Tom Hardy Drops Surprise Debut Rap Album with NSFW Lyrics About Kathy Bates and a Bane Voice Feature

Hardy has collaborated with hip-hop supergroup Czarface for the 15-track album under the stage name Frankie Pulitzer

NEED TO KNOW

• Tom Hardy has released a 15-song rap album under the name Frankie Pulitzer in collaboration with hip-hop group Czarface
• The album features references to his acting roles, including Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, and a number of his fellow actors
• Hardy previously dabbled in rap, releasing a 1999 mixtape in 2018 that showcased his early music career

Tom Hardy is proving his skills don’t just end at acting. 

On Friday, Aug. 28, the British actor, 48, dropped his debut rap album under the stage name Frankie Pulitzer. The record is a collaboration with hip-hop supergroup Czarface — made up of hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck — titled Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer.

According to Deadline, after Czarface began collaborating with a mysterious new rapper named Frankie Pulitzer in 2021, speculation grew that Hardy was behind the artist. 

The new 15-song album features collaborations with Method Man and Busta Rhymes, as well as references to films, fellow actors and even an appearance from Bane, the villain he played in DC Comics’ The Dark Knight Rises (2012).​

On “Raw Forever,” featuring Busta Rhymes, Hardy raps, “I be somewhat of a scientist like Willem Dafoe / if you know, then you know, goblin up crumbs,” a nod to Defoe’s portrayal of Green Goblin in 2002’s Spider-Man.

He adds another Marvel reference by saying, “Doctor Doom how I’m the Victor the scripture.”

In the same song, per Deadline, Hardy also references Nicolas Cage’s character Frank Pierce in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead (1999) when he raps, “I’m bringing out the dead like a paramedic out the cage, directed by Marty / Frank Pierce, the gang’s here, welcome to the party.”

Meanwhile, on the track “Grim-Visaged War,” his DC Comics character Bane returns, with the Mobland actor reciting the “winter of our discontent” monologue from Richard III in his Bane voice, per Deadline. ​

There are also several references to author Stephen King on his track “Mad Technology,” which features Method Man. 

Most notably in the track, Hardy makes an NSFW reference to Kathy Bates in 1990’s Misery as he raps, “You s—for-brain no name lame, that bites like Cujo / I’d rather masturbate to Kathy Bates than hear you flow / And you know, that misery it, loves company.”

In the music video for the track, Frankie Pulitzer appears in a black jacket and a black-and-white zig-zag balaclava that fully covers his face as he raps alongside Czarface. 

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This may not be the first time fans have heard about Hardy’s love of rap. 

In January 2018, the 1999 mixtape the Venom actor made with Edward Tracy — the BAFTA-winning writer and director of the popular Fonejacker and Facejacker television shows — was released by Tracy. Hardy was known as “Tommy No 1.”

Tracy released the 18-track compilation on Bandcamp with the statement: “Made in a bedroom 1999 these mixtapes were never really finished. Lyrics written and performed by Tom Hardy. Music written and produced by Ed Tracy.”​

At the time, Tracy told Complex as to why he released the mixtape after nearly 20 years, “Last year, Tom asked me whether I still had the album kicking about in the loft. Lo and behold, here it is in all its rawness, just as it sounded then. He’ll be pleased with the reception it’s had today. We always said we’d do a Vegas tour as a joke. Maybe if this album generates enough love then we can coax Tom onstage.”

Hardy has previously revealed that his rapping goes all the way back to his teens. 

“I started out rapping when I was 14 or 15. Because I come from a nice middle-class neighborhood, it was a very hard sell. And I wasn’t very good!” he told BBC Newsbeat in September 2011.

“I used to be with the guy who managed Leela James and Lauryn Hill, Pras, the Fugees and all that. I worked with Warren Riker and Gordon Williams,” Hardy continued.

“I’ve recorded loads of stuff but it’s never been released. I’ve got albums, man,” he continued, adding, “It’ll come out in a film one day, it’ll come out in a character somewhere.”

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