Actor Idris Elba asked Hollywood director Guy Ritchie if he could direct Rudimental’s new music video, London Burning.
Idris Elba enlisted Guy Ritchie to direct Rudimental’s new music video.
The 52-year-old actor appears on the track London Burning, taken from the new album by the drum-and-bass trio – Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon “Locksmith” Rolle – called RUDIM3NTAL, and they were shocked when they found out he asked the Hollywood director to work with them.
Piers told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “Idris Elba was in town and he came in the studio, and just started rapping. We had sent him the record and he loved it, and so it was just a real organic thing.
“But then in the middle of the studio session, he just calls Guy Ritchie, and he’s on a shoot, but Idris is like, ‘Have you ever done a music video? You should do their music video.’
“And so it was just a funny day because he was just casually calling Guy Ritchie, one of the best, most famous directors, a legend.”
Idris – best known for starring in the BBC thriller – sings on London Burning, which has been described as having a heavy sound.
Piers added: “It’s got like a Prodigy element to it. Which we are all big fans of, and it’s just a really, really great tune.”
Whilst Idris was working with Rudimental, Kesi decided to take the opportunity to ask if he could record a birthday message for his girlfriend.
He recalled: “He is one of the coolest people in Britain, and when he was with us, I got him to do a video for my girlfriend because it was her birthday the next day.
“That’s probably the best present I’ve ever given her, I didn’t even realise how much it would mean to her.”
And Piers said making RUDIM3NTAL was “a lot of fun”.
He added: “The album is drum and bass, some jungle flavours too, but it is our first fully drum and bass album, all the others have been multi-genre.
“It was a lot of fun to make that kind of album, and we’ve played a lot of it in our shows over the past two years.
“It does go off, yeah!”
