I think it’s safe to say Jack Harlow is having a great week. The new trailer for White Men Can’t Jump, in which he stars, looks great, and he’s more than a comedic match in the teaser for Dave that came out yesterday. So, even having Beavis & Butt-Head, those icons of the ’90s counter-culture hating on probably can’t bring him down.
In the recently rebooted show, which is now streaming on Paramount +, the two foul-mouthed slackers bestow Harlow with their trademark snark as they watch the video for Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby.” “This video’s, like, really groundbreaking because Jack Harlow’s not in it,” Butt-Head intones, just before Harlow hits the screen for his oft-remarked-upon guest verse. “Euuugh, nevermind.”
In another episode, the duo also regards Audrey Nuna‘s “Comic Sans” video, which Harlow also guests in. “If Jack Harlow was tattooing me,” Butt-Head jokes, “I’d have him tattoo ‘Jack Harlow sucks.’” Well, you know what they say: All publicity is good publicity.
Despite B&B‘s harsh judgment, it looks very much like the world’s going to be getting all the Jack Harlow it can handle. In addition to working on his third album, Jack’s also landed his next movie role alongside Matt Damon and continues to see his music reach new milestones. I wrote this earlier today, but it’s a bad week for Harlow haters.
Watch the first episode of Beavis & Butt-Head above. The show will stream weekly on Paramount +.
At only 12 years old, Jack Harlow showed an interest in music, thanks to his mother, who exposed him to hip-hop. Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, he made music with his friend Sharath using a Hero microphone and a laptop. They reportedly made their first CD, Rippin and Rappin, as kids, which they sold in middle school. From early on, a music career was something Harlow wanted to do.
Harlow gained attention with his mixtapes, including Finally Handsome in 2014 and 18 in 2016. By 2017, Harlow signed a deal with the record label Generation Now, founded by DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and Leighton “Lake” Morrison. Generation Now is in partnership with Atlantic Records, which has also helped boost Lil Uzi Vert’s career. Harlow’s earlier releases gained popularity and helped him expand his following on his social media platforms. He was also praised for his lyrical ability and unique style.
Gaining Attention
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 12: Jack Harlow performs crowd-favorite songs. At the “American Express Presents: Louisville by Jack Harlow” Member Week Celebration at Brooklyn Steel. On October 12, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for American Express)
Harlow’s 2018 mixtape, Loose, helped him further solidify his fan base. It paved the way for this major-label debut album, That’s What They All Say, released in 2020. The album featured hit singles such as “What’s Poppin” and “Tyler Herro.” This also propelled him into the mainstream and cemented his place in the rap game. Although his career is relatively new, Harlow has managed to have a stacked discography. His studio albums include That’s What They All Say (2020) and Come Home The Kids Miss You (2022). Also, he has six mixtapes: Extra Credit (2012), Finally Handsome (2014), 18 (2016), Gazebo (2017), Loose (2018), and Confetti (2019). Moreover, he released two EPs, The Handsome Harlow (2015) and Sweet Action (2020).
Industry Baby Success
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 03: Jack Harlow and Lil Nas X attend the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 03, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Harlow’s musical growth with Lil Nas X can be traced back to their collaboration on the latter’s album Montero. The song “Industry Baby” became a huge hit gaining 1.7 billion listens on Spotify. In the song, Harlow references his Louisville roots and rise to fame. Jack Harlow has continued to evolve as an artist through his collaborations with Lil Nas X. His growth has been praised by fans and critics alike, and he has established himself as one of the most exciting young artists in the rap game today.
His debut studio album, That’s What They All Say, became a commercial success—debuting at No. 5 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Harlow has also won several awards and nominations throughout his career. In 2020, he won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Later, he was nominated for the BET Hip Hop Award for Best New Hip Hop Artist. He’s also been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Performance for “What’s Poppin (Remix)” featuring Lil Wayne, DaBaby, and Tory Lanez.
In addition to his musical success, Harlow has also gained a significant following on social media, with over 6.6 million followers on Instagram alone. He has also been featured in numerous high-profile campaigns and collaborations with brands such as Adidas and McDonald’s.
