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'We'd make records of us rapping': Idris Elba talks about dropping beats with The Wire co-stars as he admits roles after Mandela were 'disappointing'

Published: 18:30 EST, 13 August 2014 | Updated: 04:33 EST, 14 August 2014

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The Wire has come up in many a rap song since it hit the small screen in 2002, but it looks the stars of the show were dropping beats too.

In a new interview with Details magazine, Idris Elba - who played Russell 'Stringer' Bell in the gritty HBO series - says that he and a few castmates would get together to lay down some rap tracks.

'Me and Wood Harris, who played Avon, and Hassan Johnson, who played Wee Bey, we'd book out a studio and make records of us rapping,' the British actor explained.

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Dropping beats: Idris Elba said he used to record raps with his The Wire co-stars in the new issue of Details

'I'd make the beats and chords - just fun, freestyle stuff.'

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As well as enjoying an expansive movie career which has seen him nominated for Golden Globes as Nelson Mandela and for his TV work in Luther, Idris is also a DJ who will play in Ibiza this summer.

But since his role as the late president of South Africa, Elba admits he's found it hard to find parts as artistically challenging.

Idris Elba's incredible performance as Nelson Mandela

Disappointing: The actor said he's found it hard to find roles as challenging as Nelson Mandela

Back in the Big Smoke: Idris has moved back to London after 15 years in America

Filming: He's currently filming One Hundred Streets in London with Gemma Arterton

Exclusive: Read the full interview in the new issue of Detail magazine out now

'You know, I'd just played this iconic human being, and the scripts I got afterward were sort of… disappointing,' the actor said.

'Look, I know that I work a lot, but I'd prefer to wait sometimes because I don't want to just do rubbish films anymore or characters that anyone can play.'

He's recently been filming on location in London, in One Hundred Streets opposited Gemma Arterton, having moved back to his hometown after 15 years across the pond.

'It's fascinating now, being back here,' Idris explains. 'It's a real check-up, you know? I haven't lived here for 15 years, but there's a familiar feeling I have from before I went to America.'

'This is where my ambition started, you know? I fell in love with a movie - some live-action Spider-Man at the Rio in Shoreditch. Saturday-matinee situation, kids climbing' all over. But I was just fascinated. I knew from age 10 that this was the industry I wanted to be in.'

'It's a hunger to get there. I have it here. I feel it again.'

Meanwhile, Idris is set to DJ in his hometown at West London's first ever music festival Good Times In The Park next month.

He will join a host of big names including Groove Armada, Chaka Khan, David Rodigan, Brand New Heavies, Goldie, Dub Pistols and Ms Dynamite at Wormword Scurbs Park, in a new festival created by DJ legend Norman Jay MBE on September 13-14.

• Read the full interview in the new issue of Detail magazine out now.

All fired up! Idris Elba shoots high energy scenes with a gun