Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter pictured at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival. | Source: Samir Hussein / Getty
Jay-Z is fighting for the Black community on several different fronts, most recently supporting upcoming film The Harder They Fall.
Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors and more of the most famous Black actors in the world right now star in the western for Netflix. The outlaw tale comes just after Elba told the emotional story of the real-life Fletcher Street Riders in Concrete Cowboy — and Jay-Z, who is friends with The Harder They Fall director Jeymes Samuel, is on as a producer.
Hitting the BFI London Film Festival in support of the film this week, Hov talked about why the movie is important and more.
“Just to see us represented, you know, with a lot of films we didn’t see ourselves in Westerns, as if we didn’t exist. It is almost odd, people think that it’s like a caricature, that they are playing roles, but they’re not playing roles,” he told PA Media according to HipHopDX, adding “These names like Stagecoach Mary, all the actors in this, they really existed in this time, so just see us represented and see that we have voices. There were so many towns that people didn’t know about, so to bring interesting stories to the big screen, and also educate, any time you can do that is just a blessing.”
‘The Harder They Fall’ stars Regina King, Deon Cole, and Idris Elba pictured with producer Jay-Z at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival. Source: David M. Benett / Getty
Just as funny and witty as he is disciplined and business-oriented, Jay’s response to whether or not he could ride a horse was: “I can ride a Porsche.. it’s got horsepower.”
Ha! Check out the trailer and official synopsis for the film below, courtesy of Netflix. The Harder They Fall is due in select theaters October 22 and will hit the streamer November 3.
Synopis: “When outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being released from prison he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. Those riding with him in this assured, righteously new school Western include his former love Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), his right and left hand men — hot-tempered Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and fast drawing Jim Beckwourth (R.J. Cyler)—and a surprising adversary-turned-ally. Rufus Buck has his own fearsome crew, including “Treacherous” Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield), and they are not a group that knows how to lose.”
