Jack Harlow is BACK !

J A C K H J A C K H J A C K H J A C K H J A C K H J A C K H

A R L O W A R L O W A R L O W A R L O W A R L O W A R L O W

PHOTOGRAPHER CALEB Story by Greg

Jack Harlow is as regular as a guy you will meet. Chances are you have a friend or know someone named Jack who wears New Balances and has curly hair. The thing is your friend probably is not signed to the label owned by two legendary mixtape D.J.s, has not toured the country, and cannot rap...sorry. Depending on your age bracket, you may be out of touch with the under 25 rappers. Harlow is 21, which in rap a genre where artists go platinum at 16, oddly makes him a super senior, if we are speaking in academic terms. But enough of that, back to the story. Harlow is from Louisville, Kentucky, hip-hop/r&b wise think Bryson Tiller. Tiller deserves mention when discussing Harlow. He proved you could make it out of Louisville by making urban music. Harlow who now splits times between Atlanta and Louisville is revered in hometown, "A couple of months ago they had billboards of me around my hometown Louisville the feeling was amazing."

After signing to Generation Now, Harlow relocated to Atlanta, which shocker is vastly different from Louisville. "Atlanta changed my music a lot, said Harlow. When I came to Atlanta, I started experimenting with different stuff, messed with that a little bit. Now I am cooling off with that. But the main thing I saw was how the music moved people. I went to the club and saw how artists record. I saw a lot of artists were freestyling. That changed how I recorded. I didn't have to think as much I went off feeling. It revolutionized my sound. My last project was a lot more carefree; Atlanta gave me that fun factor."

While finding his new sound, Harlow made sure to retain his roots. His music, while influenced by his setting, still barrows traditional hip-hop techniques and values such as Authenticity. Authenticity is not what it used to be in the 90s when you had to live your raps. Today's era has been the dubbed the "clout era" where an artist will do anything for attention regardless of the consequences. In the short term, the tactic can be successful, yet proves to be rather wasteful to retain long term success. When you examine hip-hop, you see the most popular rappers are lyrical and do not clout cash, Drake, Kendrick, and J. Cole. This formula appealed to Harlow, "I guess the thing is not to become a novelty act, says Harlow. "Rest in peace to Mac Miller; he was such an authentic artist. People accepted him for who he was because they believed him. He was real to himself and to the people, at the end of the day people want something authentic."

His authenticity led to collaborations with the Tiller as mentioned earlier, and California by way of Connecticut artist, Felly. Much like how Drake has O.V.O., Kanye has Yeey, Donda, and G.O.O.D., and Jay-z has Roc Nation Harlow wants to have his media/ creative hub. He calls it private Garden, "Private Garden bigger than a record label or collective. It could become anything like how Virgin is more than records and airline a hub for anything creative, clothing, and any form of media. It has the potential to be anything. It's an organic group of friends that came together with love

for creativity."