Creed III has been praised since its release last Friday. In particular for its performance from Jonathan Majors, who plays Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson, a former friend of Adonis who spent 18 years behind bars and who has his sights set on becoming a heavyweight boxing champ after his release. In a recent interview with Majors, the 33-year-old actor said that Nipsey Hussle’s music helped him prepare for his role.
Majors said in a recent interview with Slashfilm that in order to prepare for the role, he had to listen to music that he thought his character would most likely listen to. This included music from west coast rap legends, 2Pac and Nipsey Hussle.
“All of Nipsey’s stuff was really helpful. They’re from the same area, Dame and him, so that’s cool,” Majors said. “There’s also dialect work, and so he’s rapping in his L.A. sound. The things he’s talking about are things that resonate with the world that Dame comes from, so that was very helpful.”
He added: “There’s other songs that come from your subconscious that touch you in a way that can align you. You write that song next to the top of the page or whatever, and there’s playlist upon playlist upon playlist. Those can curate it into ‘This is that scene’ or ‘This is that moment.’”
For those that saw the movie, you would know that Nipsey’s music made it into the film. Spoiler alert: in his first fight after being released, Dame comes out to Nipsey’s “Grindin’ All My Life,” and in his second fight, he comes out to “Last Time That I Checc’d.”
