Right image via stereogum.com //

He could narrate anything…

It’s fair to say the world was slightly taken aback when we saw the trailer for 21 Savage & Metro Boomin’s Savage Mode II, the pair recruiting none other than Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman as narrator for the teaser. It totally worked too, the striking, raw visuals meshing perfectly with Freeman’s rich vocal cords. You’d think it’d end there, that Freeman would only have the time or desire for only a small teaser. But he actually ended up on multiple tracks on the album, and now he’s opened up on how the whole collaboration came to be.

Specifically, Freeman took the role to change it up from the usual “nice guy” roles he usually ends up in, saying “What happens is you sort of get locked into a position. Henry Fonda was in it, Spencer Tracy was in it, James Stewart was in it, even though he played a couple of bad guys. You don’t really don’t want to be cast into a mold, but after a few years, it’s bound to happen. Every [offer] that’s outside of what you consider [your] mold is fun to do. I got to jump at it.”

That’s more than fair enough, as Freeman is known as one of the main good guys of Hollywood, and I honestly can’t think of a villainous role he’s played. And it seems like his appearance on Savage Mode II required relatively little effort too, recording his parts at home using his iPhone. There was no improvisation as well, he just had to read from the script, which he described as having “some wisdom” in its core themes and values.

“I think this is the way I think. It’s basically saying don’t suffer fools and when you want something go for that,” the Oscar winner explained. “If Savage’s music is a young people thing, then this is stuff they need to be aware of. So it’s a good thing to do.”

Pretty sick, check out his appearance on some tracks from the album below.