Hollywood star Tom Hardy has turned his long-held passion for rap into a 15-track album, stepping behind the microphone under the name "Frankie Pulitzer.” Created in collaboration with hip-hop group Czarface, the album also features major names including Busta Rhymes and Method Man.

We have seen Tom Hardy fight, move through the criminal underworld, share a body with Venom and speak from behind Bane’s mask. Now, he has taken the microphone.

The actor released "Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer,” a rap album he made with Czarface under the name "Frankie Pulitzer.” Released Aug. 28, the 15-track album features Hardy alongside prominent hip-hop artists including Busta Rhymes, Method Man and EL-P.

Perhaps the most entertaining part is that Hardy makes no attempt to separate his cinematic past from his music. The lyrics are packed with references to Marvel and DC characters, directors, actors and cult films. On "Grim-Visaged War,” he even returns to the voice of Bane, his character from "The Dark Knight Rises,” to perform an excerpt from Shakespeare’s "Richard III.”

Hardy is not simply making a rap album; he is bringing the characters that shaped his film career into his music.

And this is hardly a sudden creative detour.

Hardy has said that his relationship with rap began long before his acting career. At 15, he landed a record deal as a rapper. Tracks he recorded as a teenager under the name "Tommy No 1” surfaced online in 2018.

His connection with Czarface also goes back several years. Since 2021, Hardy has appeared on some of the group’s projects, sometimes hiding behind different names. With the new album, however, the disguise appears to have become part of the act rather than a way to stay out of the spotlight.

This time, Hardy did more than make a guest appearance on a few tracks. He placed his rap persona at the center of a full-length album, working alongside artists firmly rooted in hip-hop culture rather than simply releasing a celebrity side project.

Actors crossing into music is nothing new. What makes Hardy’s story different is that rap was never an afterthought or a promotional extension of his Hollywood career. The microphone was there before Hollywood.

Hollywood simply kept it in the shadows for years.