Tom Hardy has traded movie sets for the microphone, and his latest musical detour is packed with enough comic-book and Hollywood name-drops to keep fans busy. Recording as Frankie Pulitzer, the actor joins underground hip-hop group Czarface for a collaboration that turns his screen history and pop-culture obsessions into lyrical ammunition.
Tom Hardy’s rap album is going viral for pop culture references
Tom Hardy’s connection to the material runs deep. He famously donned the persona of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and later brought Eddie Brock and Venom to the screen across three movies, plus a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now, those worlds appear inside his rhymes. On Raw Forever, he references Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Doctor Doom, Bringing Out the Dead, Dog Day Afternoon and DC’s Sergeant Rock.
The comic-book parade continues elsewhere. “Mad Technology” jumps from Marvel territory with a shout-out to Thor to Stephen King favorites such as Cujo and Misery. He also brings up Shameik Moore, the voice behind Miles Morales in Sony’s Spider-Verse movies, before landing a deliberately outrageous punchline involving Kathy Bates and Misery.
Then things take an even stranger turn on Grim-Visaged War. Hardy tackles the famous opening speech from Shakespeare’s Richard III, but delivers it with the deep, menacing cadence fans will recognize from his Bane performance. Elsewhere, “Gnawing at My Rhyme Like a Poisonous Rat” throws Leonardo DiCaprio and Titanic into the lyrical blender.
In addition, Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer brings him together with 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. Before Hardy became a fixture of Hollywood blockbusters, he was recording music and building connections within the hip-hop scene.
He has appeared on earlier Czarface material and worked on various collaborations over the years. His musical history even stretches back to 1999, when he recorded an unreleased album called Falling on Your Arse in 1999 (via Variety).
Hardy is one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars, best known for Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Dunkirk, Inception, Legend and Venom.
Originally reported by Rishabh Shandilya on ComingSoon.
