Superstar actor turned DJ, Idris Elba visited The Tonight Show to discuss his forthcoming film Beast and took the opportunity to explain how he ended up on Jay-Z’s 2007 American Gangster, as well as Paul McCartney’s 2021 McCartney III Reimagined albums.
About his musical prowess Elba told host Jimmy Fallon “Both these albums I’m on, and both those artists don’t know I’m on those albums,” Elba confirmed to Fallon “You know what I mean? I literally hustled my own on to those albums.”
The mega-star confirmed that he ended up on Jay-Z’s album when he was starring in the film American Gangster, stating “At the time I hear Jay was about to do an album associated with the film.” “And I was like, ‘I need to get on that.’ As you do. You’re like, ‘I’m Idris, I need to be on that Jay-Z album.’ No idea why Jay would be like, ‘Yeah, sure, do it.’”
After connecting with a mutual Jay-Z contact, the thespian wrote a “long poem” that he put to a beat. “Actually it was a rap, but it didn’t sound good as a rap,” Elba explained. “So I said, ‘Maybe I should speak this’ because Jay might be a little more accommodating to my speaking voice. And I sent it to him and we got this text back from Jay saying, ‘Um, I don’t love this… I f-cking love it.’”
The actor also discussed his career as a DJ and Idris’ spin on McCartney’s “Long Tailed Winter Bird” appeared exclusively on the physical version of III Imagined, a remixed edition of the musician’s 2020 album McCartney III.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Harald Krichel