‘BMF’: Lamar Actor Eric Kofi Abrefa Revealed How He Prepared to Portray the Gangster
BMF is Starz’s latest crime drama series. The show centers on the real-life story of the infamous Flenory brothers. Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory (Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr.) and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory (Da’Vinchi) began selling drugs as teens in Detroit. Their business exploded amid the crack cocaine epidemic, and then they went on to expand their business into other cities like Los Angeles and Atlanta.
However, the Flenorys also encountered obstacles, including people like Eric Kofi Abrefa’s Lamar. The actor just revealed how he prepared to portray the unhinged gangster on BMF.
Lamar from ‘BMF’ is based on a real person
When it came to creating the character Lamar, BMF showrunner and creator Randy Huggins based him on several different people. He wanted to make a composite of some of the individuals that Big Meech and Southwest T encountered in Detroit in the ’80s.
Huggins also wanted to highlight mental health awareness and how little we knew about certain illnesses during the time period. “It’s not just a drug show,” Huggins told TVLine. “We delve into mental illness with Lamar. Back in the 1980s, when [President] Reagan closed all those state-run mental health facilities, people like Lamar were released with nowhere else to go. He may have gone in the asylum thinking it was easier than prison, but he was probably already mentally ill and got worse.”
Eric Kofi Abrefa revealed what it took to portray Lamar
A British-born actor who has starred in everything from Fury to Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom, Abrefa is nothing at all like his character. However, he used his knowledge of Black America in the ’80s and ’90s to step into his role.
“I knew how much impact they’ve had on hip-hop culture and stuff, especially in the early 2000s,” he told Digital Spy. “You always heard the name Big Meech circling around, and I’ve seen a couple documentaries on them and stuff,” he said. “Getting to know them now is mind-blowing in terms of the things that both of the brothers achieved and where they came from.”
The actor made sure he did his research when approaching the character. “I was just looking at some articles, publications,” he explained. “Our showrunner Randy Huggins was sending me things just to kind of look over. Things about Detroit because it’s set in the ’80s, so we kind of had to go research like that period in time. It went from there really. My character’s loosely based on someone, and I was given, you know, some heads up about him and stuff like that, which was good to kind of get my teeth sunk into.”
Will Lamar be in Season 2 of ‘BMF’?
Lamar is currently out for vengeance after Big Meech and Southwest T put him on the outs with his ex-girlfriend Monique (Arkeisha “Kash Doll” Knight). But fans want to know if we will see more of the hot-tempered gangster in season 2.
“You have to wait and see,” Kofi-Abrefa said to Digital Spy about his character possibly appearing in BMF Season 2. “Again, like (laughs), all of these things are not in my control. You never know. Like, it’s been, it’s been awesome working with STARZ, it’s been awesome working in the kind of the Power Universe that 50 Cent’s created. And there’s gonna be a lot more, I feel coming through. Because like there’s a lot of, it’s got a massive audience for it. You never know it could end up being like a Marvel thing well Marvel for, you know.”
