The first time I saw an interview with actor Idris Elba, the man who played Stringer Bell on The Wire, I was surprised to hear him speaking with a refined British accent rather than the gruff, Baltimorean accent I had grown accustomed to. In real life, he's a classically trained actor who began his career by taking ballet lessons, a life far removed his role as the right-hand man to drug kingpin Avon Barksdale. That wasn't the only aspect of his life that surprised me; he's also an aspiring hip hop artist. Performing in the UK under the name DJ Driis, Elba has been putting in work as a dj, an emcee, a producer and a record label exec.
The above video, Pervert, is the first official single released under his Hevlar Recordings label. The song is described as an "addictive dirty break meets club track," with Elba giving voice to the animated Mr. Me Innit. The promos for the track boast that Mr. Me Innit is the "first ever virtual hip hop artist." I'm not entirely sure that's something a legitimate artist would want to lay claim to, but unfortunately it's not even true to begin with. Let us not forget the brief, shining career of MC Skat Kat, who released a full album in 1991.
There's about 10 seconds of animated cleavage in the video which is pretty harmless, but nonetheless it may not be safe for viewing at your workplace. More likely to arouse the suspicions of your boss is the chorus of the song, with an English girl singing, "You're a dirty pervert." I can't say I was really feeling this track, but I did think it was interesting to see what Stringer Bell's been up to since his unfortunate meeting with Brother Mouzone.
In other Wire-related news, one of the contributors to Freakonomics has been writing a weekly feature on the show, "What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire?" Every Sunday night, he watches the latest episode with former drug dealers and gang members and gets their opinions on the accuracy of various scenes. I have a feeling they'll be calling for Method Man's head after last night's episode. Here's the link to Freakonomics.
1/28/2007 07:00:01 PM posted by Fresh
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