While promoting his fourth studio album ‘Monica,’ Louisville, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow claims he and his sound “got Blacker” than his last few projects. He also talks about graduating from “The School of Drake.”
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Before March 2026’s ‘Monica,’ Harlow dropped ‘Jackman.‘ in 2023, ‘Come Home the Kids Miss You‘ in 2022, and his debut studio album, ‘Thats What They All Say‘ in 2020. During a recent interview with the New York Times’ Popcast, Harlow, born Jackman Thomas Harlow, admitted that his sound has changed from his three studio albums.
While his fellow White counterparts and peers in rap debut in the genre, gain success, and run back to a “Whiter genre,” like Country or Rock, Harlow says he’s diving deeper into Black culture and music, which he loves. He said:
“I got Blacker… It certainly made what I wanted to do even more appealing. Absolutely. I think I love Black music. I love the sound of Black music. And, of course, I’m hyper-aware of the politics of today—that safer landing spot that a lot of my White contemporaries have found. And, of course it appealed to me to do something that I felt like, at a time when there’s plenty of people expecting to take the same of the routes [others have taken], to take the route that not only might not be expected, but is also the one I genuinely want to take. So, all the stars aligned in that way for me, to be honest. I’m not going to pretend like what you’re talking about, I was like, ‘Huh, I guess you’re right.’ I knew that there were multiple things appealing about this route. But I also came to the decision, I’m proud to say, off of what feels good to my ear. I love R&B music. I love the sound of soft, intimate, melodic music. So, I want to be understood. I want to write melodies that invite people to sing along.”
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Additionally, Harlow said that on his new album, he and his team made a few rules. One of those included no rapping. He said:
“I’ve been recording a project for two years after ‘Jackman‘ and it wasn’t exciting me. I didn’t feel like I was working on something that would surprise people. And I took a few weeks off because I was getting to the point where I was dreading going to the studio. And I thought about what do I actually want to do? What would what would intrigue me?
You get to a point where as much as you’re trying to find yourself your voice, you’re also hoping to escape yourself. So, I think as I’m getting older, I’m having more trouble reconciling being braggadocious on record and it’s a pillar of Rap. It’s part of the reason why I love Rap music, is the braggadocio of it. But, I think I spent some time thinking about how can I make something that’s true to me and lean away from that.
So, we had a lot of rules. [1.] No braggadocio. You know, what makes Stevie Wonder‘s music age so well is it’s all infused with love. Ego can sometimes make music age poorly. Obviously, there’s exceptions. There’s plenty of Rap songs where people are talking sh*t that are aging like fine wine. [2.] No cursing, not for any purity reasons. Zero curse words. Just to challenge the writing just so there was no crutches. [3.] No digital instruments, except drums. [4.] And then, no rapping was probably the last.”
While one Popcast host debates there was no rapping, just singing on the album, the other says there was rapping, but singy-rap, categorized under “Melodic Rap.” Harlow agreed, “As long as it was melodic. Everything had to have melody, I guess is the best way to put it. But in shorthand, we were saying no rapping.”
Jack Harlow Says He ‘Absolutely’ Graduated From ‘The School Of Drake’
Harlow also talks about graduating from “The School of Drake.” He said:
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more concerned with finding my voice and finding the way I want to move as an artist. And I think I’m much more averse to mimicry or anything that feels derivative than I was in the past. I think I was so determined to achieve a certain thing and land in a certain place that maybe the spot I wanted to land in my head wasn’t as nuanced as it is now.
And I think that individuality is what appeals to me more, which is maybe why I’m willing to make a project like ‘Jackman’ and ‘Monica,’ which you know have their own qualities of influence, but I’m looking to carve out my own island and I’m less concerned with how immediately big I can make that island.
So, I think early in my career, I was split between do I want to be an entertainer or artist? Do I want to be a celebrity or artist? I have now chosen artist. So, I’m focusing on the artistry. And if that means suddenly we intertwine celebrity and entertainer back into that, that’s wonderful. I think naturally that can happen.
I’d like to think I can do that, but I just became interested in saying, ‘Okay, what if I’m a little less self-indulgent?’ Especially, because I know that’s closer, a little closer, to the person I like to be. You run into someone, it’s nice to know that your art doesn’t feel like that much of a departure. And I go by my government name. I mean, my entire career path is me been trying to get closer and closer to capturing who I actually am.”
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