Harlow’s Influence
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 26: (L-R) Brandy, Jack Harlow, and Lil Wayne attend the 2022 BET Awards at Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2022, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET)
Jack Harlow’s success is essential because he’s part of the new generation of rap artists breaking down barriers and redefining the genre. Harlow’s unique style, lyrical ability, and willingness to experiment with different sounds and styles have helped him stand out in a crowded industry and attract a diverse fan base. Furthermore, his success has also paved the way for other up-and-coming artists to reach their own success. His importance in the music industry is vital because he uses his platforms to raise awareness about social and political issues. He’s spoken out about racial injustice, police brutality, and the need for greater representation and diversity in the music industry, using his voice to advocate for change. Harlow is helping inspire a new generation of artists committed to using their art to impact the world positively.
Overall, Jack Harlow’s success can be attributed to his unique style, lyrical ability, and hard work. As well as his ability to connect with audiences through his music and social media presence.
Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” has proven itself quite a success. The pair’s 2021 single is now the most streamed song in the 2020s, dethroning Drake and Future’s 2020 smash hit “Life is Good.” The track, which appeared on Lil Nas’s debut album, Montero, debuted at No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 before finally reaching the top spot a few months later and earning the duo a Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance.
.@LilNasX and @jackharlow’s “INDUSTRY BABY” is now the #1 most on-demand streamed song released in the 2020s in the US, surpassing @1future and @Drake’s “Life Is Good,” Chart Data reported.
Don’t worry, though, Drake’s commercial success isn’t ending anytime soon. Earlier this month, the Toronto rap star surpassed 75 billion streams on Spotify— he’s the first artist in the streaming platform’s history. The “Rich Flex” rapper also won big at the 2023 Grammys despite not submitting any music, earning himself four nominations, including one for best melodic rap performance, that he won for his guest appearance on Future’s No.1 hit, “Wait for U,” which also features vocals from Nigerian singer Tems. The chart-topping single appears on Future’s album, I Never Liked You.
In 2019, Drake was named one of the most streamed artists of the decade, alongside other commercial juggernauts like Eminem and Ed Sheeran. It seems like no matter what he does, Drake can’t stop winning.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
And tonight, he doubled down on that movement with an appearance at one of the hottest stages — Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards. Now, before you want to knock the KCAs, keep in mind, most of the stars we know and love today did their time on the KCA circuit! Kids grow up to be cultural harbingers in just a few short years, so winning them over young can be a key factor for artists like Harlow who are still emerging.
Still, since most of Jack’s recent material is, ahem, fairly explicit, people had thoughts about him performing a medley of his very adult singles for an audience of children. As if that wasn’t enough, Harlow also had the infamous Nickelodeon slime dropped on him, which elicited even more reactions on Twitter. Needless to say, no matter what he does, he gets talked about. Check out a clip of his performance along with some commentary below.
Jack Harlow performs “Nail Tech,” “Industry Baby,” and “First Class” at Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards. pic.twitter.com/bz96egnATh
It’s y’all thinking Jack Harlow gon get on the KCAs and be anything but himself. He still engaged with the kids. It’s not his fault they don’t know the words the producers ain’t think this one thru https://t.co/vEPJuaFYYX
Jack Harlow performs his latest singles ‘First Class,’ ‘Nail Tech’ and ‘Industry Baby’ for ‘Encanto’ listeners at the Kid’s Choice Awards. pic.twitter.com/oUxuEkGeZP
Aside from the chaos that the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video caused, another big moment for Lil Nas X as he prepared for his Montero debut album came with the release of “Industry Baby.” He released the song with Jack Harlow and the song became his third chart-topping song after “Old Town Road” and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Lil Nas’ collaboration with Harlow also came with a great music video that showed off some of Lil Nas’ dance moves during multiple scenes at the fictional Montero County Jail.
