All licensed songs featured in Daredevil: Born Again’s episode 4 - Sic Semper Systema - and their connections to the plot, explored

Soundtracks aren’t just background noise. In Daredevil: Born Again, music is a weapon. Some tracks underscore power. Others amplify dread. And a few? They mock the very world they play in.

Daredevil: Born Again's Episode 4, Sic Semper Systema, is built on tension—on a system cracking, on a city that no longer knows who’s running the show. The licensed songs don’t just enhance the atmosphere. They hint at the deeper conflict brewing beneath the surface.

Let’s break them down.

A city built on illusions – “We Built This City” (twice, and twice as ironic)

Some songs in Daredevil: Born Again set the mood. This one? It sets the stage for an empire. We Built This City plays twice in Sic Semper Systema, and both moments are deliberate, layered, and dripping with irony.

The first time, it’s children singing it in a school setting—an innocent, almost naive version of the song. A generation being taught to believe in a city built on dreams, on stories, on something grander than themselves. The second time around? It’s reinforcing it's about Fisk.

Sitting in power. Listening to a version in Latvian.

And suddenly, the meaning twists. If the kids’ rendition was a promise, the Latvian version is a reality check. New York wasn’t built on rock and roll. It was built on power. Corruption. The system breaking and rebuilding itself in the hands of people like him.

Look at the lyrics:

"Say you don't know me or recognize my face"

"Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place"

Fisk thrives in anonymity. He spent years in the shadows, rewriting New York’s story from behind the scenes. And now? He’s stepping forward, making sure everyone knows exactly whose face they should recognize.

Then, later in the song:

"Someone's always playing corporation games"

"Who cares, they're always changing corporation names"

That’s literally Fisk’s game. Buying, selling, erasing, replacing. Corporations, politicians, entire communities—it’s all just names on contracts to him.

And then, the ultimate irony:

"We built this city on rock and roll"

Except, no, it wasn’t. It was built on money, crime, and men like Fisk making sure no one else got a seat at the table.

And then comes the kicker: the second time around? It’s in Latvian.

The scene lingers on Fisk visiting the Latvian Heritage Center, which, on its own, might seem like nothing. But paired with this song? And the Doctor Doom/Latveria connection looming in the MCU? This isn’t just Fisk celebrating his victory. This is a flex. A reminder that cities aren’t built on ideals. They’re built on control. And Fisk intends to own it all.

The restless streets – “Passinho Battant” (feat. Flavia Coelho)

Daredevil’s world isn’t just fists and darkness. It’s a city pulsing with life, with music, with cultures colliding. That’s where “Passinho Battant” comes in.

Flavia Coelho’s music blends Brazilian rhythms with electronic beats, and Tambour Battant’s signature sound fuses urban energy with club culture. The result? A track that moves.

It plays during a scene filled with motion, amplifying the ever-shifting nature of Hell’s Kitchen. But the contrast is sharp. Music like this belongs at a party, on a street corner, in a celebration. Instead, it plays over a city on the verge of collapse. Because even as the world changes, people keep dancing—until they realize the floor is gone.

The eerie presence before the storm – “Forever Love Sick”

Some songs set the tone. This one sets the trap.

This Qawwali-infused track by Rizwan and Muazzam Mujahid Ali Khan introduces an entirely different kind of energy to the episode. It doesn’t belong to Fisk or the city’s restless streets. It belongs to something ancient, something watching.

Qawwali is devotional music, known for its intensity, its hypnotic pull, and its ability to make a space feel sacred—or haunted. So when this song plays, it isn’t just background noise. It’s foreshadowing.

The creeping horror of Muse – “Drop Da Style”

Muse isn’t introduced with a crash of thunder. They are a whisper before a scream. And the song that plays? It’s not loud. It’s not aggressive. It just seeps in.

"Drop Da Style" by Primaal is a hyper-modern, distorted electronic track that feels slightly off-balance, constantly shifting. That’s the trick. The music isn’t announcing danger. It’s making the world feel wrong.

And then, there’s the graffiti. Matt feels it before he sees it. The song lingers just long enough for that realization to hit.

Muse was here.

Muse is still here.

And by the time Matt finally understands what’s actually going on? It’ll already be too late.

Final thoughts – When music tells the real story

Every song in Sic Semper Systema is more than a track on a playlist. Fisk’s anthem is a declaration of power. The city’s beats are a distraction from its impending collapse.

The whispers of Muse are a sign of something far worse coming. Daredevil doesn’t just fight criminals. He fights the music of the world around him. And in this episode? The soundtrack is already telling us who’s going to win.