Ashley Walters - Top Boy

London Real

Brian Rose

Investing, Cardano, Crypto, Bitcoin, Brianrose, Ethereum, Londonreal, Technology, Cryptocurrency, Business, Defi

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2014

⏱️ 117 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ashley Walters is a man wise beyond his years. Take a look at his CV and you will quickly understand why. At age 19 he became part of the UK Hip Hop group So Solid Crew and scored with the #1 single "21 seconds" (performing it in front of 70,000 people) only to go to prison for gun possession one year later. Upon release he starred with rapper 50 Cent in the movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" and most recently has taken on the lead role of "Top Boy", a street crime drama set right here in Hackney that many call "The Wire" of London.

And he's only 31 years old.

Ashley is the very first actor ever on London Real and if I was expecting a scripted, image conscious performance I was sadly mistaken. A self-described introvert, Ashley walked me through the emotions he felt when he became a member of So Solid Crew and why that situation was ultimately untenable. "When I got caught with the gun I was out of control" he explained, "My paranoia had gone through the roof."

What I like most about Ashley is that he is a survivor, and his story is one of hope. Whether you're a Londoner or not, black or white, rich or poor, old or young, there is something about his life that will resonate with your human experience.

And that is what London Real is ultimately all about.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week on London Real, we have the English actor and rapper Ashley Walters.
0:07.0	When I got to be a part of soul solid, it wasn't necessarily about music.
0:11.0	It was about having a family. It was about having a
0:13.7	having a group of like-minded people that I felt so protected in that crew.
0:17.6	No one could touch me.
0:18.8	I was now a member of a gang.
0:21.0	If I'm honest, I feared for my life so I just thought I'm getting a gun
0:25.6	but I understood that you didn't go to the police and say I'm being threatened as a young
0:30.0	black man you know what I mean in those areas, you don't with your problem yourself.
0:34.0	Boom by the...
0:35.0	I've never understood why we can go into places like Afghanistan Iraq or whatever shoot at the place
0:44.6	Kilbin Lardin do this do that or whatever but we can't stop gun crime in
0:48.3	in Peckham. I'm sitting in the back of the car with 50 cents they put on the presidential lights on the car
0:56.6	whoa driving through traffic cutting through this is like it's like a movie
1:11.6	I got angry, I cried, I called my mom, I got insecure, I went through all these different emotions. 26 years old.
1:14.0	You got nothing else to be except this.
1:16.0	My temper is that bad.
1:18.0	I don't seem to have a middle gear.
1:21.0	I get a red mist and I become someone else like I and the
1:26.7	scariest thing is I don't like I don't fear the consequences You really have to be prepared for rejection and understand that that doesn't mean that you're no good and that you should stop.
1:38.0	It means that you should keep on trying.
1:42.0	London Real presents Ashley Walters top boy.
	...

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