of training with pro football’s all-time greatest player after he suffers a debilitating head injury. As he continues to train and medicate, the lines between hallucination and reality begin to blur, and the movie’s soundtrack supplements the young athlete’s descent into the shadowy cabal behind his mentor’s success.
When Every Song On The Him Soundtrack Plays In The Movie
“Get Me Lit” by P-LO: After Cameron Cade (Withers) suffers a devastating attack from a crazed fan, he and his team opt not to perform in the Combine lest they reveal that Cameron is not healed, which could hurt his draft stock. P-LO’s club track plays over a party Cameron attends with his inner circle after the Combine.
“Strawberry Letter 23” by Shuggie Otis: The 1970s R&B hit provides a classic interlude to the more frequent modern hip-hop songs on the soundtrack for Him. The song plays as Cameron first enters Isaiah White’s inner sanctum, and meets him for the first time.
“Lemonade” by Gucci Mane: Gucci Mane’s popular and upbeat hip-hop track plays when Cameron first steps on the field ready to train with Isaiah. The song continues to play as Cameron goes through an intense but fairly typical training session, lifting weights and getting one-on-one instruction from Isaiah on his throwing technique and mechanics.
“Shook Ones, Pt. II” by Mobb Depp: On the second day of training, Isaiah takes Cameron for intensive conditioning in the desert surrounding his complex. Cameron pushes himself to the point of getting sick, and the darker moment is accented by Mobb Depp’s rap classic, first recorded in 1995.
“Swim (feat. Mavi)” by Guapdad 4000: The deeper, somewhat darker hip-hop track plays while Cameron gets loose in order to participate in Isaiah’s twisted release time drill. It’s the famous scene from the movie’s trailer, which features a wide receiver volunteering to take a football to the face each time Cameron moves too slow, misses a throw, or his receiver fails to make a catch.
Him – Key Review Scores |
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RT Tomatometer |
RT Popcornmeter |
Metacritic Metascore |
Metacritic User Score |
IMDB Score |
Letterboxd Score |
30% |
58% |
38/100 |
3.9/10 |
5.6/10 |
2.8/10 |
“Italy” by Maglera Doe Boy & ONDELIVE: The slower, piano-guided rap song plays while Cameron goes through the release drill, and serves as the backdrop for the volunteer to have his face beaten to a pulp thanks to Cameron’s miscues. The classical piano sample gives the song a unique sound, and adds some gravitas to the melody, which is appropriate for the dark scene.
“Portraying the Yellow Sun” by Petar Alargic: On the third day of Cameron’s training, he’s thrown into the fire on defense, and is antagonized by Isaiah for not having the intensity necessary. Peter Alargic’s ethereal track plays leading up to Cameron’s helmet-to-helmet hit on an opponent, which sees him celebrate briefly before realizing that he gave his opponent a brain injury, causing a hard-to-watch fencing response.
“Aight” by Carl Angelo: Carl Angelo’s darkly intense hip-hop track folds in some creepy, supernatural-sounding sound effects, as Cameron’s training begins to set in, and he spirals deeper into the mentality that Isaiah had been attempting to groom. The song plays when Isaiah and Cameron are shooting targets in the desert, with Cameron shooting a person in a mascot costume while jokingly threatening Isaiah’s position as the league’s top QB.
“Tip Toe” by Tierra Whack: On his fifth day at Isaiah’s compound, Cameron inadvertently gets some training for the celebrity portion of being a football star, led along by Isaiah’s girlfriend (Julia Fox). He does pH๏τo shoots, greets important stakeholders, and gets his first real taste of superstardom.
“Blitz” by Jean Dawson: The nightmarish-sounding genre-blender from Jean Dawson is a single directly intended for the Him soundtrack, and it plays while Isaiah trains alone at home. At the same time, Cameron attends a party on the arm of Isaiah’s girlfriend, during which he is drugged by the owners and key executives of the movie’s NFL stand-in team, the Saviors.
“HIM” by Denzel Curry: The song that plays over the end-credits is essentially the movie’s theme song, and is marked by Curry’s furious insistence on his own greatness, falling directly in line with the movie’s theme. Curry spells out “I’m H-I-M” repeatedly in the chorus, acting as the movie’s musical ending тιтle screen.
Where To Listen To The Him Soundtrack
The Him soundtrack is widely available on all major streaming platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music among others. The soundtrack can be pre-ordered on its own Him movie-related website, and the vinyl will be available for purchase online and at independent record stores.
There are several songs included on the soundtrack that don’t appear prominently in the movie’s main narrative, including the rest of Bobby Krlic’s powerful score. While Him‘s Rotten Tomatoes scores are mixed, the soundtrack has a number of hits that make for great training music, in accordance with how they’re used in the movie.