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The Rise of Jack Harlow has been one of hip-hop’s most curious stories over the past two years. So far in 2022 he had a huge pop hit, “First class,” and released his second major label album, “Come Home the Kids Miss You”, which debuted at number 3. He is one of the biggest emerging hip-hop stars and one who pursues purely centrist goals.
He is also white, and this is necessarily fraught terrain; The rollout of Harlow’s album was not without problems. But more interesting are his goals – not to be a crossover pop star who sidesteps the hip-hop mainstream, but to create a version of hip-hop that is very different from its black peers, and be accepted for it.
In this week’s Popcast, a talk about Harlow’s musical decisions, the touch-and-go aspects of his album rollout, and the long history of white rappers and the varying degrees of embrace they’ve achieved.
Guests:
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Hunter Harris, author of the Hung Up newsletter
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Larisha Paul, who writes about music for Billboard, The Fader and others
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Peter Rosenberg, host on Hot 97 (WQHT-FM) in New York and host of the podcast “Juan Ep Is Life”
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