As actor Tom Hardy will again star as Venom in another upcoming movie, he’s also spittin’ venom as an aspiring rap artist, having collaborated with Inspectah Deck of the Wu Tang Clan in releases as recent as December of 2023.
Hardy told the BBC back in 2011 that he was first offered a record deal at age 15 but ended up with a lot of unreleased music. The Official Tom Hardy YouTube channel has only 10 videos, but all were uploaded nine years ago, and most of them feature Hardy rapping.
Hardy’s lyrics touch on numerous topics, and even may shoutout 1990’s rap music in its style, such as his line “My mind’s playing tricks on me,” which sparks visions of the Geto Boys dancing in your head, or trick-or-treating when it’s not Halloween.
Maybe his best line from the small selection of videos is simply, “We have a vote but we don’t have a say.”
It’s difficult not to like this hip hop Hardy.
Any one of his songs have more words than his entire dialogue for Mad Max: Fury Road, in which he mostly grunts, though you now may watch the film hoping he starts rapping in the desolation of Australian dunes.
But the YouTube videos are just a small sample of Hardy’s hip hop output. In 2018, a mixtape of his called Falling On Your Arse resurfaced. It got some pretty big attention, despite being recorded back in 1999.
All of this interesting to learn, but it’s not just what he used to do. He’s still allegedly — almost certainly — still rapping, just under a different name.
It mostly started when people began to notice the similiarities between Hardy’s rap style and a mysterious rapper who appeared on the track “Today’s Special,” which also happens to be featured in the movie Venom: Let There Be Carnage, starring Tom Hardy as Venom.
It’s actually a song by Czarface, a rap group featuring Wu Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck as well as rapper Esoteric and producer 7L. The group has recorded 12 albums since 2013.
The mystery rapper is credited as “Face Puller,” which happens to be what Hardy changed his Instagram bio to shortly thereafter. His bio used to only read “Frankie Pulitzer,” and then Czarface released another track with that same mystery rapper, this time calling him Frankie Pulitzer.
If you visit Tom Hardy’s Instagram, you’ll notice it still reads, “Face Puller,” under his name.
Instagram plays another role in uncovering the mystery, thanks to rapper Vinnie Paz. He once posted a photo of Esoteric and Tom Hardy at his studio after a recording session, and he referred to Hardy in the post as Frankie Pulitzer.
On the 2022 Czarface album Czarmageddon, Pulitzer is featured on the track titled “The Czarlaac Pit.” Then in December of 2023, Pulitzer is featured on another Czarface track, this time titled “Frenzy in a Far Off Car,” from the Czartifical Intelligence album.
In poor attempts to keep Pulitzer’s identity a secret, Esoteric once said that Pulitzer is not Hardy, but “some guy from Boston.” Let’s just say that the difference between Boston and London accents is so great that it’s likely impossible to pristinely imitate one of them while rapping.
Hardy hasn’t exactly admitted to anything, but the evidence is overwhelming and he and Czarface are likely enjoying keeping it a mystery.
Hopefully, Tom Hardy — sorry — Frankie Pulitzer blesses us all with more original music soon.
“Now whatcha doin’ carrying guns upon the streets, son / you were no hoodlum, you was a good one / you were no hoodlum, now you’re a victim.”
Indeed, Frankie “goes to Hollywood” Pulitzer is a prize.