The music of the film Kicks acts almost as another lead character in Tipping's urban coming-of-age tale set in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was important to have the film be reflective of a place and time, and local Bay Area artists like Mac Dre, Iamsu!, Roach Gigz, Dave Steezy and NanosauR help to do just that. Almost every song heard in the film is available as part of the soundtrack album. It also boasts songs that you can't get anywhere else from NanosauR, Jay Casio & Brian Reitzell.
The songs in the movie are held together by composer Reitzell's pulsating score, which often acts as the music bed for some of lead actor Jahking Guillory's poignant moments of spoken rap. Creating his own unique method of scoring films, Reitzell draws equally from his experience as a recording and touring musician. His vision for this film score was to create a seamless landscape of songs, score and source music. It also helps that Reitzell himself is from the East Bay area, where the film takes place. "I have always wanted to score a film based there," says Reitzell. "Justin [Tipping] captured the look and feel of the place in such a real way. It was a very natural process for me because I felt so connected to it. The people, the streets, BART trains, the music… it's under my skin."
