NEW YORK (AP) — A$AP Rocky had no idea Denzel Washington was going to throw Nas at him.

Midway through Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” a New York riff on Akira Kurosawa’s “High to Low,” wealthy music executive David King (Washington) has cornered aspiring rapper Yung Felon (Rocky) after he tried to kidnap King's son. They meet in a music studio. A rap battle ensues.

While the scene was scripted, much of what Washington freestyled — mixing in lines from Nas, Tupac, DMX and others — startled his professional rapper co-star.

“I’m like: How does this man know who Moneybagg Yo is?” Rocky says, sitting alongside Washington.

“And I’m 70,” Washington says with a grin.

“Highest 2 Lowest,” which A24 releases in theaters Friday, two weeks before it lands on Apple TV+, is a heist thriller t

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