Tom Hardy is bringing one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets to the front as the actor is set to release his first full-length rap album.
The 48-year-old actor is teaming up with the hip-hop trio Czarface—consisting of Inspectah Deck, 7L, and Esoteric—as his rap persona Frankie Pulitzer for a full-length album. The album, titled Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer, is due to drop on August 28, but fans can get a preview of what to expect with the first single, “Brothers Grimm,” now. Hardy has been flirting with a rap career for some time now, previously teaming up with Czarface on tracks as early as 2021 on their Good Guys, Bad Guys EP, several of which appeared in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The new project is also set to feature appearances from Method Man, EL-O, and Busta Rhymes. Czarface has a history of collaborating with other artists for full-length projections, including two albums with the late MF Doom, one with Ghostface Killah, and the Kool Keith collaborative record Everybody Eats! in 2024. Hardy previously explored a career in hip-hop early into his acting trajectory, performing under the name Tommy No 1 + Eddie Too Tall with his friend Edward Tracy. They recorded a mixtape, Falling On Your Arse, in 1999, but it only saw the light of day in 2018. This is his first studio album, however.
The announcement arrived alongside the release of “Brothers Grimm,” which continues to lean into gritty boom bap production and dense rhyme schemes. Hardy is known mostly for performances in films such as The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, Legend and the Venom franchise. But his connection to Hip-Hop stretches back before Hollywood. Hardy began rapping as a teenager under the name Tommy No. 1 and spent years recording music. He was influenced by New York’s late 1990s underground rap movement. Ultimately acting became his primary focus.