--- title: Tom Hardy Used to Be a Rapper and this Mixtape Is Proof description: Before he was a major star on the silver screen, Tom Hardy was an aspiring rapper with a mixtape and some serious bars. canonical: https://time.com/5109908/tom-hardy-rap-mixtape/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-19T21:18:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:50.361Z og:title: Tom Hardy Used to Be a Rapper and this Mixtape Is Proof og:description: The best way to kick off the weekend og:url: https://time.com/5109908/tom-hardy-rap-mixtape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ffd036896a8927c/6988f8dc0a4a220fee9d178b/tom-hardy-rapper-mixtape.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2017 Winter TCA Tour - FX Starwalk - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Hardy Used to Be a Rapper and this Mixtape Is Proof twitter:description: The best way to kick off the weekend twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ffd036896a8927c/6988f8dc0a4a220fee9d178b/tom-hardy-rapper-mixtape.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom Hardy's Forgotten Rap Mixtape Is the Unexpected Blessing We Didn't Know We Needed > Sponsored content. 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'The Revenant' - Official Trailer_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 19, 2018 9:18 PM UTC  PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 12: Actor Tom Hardy attends the FX Starwalk at the 2017 Winter TCA Tour at Langham Hotel on January 12, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic) PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 12: Actor Tom Hardy attends the FX Starwalk at the 2017 Winter TCA Tour at Langham Hotel on January 12, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic) Paul Archuleta—FilmMagic  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 19, 2018 9:18 PM UTC [Tom Hardy](http://time.com/4671892/tom-hardy-bedtime-story/) might be best known for his major roles on the silver screen like [_Mad Max: Fury Road_](http://time.com/4488423/mad-max-fury-road-no-special-effects/)and [_The Revenant_](http://time.com/4171001/revenant-1939-true-story/)but it turns out that the 40-year-old British actor was also an aspiring rapper in his youth. An 18-track mixtape titled _Falling On Your -rse in 1999_ that Hardy recorded, appropriately, in 1999 with friend Ed Tracy (now a British Academy Film Award-winning television writer) under the monikers Tommy No 1 and Eddie Too Tall, respectively, was published by Tracy on Bandcamp in January and features the likes of Hardy rapping over _The Godfather_ theme (on the ominously named track “Wiser”) as well as making predictions about his future success as an actor: “I wanna be on the TV, so people can see me” on a track called “People Like to Boogie.” In an interview with [_Complex_](http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2018/01/eddie-too-tall-talks-tom-hardy-mixtape-from-1999), Tracy revealed that he published the mixtape, which he wrote and produced in his bedroom, because Hardy had recently asked him about it. “Tom asked me whether I still had the album kicking about in the loft,” he said. “Lo and behold, here it is in all its rawness, just as it sounded then.” Listen to Hardy’s days of spitting bars below. ## Transcript [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] Get to the boats! Run! [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] The only safe thing to do is track a new course back up on land. Then what are we gonna do? Sit up there like a bunch of [ BLEEP ] ducks? You and your half- breed son, you're gonna walk on out .- I'm talking to you. [ GROWLS ] [ SCREAMS ] My son. The proper thing to do, would be to finish them off quick. Aah! He's to be cared for as long as necessary. I understand. [ SOUND ] Go away, out! [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] What happened? We did what we had to do. He was buried right. All I had was my boy and he took him from me, you understand. [ MUSIC ] He's afraid. [ MUSIC ] He knows how Came to find them. [ MUSIC ] [ BREATHING ] I ain't afraid of dying anymore. We've done it already. 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