Jack Harlow’s rise to fame seemed to happen in a matter of weeks, as the rapper’s “What’s Poppin” single, pushed him from an underground act at the end of 2019 to one of rap’s biggest names in 2020. Despite this, the Lousiville rapper’s rise came after years of hard work and consistent mixtape releases that captured his improving artistry.
During a recent episode of HBO’s The Shop: Uninterrupted, Harlow shared a conversation he had with his idol — a name he refrained from revealed while noting that they are a fellow musician — that was centered on the importance of self-awareness.
“I was talking to one of my idols that I won’t name, but somebody that I grew up idolizing in the same genre, and I asked him you know, ‘What do you attribute your success to? How have you stayed refreshed and why do you think you’re on this run?’” Harlow said during the episode. “He said, ‘You know one thing about most of these rappers when they’re hot, they can tell you everything about what’s going on, they’re tastemakers right? But the one thing most of these guys can’t do is hear themselves. They don’t have the self-awareness to say, ‘Mmm… that’s it or that isn’t it.’”
He added, “So for me it hasn’t always been so much about every shot has to go in. It’s discerning when I missed. I know when I make a record, I know when I sound compelling and I know when I don’t. There’s ego involved in that but I can look at myself, I can hear myself, I’m in the studio, I know when something’s special, and I know when it isn’t.”
You can watch the clip in the video above.
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
