Idris Elba was stopped by The Tonight ShowTo discuss his next film Beast. The actor, who is also a DJ, took the opportunity to explain to host Jimmy Fallon how he ended up on Jay-Z’s 2007 LP American Gangster, as well as Paul McCartney’s 2021 effort McCartney III Reimagined.
“Both these albums I’m on, and both those artists don’t know I’m on those albums,”Fallon confirmed Elba “You know what I mean? I literally hustled my own on to those albums.”
The actor recounted how he ended up on Jay-Z’s album because he was starring in the film American Gangster. “At the time I hear Jay was about to do an album associated with the film,” Elba recalled. “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.’”
Jay-Z had a chance to meet someone and the actor created a “long poem”That he did not miss a beat. “Actually it was a rap, but it didn’t sound good as a rap,”He 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.’”
He also spoke out about his career as a DJ. BeastThe film, “The Greatest Love Story Ever,” is now in theaters. Elba plays Dr. Nate Daniels who is a widowed father of two teenage girls and takes his family on a sightseeing tour to South Africa’s game reserve. As they face a large lion that is determined to kill all humans it comes across, their trip quickly becomes violent.
Elba’s spin on McCartney’s “Long Tailed Winter Bird”Only appeared in the physical version III Imagineda remixed edition of the musician’s 2020 album McCartney III.