Idris Elba Reveals How He Landed On Jay-Z’s ‘American Gangster’ Album

Idris Elba has finally disclosed how he managed to land on Jay-Z’s American Gangster during a recent visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. When asked how the actor managed to appear on the rapper’s 2007 LP, Elba basically narrowed it down to his hustle.

“I was in American Gangster, and at the time, I heard Jay was about to do an album associated with the film. And I was like, ‘I need to get on that,'” the English actor enthusiastically recalled. “I wrote this long poem [and] we put it to a beat. And I sent it to him, and we got this text back from Jay saying, ‘I don’t love this. I f**king love it.'”

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And so did Jay-Z’s fans.

According to Billboard, American Gangster debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart that year. The album sold 425,000 copies in its first week and became Jay-Z’s tenth No. 1 album in the U.S. Hov eventually tied with Elvis Presley’s record and became the artist with the second most No. 1 albums, behind The Beatles.

Lately, Idris Elba has been promoting his upcoming film Beast, which hits theaters on August 18. The actor plays the recently widowed Dr. Nate Samuels, who fights to protect his daughters against the dangers of the wild. Beast also stars Sharlto Copley, Leah Jeffries, Iyana Halley, and Riley Keough.

Watch Elba’s interview with Fallon above and the trailer for his new movie below.

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