Jack Harlow’s charismatic, goofy approach to his raps can sometimes lead rap listeners to not take him seriously, but after two number one top one hundred billboard songs and a certified platinum album, his approach is beginning to seem genius. 

Like many other recent artists who rose to stardom quickly, Jack Harlow gained sudden fame on TikTok with his hit single “What’s Poppin,” in 2020.

Harlow comes from an unconventional upbringing compared to others in the rap industry, proudly hailing from the rural parts of Louisville, Kentucky.

After moving to Atlanta to get recognized, he signed to DJ Drama and Don Cannon’s Generation Now record label, a part of Atlantic Records.

Harlow took the music world by storm with “What’s Poppin,” even managing to get one of the most respected rappers of the last twenty years, Lil Wayne, as well as DaBaby and Tory Lanez, to perform featured verses on the remix. 

Harlow quickly capitalized on his sudden fame by releasing his first studio album, “That’s What They All Say,” in 2020, which ended up becoming certified platinum.

Harlow took that success, and rather than being satisfied and taking a break, he used it as fuel to knock out a single with Lil Nas X, which recently won the Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Song of 2022. 

After touring across the world performing his first album and hit singles, Harlow immediately started working on his second studio album, “Come Home The Kids Miss You,” which debuted on May 6, 2022. 

The album runs 15 tracks long and features “strictly legends,” as Harlow noted in a tweet, including Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, Drake, and Justin Timberlake.  

The title, “Come Home The Kids Miss You,” was inspired by his fans back in Louisville, which is exactly what a lot of what this album is about, home.

“Almost every song on this album, you could find me threading it back to the relationship of what I’m experiencing and the context that it exists with Louisville,” Harlow said in a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zach Lowe.

The connection to his hometown is immediately apparent, titling the intro song, “Talk Of The Town,” where Harlow raps about his meteoric rise coming from Bardstown, Kentucky, a rural suburb of Louisville. 

Harlow’s confidence, swagger, and undeniable flirtatious personality have caused him to become a known ‘ladies’ man’ in the music world, and he is not shy to project that swagger in many different songs on the album such as “Dua Lipa” and “First Class.”

“First Class” contains a catchy chorus that samples Fergie’s “Glamorous,” and debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 100.

While this album appears to have no deeper purpose other than his rise to hip-hop stardom from an unconventional route, Harlow uses his witty rhymes and laid-back beats to draw in the listener.

On a few of those free and easy beats, “Side Piece” and “Lil Secret,” Harlow uses his signature playful rhymes and projects extreme confidence that ultimately leaves the listener with a great vibe.

The laid-back vibe was a common theme on this album, especially on “Parent Trap,” where Justin Timberlake lays down a memorable, groovy chorus that will be stuck in your head all day long. 

In my opinion, the best song on the album is the outro, “State Fair,” which is a true reflection of how Harlow’s sudden fame hasn’t changed him as a person.

In “State Fair,” Harlow expresses staying true to his persona and not giving in to the hip-hop lifestyle that many newcomers let stray their focus: “But for now I got a concierge downstairs/ All my neighbors are grey-haired/ They don’t recognize me and I don’t think they care/ But my Postmates can’t believe that I stay here.”

This self-reflection ends the album in the perfect way, truly giving his fans an answer to who Jack Harlow really is a focused, up-and-coming entertainer who refuses to let outside influence change who he is. 

As Drake said in his short feature on “Churchill Downs:” “You know that boy Jack is going places/ I know.”