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White mumble rapper5/31/2023 Two decades ago, the white man was rap’s persona non grata. But in 2021, during a time when the public is hyper-attuned to acts of cultural appropriation and performative allyship, Harlow’s mainstream popularity suggests that he may be doing something right, even while his appeal remains up for debate. It’s an eye-roll-worthy observation: Here’s another white boy in the rap game, who is charming and disarming enough to benefit from the cult of modern celebrity. His well-calibrated combination of humility and swagger has helped draw intrigue in a predominately Black genre. Much of his relevance, like that of most celebrities’, is predicated on appearance. ![]() It’s not just Harlow’s music that’s capturing public attention. Last year, Harlow was named Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year and one of Forbes’s 30 under 30 music honorees, after gracing the covers of GQ, Spin, and Complex. Magazine profiles and media accolades might carry diminishing weight in the age of social media, but they still are institutional benchmarks of an industry’s rising star. (“I had people in my corner that didn’t recommend I do that song, that don’t want to watch that video,” he told GQ.) But the song became his first No. Harlow said the collaboration with Lil Nas X, the gay Gen Z rap superstar, went against advice from some people close to him. His feature on “Industry Baby” earned Harlow his second Grammy nod. Harlow’s sound is heavily influenced by, even imitative, of veteran rappers like Drake his music can be breezy, imbued with “feel-good energy,” wisecracking wordplay, and intermittent doses of introspection. Perhaps most crucially, the success of “Whats Poppin” secured him his first Grammy nomination, leading Pitchfork to call him “the white rapper of the moment” in a brief, albeit backhanded review of the hit. Harlow’s debut album was not released until December, but he was already generating buzz as part of XXL Magazine’s “2020 Freshman Class,” a rap newcomer’s medal of recognition. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Whats Poppin,” a catchy viral single that popped off on TikTok, which anointed him as a new rapper to watch. ![]() Since 2020, his breakout year, Harlow landed a No. ![]() Harlow, whether you like his music or not, seems to be the latest iteration of that figure, judging by his growing shelf of accolades. They could be a flash-in-the-pan Soundcloud or TikTok artist, who either evolves into an industry mainstay or falls off the charts. Y’all shouldn’t have let me in.”Įvery so often, the music industry spits out a young, fresh-faced white rapper who manages to land a top spot on the Billboard 100 - by virtue of their lyricism, musicality, charisma, or perhaps more commonly today, internet fame. “I’m here, the world’s feeling what I’m doing,” elaborated the rapper in an interview with the lyric platform Genius. The music world has, over the past two years, certainly gassed up the 23-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, native, who is known for his inoffensive style and easygoing swagger. On Lil Nas X’s trumpet-blasting anthem “Industry Baby,” Jack Harlow begins his verse with a nod to his haters: “My track record so clean, they couldn’t wait to just bash me / I must be gettin’ too flashy, y’all shouldn’t let the world gas me.”
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