Adolescence star reminds everyone of his music career as he performs outside McDonald’s
Jack of all trades.
Ashley Walters is the face of many epic TV shows in recent years, including Adolescence, Top Boy, Doctor Who and Missing You. But Gen Z is only just discovering his iconic music career as part of the So Solid Crew.
The actor, 42, was filmed by popular TikTok DJ, AG Online, rapping outside of King’s Cross station and drawing in quite the crowd, who nodded along enthusiastically to his impressive bars.
One comment that resonated with viewers by user Jems said, ‘Sad the gen of today only know him as Daushane,’ referring to Ashley’s Top Boy character.
‘Asha D coming with the bars, yeses,’ said eamalways, while Sean Sweeny said: ‘All the olders are out in the comments.’
MurtaghCrew added: ‘Sorry but the kids of today missed out big time.’
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Ashley – also known by his stage name Asher D – first rose to fame as a member of So Solid Crew, who hit the top spot on the UK charts in 2001 with 21 Seconds.
The below video contains swearing
He starred in Adolescence recently after getting the call up from his ‘friend and mentor’ Stephen Graham (Picture: Courtesy of Netflix)Consisting of dancers, singers, rappers and producers, So Solid Crew was formed in 1998 and are widely regarded as pioneers in the garage scene with songs including Ride Wid Us and Haters.
Founders Megaman, Romeo and Lisa Maffia formed the collective, as well as MC Harvey and Ashley.
The group suffered a number of major controversies in the early 2000s.
In the 2000s Ashley had a successful music career as part of So Solid Crew (Picture: Getty Images)Ashley spent time in jail in 2002 after he was caught carrying a loaded gun, and member Carl Morgan was jailed for murder three years later.
In November 2001 shots were heard at a So Solid Crew gig and performance dates petered out.
Most recently Ashley appeared in the hit Netflix show Adolescence – which has sparked a national conversation about the safety of school children in the UK – as DI Luke Bascombe.
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Previous Page Next PageThe show, each episode of which was incredibly shot in one take, follows Bascombe and The Miller family after 13-year-old Jamie Miller is arrested for stabbing a teenage girl to death.
Ashley has reflected that he initially regretted saying yes to his ‘friend and mentor’ Stephen Graham – who starred in Adolescence as distraught father Eddie Miller and also co-wrote it – due to the mammoth task of opening the series in one single 70-minute shot.
He called filming Adolescence ‘the hardest thing in the world’ while talking at the London premiere, explaining: ‘No, no it was. I was so insecure and it’s a lot. I had to learn the whole script.
‘Every day, Phil [Barantini, director] will tell you, I was in tears! Every day I was going home, crying in my script. Rocking, you know,’ he said of the harrowing script.
He also starred as Dushane in Top Boy (Picture: Chris Harris)Ashley told Metro that the police actually organised for him to go on a real raid in Liverpool to prepare for the role.
‘With the police in Liverpool, they arranged a trip for me. Phil [Adolescence director Philip Barantini] came and we literally went on a raid.’
He ‘jumped in the van with loads of armed police’ and drove to the person’s home.
‘I kind of stayed back, because obviously I was thinking, I shouldn’t be allowed to go inside. And the police were like, no, come in with us,’ Ashley recalled.
‘So literally, they had this guy handcuffed on the floor, and I’m walking around his house, and they’re looking for whatever they’re looking for. It was really crazy.’
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