Nas wrote the whole treatment for this video and I followed his lead every step of the way. If he had asked me to be in that shower scene I woulda been in that shower scene. I just let the mastermind cook. Honored to be apart of it.
to the lgbtq+ community i sincerely apologize. i have failed you. i am embarrassed. i am ashamed. and i will learn from my mistakes. https://t.co/CJH6v5c8dV
However, some people hoped to see Harlow show off some of his own moves in that video. After hearing from a good amount of disappointed fans, Harlow took to Twitter to clear the air. “Nas wrote the whole treatment for this video and I followed his lead every step of the way,” he wrote. ” If he had asked me to be in that shower scene I woulda been in that shower scene. I just let the mastermind cook. Honored to be apart of it.” Lil Nas himself jokingly chimed in and tweeted, “To the lgbtq+ community i sincerely apologize. i have failed you. i am embarrassed. i am ashamed. and i will learn from my mistakes.”
VIDEO: Lil Nas X lights up the stage, as he performs a medley of his hits from his debut album “Montero”. He is joined by Jack Harlow for “Industry Baby” at the #Grammyspic.twitter.com/4owdtTr4AU
Well, it seems like Lil Nas did learn from his “mistakes” as he made sure to include Harlow in some portions of his dance routine during their 2022 Grammy performance of “Industry Baby.” Harlow leaned and swayed with Lil Nas and his backup dancers as he started performing his guest verse, and by the time he was done, Harlow got into the full swing of the routine before walking off the stage.
You can watch Lil Nas and Harlow’s performance of “Industry Baby” above and move up to 3:26 to see Harlow’s entrance.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Riding high off the success of his debut album, Montero, Lil Nas X is everywhere these days. And this weekend, everywhere included an appearance at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las vegas, where the young rapper was a surprise guest during Diplo’s set. Of course, with all the great press comes some backlash too — Boosie Badazz issued a bizarre homophobic rant against Nas yesterday after the “Call Me By Your Name” singer playfully suggested he had a song with Boosie.
Since he was too busy getting on stage in front of a massive crowd at EDC — where he performed “Industry Baby,” “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and his first big hit, “Old Town Road” — he hasn’t said much in response to the rapper’s attack. Nas is a very progressive artist and one of the most openly queer performers to hit mainstream music for quite some time, making out with a man onstage at the VMAs and constantly advocating for LGBTQ acceptance.
At one point in time not all that long ago, there was real concern that Lil Nas X would be a one-hit wonder with “Old Town Road.” Even if that had been the case, his name would have still gone down in music history, considering that by some key metrics, “Old Town Road” is the most successful single of all time. However, Nas has proven that he’s more than his first hit, as he’s had a pair of No. 1’s since then: “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and now on this week’s chart, “Industry Baby.”
Nas is grateful that he has another chart-topper, so he decided to celebrate by taking to the streets of Hollywood to thank his fans for their support. He went ahead and rented a bus, got decked out in a pink prison jumpsuit, then rode around on top of the bus and gave thanks to his fans.
just went around hollywood thanking people for getting industry baby to number 1 pic.twitter.com/JOS6452vMi
When Nas learned yesterday that the song had reached No. 1 weeks after its release, he tweeted, “IT TOOK A FEW MONTHS BUT WE HERE! THANK U EVERYBODY! INDUSTRY BABY IS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE WORLD! LESSSSSGOOOOOO!” His partner on the song, Jack Harlow, was especially excited, since “Industry Baby” is his first No. 1 song. He tweeted, “My first number one… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming while I was writing my verse. This song is something I’m gonna be proud to be a part of for the rest of my life. Thank you for having me @LilNasX.”
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Lil Nas X released his Jack Harlow-featuring single “Industry Baby” back in July 23, but it was held back from having a No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: It made its first chart appearance at No. 2 on the August 7 tally, the same week that BTS’ “Butter” became the longest-running No. 1 song of the year. Now, well over a month after its chart debut, “Industry Baby” is finally on top, as it’s No. 1 on the new Hot 100 dated October 23.
The song is Nas’ third chart-topper, after “Old Town Road” and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Meanwhile, it’s Harlow’s first No. 1, as his previous peak was at No. 2 with “Whats Poppin” and pre-No. 1 “Industry Baby.”
