“Sinners” this, “Sinners” that. Yes, “Sinners” very much still has the world in a chokehold, especially as the Oscars approach.

“What better team to be involved with?” musical genius producer Raphael Saadiq shared when speaking about the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, and original score composer Ludwig Göransson. “They're both very passionate about what they do. And I'm very passionate about what I do, too. So, it was the perfect fit.” Coogler and Göransson sought out Saadiq—the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer, who has worked with the likes of Prince, Beyoncé, and the late D’Angelo—on short notice, which resulted in the film’s acclaimed, Oscar-nominated track, “I Lied To You.”

Saadiq sat down with BET Current to talk about his contribution to the iconic song, his inspiration, and what the song means to him as a whole.

The song is a soundtrack to one of “Sinner’s” most iconic scenes, when young Sammie’s guitar and vocals conjure up ancestors and descendants to dance through Smoke and Stack’s juke joint in cinematic glory. 

“I Lied To You” undeniably blends gospel, blues, hip-hop, jazz, and more to create a full-bodied sonic experience that deserves to win awards. Saadiq credits his own roots for helping him pen and produce the tune. “I always have some type of wordplay, because my father's from the South and my mom's from the South. You always hear different things in the house that your parents say and then you start having those things that you say,” Saadiq shared. “You start creating your own things in your head. And it's not necessarily a song, it's just these different sayings that I picked up from the southern part of my family.”

With lyrics like, “They say the truth hurts, so I lie so you,” Saadiq embodies not only a southern-style of expression, but the character Sammie’s own tension between singing in his father’s church versus Smoke and Stack’s juke joint. “That's one of the things I thought about…a blues song…you need a nice tag,” he said. Saadiq recalled his 8th-grade teacher (Mr. Arceneaux), who used to say, “I'm so broke, I can't pay attention.” That kind of wit stuck with him, and it’s that very wordplay that got him and his song an Oscar nomination. 

“I really believe that it [“I Lied to You”]  just kind of came out of the air, because when me and Ludwig started playing…we both have these old, acoustic guitars that are blues guitars that you can play from the 1930s. And I brought mine,” Saadiq recalled of his studio session with the “Sinners” composer. He said Göransson had several guitars in the studio to choose from, so the options for the sound of the tune were boundless.

“Once he told me about the script, Ryan hopped on FaceTime and started telling me more about the script…about his uncle who really loved blues. And his uncle was explaining to him, ‘I like to call [it] church and state, meaning state is rhythm and blues, and church is church,’” Saadiq said.

“And the difference between the blues and church, a lot of blues guys got a bad look because they wanted to stay at home and not go to the building and serve God, but they wanted to serve God over some moonshine and some blues with their friends,” he laughed. So he wanted to serve that tension and differentiate between church and state in this movie and in the song.

Saadiq related to Sammie’s rift between church and blues. Growing up, he was told a very similar warning to Sammie. “If I got out in the world, I was probably going to be on drugs and get caught up,” he recalled of elders urging him to stay in the church with his talents. “I was kind of little Sammie, but my friends were more of little Sammie.”

“I grew up in a house where the church was the prominent thing, but it was Baptist. It wasn't like Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.I.C.); that’s more strict.” Saadiq recalled his church being just as fun as his home life. He said after they’d come home from service, his mom would grab a beer from the fridge, and they would listen to secular music like The Ohio Players, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Dewey Brothers, and the Parliament Funkadelic. “And then my mother would put on James Cleveland and Shirley Caesar, so I had the best of both worlds.”

Music always found its way to Saadiq; it never left his mind, even when he was outside playing sports with friends. “If I'm watching a game, I can hear the music that they're playing,” he mused. “Music was my safe place. My room was my safe place. And now as I'm older, my studio is like that small room that I [grew up] in. It's now my safe space.”

“So to work on a record, with Ryan and Ludwig, it's like talking to friends in a safe space…having some ideas. It's no different than the guys and the girls I grew up with at home and the high school I went to that was full of talent, full of amazing singers and musicians,” Saadiq said. He loves being surrounded by amazing creatives to bounce ideas off of. He could easily brag about his pedigree filled with award-winning greats (Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Solange, Phillip Bailey…), but he’s humble about his gift. “It’s just the love of the music, the love of the community, you know?”

“I feel like everybody who worked on this film is some type of educator, and I think Ryan’s vision just brought that out,” Saadiq said. 

When asked what an Oscar would mean for a song like this, Saadiq shared a bigger mission in place. “We just have to educate them,” he said, arguing that the film’s music is “way bigger than Ryan… way bigger than Ludwig…and way bigger than all the actors.” To him, awards would be validation not just for one song, or one career, but for a lineage — the schools, street bands, and church choirs that made the music possible. “If I’m given a gift,” he added, “it’s not mine to own… I gotta give it to somebody so the next generation could have it.”