Ludwig Goransson

“Any time you have the chance to celebrate something with your closest best friends, it's very special.”

“No matter where you're born or what country you're from, you connect with 'This is America.' It speaks to people; it connects right to your soul. It calls out injustice, celebrates life, and reunites us all at the same time.”

“I was able to learn a new language - a new musical language is learning a new language, because it's so extremely different from Western classical music. African music is completely different.”

“When I'm by myself - composing or writing film scores - it's very lonely. I'm just sitting by myself in the studio.”

“I've produced all of Childish Gambino's music.”

“So much music in Africa was created for specific moments, written for rituals or for a funeral or for challenges, thousands of years ago, and these rhythms are still used.”

“I think, as a composer, pressure should be something that makes you better.”

“Growing up in Sweden, musical education is something really special. There are music schools everywhere, and the education is very advanced.”

“I'm just constantly figuring out new ways to reinvent myself.”

“I was drawn to West Africa. I did listen to a bunch of different styles of African music, and there was something about the percussion and the drums of West Africa, and the energy, that felt so cinematic to me.”

“I would say that 'Creed' has a lot more music in it. It's 60 minutes of music, while 'Fruitvale' had about a fourth of that at best. There's a bigger focus in 'Creed' because I had to make music for training montages.”

“I'd love to work with Frank Ocean. I really like his music.”

“Something I grew up with is John Williams, of course, with 'Indiana Jones' and 'Star Wars.'”

“I think to try to make new music and new ideas, you have to push the boundaries of existing music.”

“Any time I get a chance to work with artists that make me inspired and learn new stuff about music - every chance I get, I'll take.”

“Needless to say, when I work on a film, it's mostly just me alone in my room just waiting to present the music to the director - and either he likes it or not.”

“Music in Africa is perceived so differently than Western classical music - it's language and storytelling.”

“The plan was just to make great art, and working with Donald Glover, who is such a renaissance man, we've been working together for ten years, and he is always pushing the envelope in a way - like, whenever we work together, I have no idea what it is going to turn out to be.”

“Needless to say, I like to create a unique sound for each project I do.”

“As a kid growing up in Sweden loving American music, I always dreamt of migrating here and working with brilliant artists like Donald Glover.”