Jack Harlow Avoids Rapping About Being White For a Specific Reason

Jack Harlow has seemingly come out of nowhere lately. The Kentucky-bred rapper has collaborated with the likes of Lil Nas X, Lil Wayne, and Large Sean, and has been onerous at work for practically a decade.

Jack Harlow | Billie Weiss/Boston Pink Sox/Getty Photographs

Jack Harlow is a breakout Gen-Z rapper

Harlow burst onto the hip-hop scene in 2020 along with his high-profile collaborations with big-name rappers, in addition to his solo songs corresponding to “Tyler Herro” and “What’s Poppin.” However in actuality, he’s been making music for for much longer than that.

Harlow was nonetheless in center college when he launched his debut mixtape, Further Credit score, in 2011. He continued to launch mixtapes all through the 2010s and launched his debut EP The Good-looking Harlow in 2015. He launched his second EP, Candy Motion, in March 2020, and in December of that yr, he launched his debut album, That’s What They All Say.

In 2021, Harlow earned his first number-one single as a featured artist for Lil Nas X’s hit tune “Industry Baby.” Previous to that, his tune “What’s Poppin” peaked at quantity two on the chart.

Rapper Jack Harlow performs on stage during weekend two of the Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park
Jack Harlow | Jim Bennett/FilmMagic

Jack Harlow doesn’t rap about being white

In his music, Harlow has rapped about life, love, and lust, however doesn’t allude to the truth that he’s a white rapper in a traditionally Black style. He informed British GQ in October 2021 about that particular choice and why he chooses to keep away from discussing his race.

“I think what has worked for me is that my music has never been about the fact that I am white,” he mentioned. “I don’t try to lean into the, ‘Hey, I’m the white boy.’ I try not to make it a novelty. I rap from the heart, rather than trying to do a white version of the art form.”

In the identical interview, he commented that the idea of race gave the impression to be much less stigmatized or mentioned within the UK versus the US. “It’s interesting because it seems like there’s more of a counterculture mix going on here,” he mentioned. “In Britain, I see a lot more interracial dating. I see a lot more white kids hanging with Black kids. It seems a lot more common over here. So the people that are into hip-hop, it’s not such a select crowd. I mean it is mainstream over there, too, but it’s like there’s still so much segregation.”

Jack Harlow grew up with many Black pals

Earlier in 2021, Harlow spoke to HipHopDX about being a white rapper and the way it feels to be the frontman of Personal Backyard, his impartial report label that began as a collective of his childhood pals who’re largely Black.

“Even though it’s something we don’t really think about that often, it is still real and present,” he admitted. “The fact that we’re different in that way. We’re genetically different. We’re different in general and everyone notices race and it’s real and it’s touchy and it’s something I never really talked about in my songs. Everyone sees it.”

“Everyone sees that I have a collective of guys that are mostly Black, and now they’re in my videos, and they support me and stand next to me and we’re family,” he continued. “We’ve contributed to this together, but it’s never been something I’ve discussed. It’s almost been something that I let other people comment but I never talked about.”

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