Both rappers were over the moon about the achievement. Nas wrote on Twitter, “IT TOOK A FEW MONTHS BUT WE HERE! THANK U EVERYBODY! INDUSTRY BABY IS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE WORLD! LESSSSSGOOOOOO!” Harlow also wrote, “My first number one… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming while I was writing my verse. This song is something I’m gonna be proud to be a part of for the rest of my life. Thank you for having me @LilNasX.”
IT TOOK A FEW MONTHS BUT WE HERE! THANK U EVERYBODY! INDUSTRY BABY IS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE WORLD! LESSSSSGOOOOOO! pic.twitter.com/Ns3DZFh1ZV
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see this coming while I was writing my verse. This song is something I’m gonna be proud to be a part of for the rest of my life.
This song is also a big one for Ye (the artist known until recently as Kanye West), as it’s his fifth No. 1 song as a producer. It was a good week for Ed Sheeran, too, as “Bad Habits” (No. 4) and “Shivers” (No. 10) are both in the top 10. This is the second time he has had two tracks simultaneously in the top 10, the previous time coming in January 2017 when “Shape Of You” and “Castle On The Hill” charted at Nos. 1 and 6, respectively.
“Industry Baby” earns @kanyewest his fifth No. 1 on the #Hot100 as a producer, @takeadaytrip its third and Nick Lee his first.
Chances are, you might be one of the many people who have driven the raunchy and flat-out awesome video for Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow to 160 million views on YouTube (and counting). You know, the one where Nas dances naked in a prison shower along with an army of equally naked and totally ripped backup dancers? In the clip, he breaks out of his prison cell in a metaphorical nod to removing the handcuffs placed on him by the music industry and now we know a heckuva lot more about the inspiration for the video thanks to the latest behind-the-scenes look in the Vevo Footnotes series.
The new clip has Pop-Up Video-style notes to every hidden reference and then some. “I wanted to go to a place people would least expect me to go in a music video,” Nas says early in the clip. “An overly masculine place and make it gay asf. I also wanted to visualize the theme of breaking free from the shackles society places on you.”
We learn that the Grammy statues in his jail cell are indeed his actual awards and that the security guard that he punches out while he makes his escape is played by Teen Wolf star Colton Haynes. Nas also confirms that while the video itself wasn’t inspired by The Shawshank Redemption, the escape through a hole in the wall with a pickaxe that Jack Harlow sneaks him was indeed inspired by the film.
Director Christian Breslauer chimes in at one point to explain the underlying point of the video:
“This visual is essentially a giant metaphor to represent Nas’s unwillingness to conform to the industry standards or be caged in because of his beliefs. No matter the scenario he will be who he is and no prison is strong enough to contain him.”
But the best part comes towards the end, when Nas admits that, “the hardest part of making this music video? Honestly? Twerking in front of Jack Harlow. Very uncomfortable.”
Watch the “Industry Baby” Vevo Footnotes clip above and listen to Lil Nas X’s latest album, Montero, out now via Columbia.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
When “Old Town Road” was becoming the biggest song of all time in terms of chart performance, there was real concern that Lil Nas X would be a one-hit wonder. As we now know, though, the rapper has gone on to have multiple hits since then. In fact, he has three hits right now: On the new Billboard Hot 100 chart dated October 2, Lil Nas X has a trio of songs in the top 10.
New to the top 10 is the recently released single “That’s What I Want,” which debuts in the No. 10 spot. Elsewhere, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is at No. 9, while “Industry Baby” currently sits at No. 2, its Hot 100 peak. As for the song that claimed the throne this week, that’s The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s “Stay,” which is now No. 1 for a sixth total week.
Having three songs in the top 10 is impressive and not something that happens all that often, but it’s also far from the most top-10 songs in a single week. That honor belongs to Drake, who landed an unprecedented nine songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 following the recent release of Certified Lover Boy. Two songs from that album are represented on this week’s top 10: “Way 2 Sexy” is at No. 3 and “Knife Talk” is at No. 8.
(@thatkalebitch) 
He still engaged with the kids. It’s not his fault they don’t know the words 
(@johnnysuhdilf) 
aDreal 
(@LilNasX) 