Hip Hop is no stranger to white rappers staking their claim in the genre, but Jack Harlow doesn’t want to treat his whiteness as a novelty. The Kentucky rapper has long spoken about his placement in Hip Hop and has treaded carefully when addressing race. Harlow chatted with GQ recently and once again the topic arose during the conversation as the rapper weighed the differences between Britain and the United States.
“It’s interesting because it seems like there’s more of a counterculture mix going on here. In Britain, I see a lot more interracial dating,” he said. “I see a lot more white kids hanging with black kids. It seems a lot more common over here.”
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Harlow added that Hip Hop fans in Britain are “not such a select crowd.” He said, “I mean it is mainstream over there, too, but it’s like there’s still so much segregation.” The publication highlighted that Harlow claimed to recognize that he “has it easier than many,” penned GQ, including not running into as many obstacles while traveling as a rapper.
“I have serious imposter syndrome the whole way through,” said Harlow. “And then you have to bounce with it and you feel like you are totally where you are supposed to be. Moments of self-doubt combined with moments of I am who I think I am. I think what has worked for me is that my music has never been about the fact that I am white. I don’t try to lean into the, ‘Hey, I’m the white boy.’ I try not to make it a novelty.”
“I rap from the heart, rather than trying to do a white version of the art form.”
[via]