Omoniyi Raphael, a Nigerian rapper better known by his stage name Zlatan Ibile, has admitted that it took him months to get the hang of his part in the Gangs of Lagos movie.

In the criminal thriller Kash, the hip-hop musician portrayed a legendary gangster. He noted how challenging it was to play his part.

Zlatan Ibile said to the host of a recent interview with media personality Samuel Eni that it took him months to learn the karate moves for the film.

He also admitted to taking a break from music to concentrate on perfecting his performance in the movie that debuted on April 7, 2023.

In Zlatan’s words:

“I have always wanted to act. I had a picture in my head. But I didn’t want it to be just any kind of movie. So, when I was called up that they wanted me to be in a movie by Amazon Prime, I said, ‘Yes, this is the actual one I want.’

“It took me months to go learn those Jet Li moves, Jackie Chan moves. It was stressful a little bit. I took out my time. I had to like pause recording music for a while. It took us like two months or so and then we rounded up [with the shooting of the movie]. The movie was shot in 2021.”