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‘Trouble Man’ is the twelfth studio album by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released in 1972 by Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It is also the the soundtrack to the 1972 Blaxploitation film of the same name.

Following the success of Gaye’s landmark ‘What's Going On’, he had become the most profitable R&B artist in history by winning creative control as well as a renewed $1 million contract with Motown subsidiary Tamla Records. Shortly after, he was offered the chance to compose his own film soundtrack after Motown had won the rights to produce crime thriller, ‘Trouble Man’.

In contrast to Isaac Hayes’ and Curtis Mayfield’s blending of social commentary with sexual themes in their soundtracks, respectively similar films ‘Shaft’ and ‘Superfly’. Gaye chose to go with a contemporary style focusing on the film’s lead character ‘Mister T’, producing and composing both the film’s score and soundtrack in it’s entirety. - Wiki

“Looking at the album outside the trends of its era and inward to the art that Gaye was sculpting shows Trouble Man as a mostly wordless statement on the rapidly changing times for both young black America and Marvin's personal life. The compositions well over with equal parts tension and detached cool, moving through modes of heartbreaking struggle, searching wonder, and playful street scenes.

While it's been relegated to the lesser status of Gaye's one-off blaxploitation soundtrack, it rises far above the wandering wah-wah guitars and dated bongos of its peers. Trouble Man might not be as immediate or universally relatable as Gaye's soul-searching on What's Going On or his later sensual fixations, but a deep listen will show it's very much part of the same overarching genius that touched all of his work.” - AllMusic

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