Rapper Jack Harlow emerged on the hip-hop scene within the 2020s, however the Louisville, Kentucky-bred MC was exhausting at work attempting to launch his profession for almost a decade earlier than then. To earn cash whereas he was promoting his personal mixtapes, Harlow obtained a job in meals service at Chick-fil-A.
Jack Harlow grew up in Louisville, Kentucky
Jack Harlow first began rapping in center college, and has had an appreciation for hip-hop since earlier than he was born: in a 2017 interview with Louisville journal, he revealed that his mother would play Eminem for him whereas he was nonetheless within the womb.
He admitted that he was known as a nerd due to the way in which that he understood phrases, which ended up serving to change into an knowledgeable rhymesmith down the road. “I grasped the power of speech and words super early, and that’s what got me into music,” he mentioned. “Writing rap is just expressing myself through language.”
In an interview with Forbes, he mentioned he felt pulled towards making rap music due to its skill to attach with folks. “The writing, the storytelling, the rhythm of it — I was so attracted to it,” he mentioned. “It made you move, made you dance, feel confident; it made you feel like the man.”
He advised The Breakfast Membership in 2022 that his mother ended up being a foundational a part of his profession. “She introduced me to rap,” he mentioned. “She was a really big rap fan growing up. She was at Public Enemy concerts and all that s*** in the ’90s… She loves hip-hop, so I owe her my introduction. So she loves that I do this.”
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Jack Harlow labored at Chick-fil-A earlier than changing into well-known
As he continued to file music as an underground rapper within the late 2010s, he moved to Atlanta with a few of his buddies within the hope of launching his profession. He recounted to The Breakfast Membership how he got here to satisfy file government DJ Drama, who finally signed the artist.
“I moved to Atlanta, six hours away from Louisville, so I was making drives to go down there to do open mics; anything I could do to get on. And I just had heard through the grapevine, ‘Yo, Drama wants to meet you,’” he recalled. “At the time, I’m working at Chick-fil-A at Georgia State. Me and my best friends had moved down, like I’m trying to meet anyone I could meet.”
When the hosts questioned how Harlow fared talking with prospects, he ensured them that he labored within the again getting ready meals and never at the register.
“They didn’t put me up front,” he clarified. “I wasn’t ‘My pleasure’ing! I was literally buttering buns.”
“If you’re doing it all day, you just want to get fast,” he laughed.
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Different artists have labored in quick meals earlier than
Harlow is only one of many celebrities who labored in quick meals earlier than occurring to attain greatness. President Barack Obama, for instance, scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Artists from Shania Twain and P!nk to Pharrell Williams and Lin-Manuel Miranda all labored at McDonald’s. And Madonna served espresso at Dunkin Donuts.
Williams mirrored on his expertise working at a number of McDonald’s areas in a 2021 interview with supermodel Naomi Campbell on her net collection No Filter with Naomi. “I wasn’t the best employee. I got fired every time from my McDonald’s jobs,” he mentioned bluntly. “I wasn’t very driven work-wise in my teen years.”