Idris Elba is best known as an actor, but when he’s not on stage or breaking land speed records, he’s been working in the trenches building a reputation as a rapper. You know, as a fallback in case this whole acting thing doesn’t pay off.
When British rapper Skepta released his track “Shutdown” back in March, the Pacific Rim star tweeted a fan request at the rapper asking for a spot on the remix based on his own very specific qualifications:
@Skepta Put me on the Remix!!!!!! cus I SHUT DOWN prime TV on the Regular😎. pic.twitter.com/z6DprRSmSt
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) March 19, 2015
Elba’s pitch worked, because fast forward a few months and Elba’s “Shutdown” remix is here. In the track he shouts out Stringer Bell, the character he played on The Wire and talks about shaking off his haters, which is more Taylor Swift than Stringer Bell, but still totally works. “Sometimes you just have to SHUT “dem” DOWN,” he added on Twitter.
- The Fall of Roe and the Failure of the Feminist Industrial Complex
- What Trump Knew About January 6
- The Ocean Is Climate Change’s First Victim and Last Resort
- Column: 6 Proven Ways to Reduce Gun Violence
- Ads Are Officially Coming to Netflix. Here's What That Means for You
- Jenny Slate on the Unifying Power of a Well-Heeled Shell Named Marcel
- Column: The FDA's Juul Ban May Not be a Pure Public Health Triumph
- What the Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision Means for Your State