Idris Elba names ‘Luther’ inspired album ‘Murdah Loves John’

New album inspired by BBC1 drama will "feel like you’re driving around to a soundtrack that reminds of the UK"

Actor and musician Idris Elba has said that the album he is working on inspired by his TV show Luther will make listeners feel like they are driving through London when they listen to it.

Idris Elba, who has appeared in the Academy Award-nominated Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, revealed that he is working on an album inspired by his Luther character, John Luther, earlier this year.

SEE MORE: Idris Elba confirms ‘Luther’ Season Four is in the can – watch

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Speaking in a new interview, Elba explained how the album came about: “From an actor’s point of view, doing music is very precarious. People are just not willing to accept it. So I decided to keep my music close to what I do for a living, and make music from the perspective of the characters that I play. My first album was ‘mi Mandela’, which was a perspective on that character and that film. ‘Murdah Loves John’ is a perspective on my John Luther character.”

He continued: “London’s a big character in Luther, and I’m trying very hard to make this album, when you put it in your car, to feel like you’re driving around to a soundtrack that reminds of the UK, and of London especially. I’m going to get a lot of new artists and voices that we haven’t heard before, and bring together a cool album.”

Elba also spoke to Fact about the his recent remix of Skepta single ‘Shutdown’.

“I just sent out word to Skepta on Twitter, but I didn’t expect him to pay attention or listen,” he said. “Then the management teams got together. I said, ‘send me the instrumental’ and they did, so I said ‘fuck it’ and I did it. Before you know it, I just sent it to Skepta and he loved it. Before he’d even heard the verse he said, ‘I’m gonna have Idris on the remix.’ At that point the pressure was on, so I had to deliver.”

The track sees Elba namecheck Stringer Bell, the character he played in US TV series The Wire as he raps: “See that Wire? Shut it down/Ain’t nobody else selling brown/Ain’t nobody else Stringer Bell/Boy from the East End did well.”


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