‘BMF’: Lamar Actor Reveals How He Perfected His American Accent
Most fans recognize Eric Kofi-Abrefa for his role on BMF, the Starz crime drama series following the criminal organization helmed by brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory. But did you realize that he’s actually British? The actor, who plays Lamar, spoke in an interview about his role on the show and revealed how he was able to perfect his American accent.
Kofi-Abrefa on ‘BMF’
Kofi-Abrefa was born in the United Kingdom, per Parle Magazine. He reportedly took an interest in acting early on and rose to prominence after appearing in projects such as Fury (2014) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). Kofi-Abrefa told Digital Spy that he’d “always” heard about the Black Mafia Family growing up and decided to do the show after connecting with showrunner Randy Huggins.
“I knew how much impact they’ve had on hip-hop culture and stuff, especially in the early 2000s,” he said of the brothers. “You always heard the name Big Meech circling around, and I’ve seen a couple documentaries on them and stuff. Getting to know them now is mind-blowing in terms of the things that both of the brothers achieved, and where they came from.”
As far as how he got the job, he said he first learned of it through reports. “I was just looking at some articles, publications,” he shared. “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,” he added.
How he perfected his American accent
Going on, the actor shared how he was able to nail the Detroit accent.
“I’d always say like I was brought up in the ’90s, and in the ’90s, we were just dominated by American TV, like Nickelodeon, Disney channels and all that kind of stuff, and hip-hop music,” he explained. “So, I guess, my ears was very like tuned to it, you know, because that’s what we were listening to all the time. And African American culture was like Black mecca for like, every Black person around the world.”
“That was maybe my foundation,” he continued, “but in terms of this it was just like when I was on set, I kind of would speak in the accent, more time than not. Just to get the muscularity around my mouth for it, because if I was to speak a little bit that way and then switch it, it can kind of muddle up. As weird [and] as corny as it felt sometimes, you just had to push through.”
Since the premiere of BMF, Lamar has emerged as one of the most interesting characters on the show. He has it out for the Flenorys and, as Kofi-Abrefa teased to Digital Spy, will do whatever to get what he wants.
“There is no limit, I don’t think there is. He’s really calculative. And when it comes to getting what he needs to get, he’s gonna get it by any means necessary. And that’s fun,” he said.
“It’s more so the writers, the writers write it and I look here and I’m like, ‘really, we’re doing this,'” he went on. “But it’s fun. Nah, nah, it’s fun, it’s really been great playing him.”
‘BMF’ is streaming now
BMF airs at 8 p.m. ET on Sundays on Starz. The series has also been greenlit for a second season, but it’s unclear who will be involved. Asked by Digital Spy if he would appear in BMF Season 2, Kofi-Abrefa wouldn’t give a direct answer. He would only say: “You have to wait and see.”
The next episode of BMF will air on Sunday, Nov. 7. Stay tuned.
