Jack Harlow Tells Us About The Parties Behind His Biggest Songs
Jack Harlow has never seen
House Party. Over the phone, I explain to him the setup for
the sprawling dance film and its sequels that helped define hip-hop culture in the 1990s: Rappers Kid 'n Play spend the initial half of each movie planning huge parties for almost also long. Then, as soon as the title celebrations finally begin — awesome glimpses at life defined by spontaneity, happiness, and being young enough to totally take it all in — it's habitually worth the wait. "I wasn't a '90s kid really, so I haven't saw a lot of that stuff," he admits. Yet I'm going to certainly have to check them out."
I bring it up because Harlow is the human essence of a
House Party soirée. The 21-year-old Louisville rapper makes music that's likely best described as "vibes." Perky, juice-filled beats much more easy-going than the furious rave sounds of rap's outskirts offer Harlow with the terrain to travel. His voice is a sports bike. On songs like his viral 2018 hit "Sundown" and this year's "Cody Banks," he strings with each other what feels like random words, moving into weightless verses stocked with addictive punchlines. His latest release, the aptly named
Confetti mixtape, dropped on September 20, titled right following the "party-in the-studio" experience of recording it.
"The mixtape took about each year to prepare, and the main thing that I was focused on was getting back to writing, as well as being personalized, introspective, and trustworthy he says about
Confetti. It's a little bit different than his 2018 project
Loose, which leaned more insular. "Something I've come into is having fun with it," he says. "This means a lot of up-tempo beats and I'm dancing in the studio, feeling my shit." The brisk beats never dip into anything that could even slightly be thought mellow, and it's by design. "
Confetti celebrates youth, life, success, and experiencing these things and growing," he says. "One of my biggest thrills is bringing people with each other, plus a lot of those songs were made with plenty of people in the studio. You could feel the party in them."
One of the assignments standouts is "Dentyne," an icy, frenetic, and melody-infused jam perched on the shoulders of a rogue synth. The recording process for it was Harlow's funniest experience while creating
Confetti. "There were 10 or 12 ladies in the studio once we made it," he says. "I felt a little bit pressured to be an entertainer. We were there drinking and I freestyled the complete thing and If I got out of the booth, ladies knew all of the words."
you could hear it:
Confetti places Harlow firmly as a carpe diem-commanding emcee. To mirror on how he made it to this point, MTV News discussed with Harlow about four of his biggest tracks for now and what inspired them.
"Dark Knight" (2017)
Harlow says: "I wrote this song in the parking lot outdoors of KY Engineering's Studio in Atlanta.
Cyhi the Prynce pulled up to the studio at the same time that I was recording it and we had a conversation halfway through. I actually did a take that I wasn't really in love with, so As soon as I got back to Louisville I recorded another version plus it came out much better."
"Sundown" (2018)
Harlow says: "I just really wanted to create some hard shit. I had actually moved to Atlanta, and we were just listening to the
Clipse's
Hell Hath No Fury album. Any time Once I heard '
We Got It For Inexpensive (Intro),' I told my producer,
2forwOyNE, that I wanted a beat like that. He took the inspiration pretty literal and made damn near a replica of the song. We ended up having to get it cleared yet the shit was hard.
"For the video, I was back house in the city and told a bunch of people that I know pull up. It's my main go to kind of video. Some people think that they're also creative to do something like that, yet I just know what I appreciate. I love videos with plenty of energy, charisma, and fun. That was what was essential for me to do with 'Sundown' — have a good time and make it a party. I have a lot of parties in my videos."
"Thru The Night" (2019)
Harlow says: "At first, I didn't recognize the '
U Don't Have to Call' sample. It wasn't up until I got out of the booth and people told me; I just thought the beat was hard. I did my verse in 15 minutes and freestyled it. I sent it to
Bryson Tiller and I saw him at the Kentucky Derby. I was like, 'Yo, I need you to knock that out for me.' He mentioned, 'I got you,' as well as a few weeks later he sent me the verse. The rest is history.
"For the video, I just wanted to be fly and have the roller rink where each person in the video used to skate at growing up. It's a little bit nostalgic."
"Heavy Hitter" (2019)
Harlow says: "For my birthday, I had all of my best companions come down to Atlanta from Louisville to celebrate. We went to the studio the next day and began drinking and having some fun. The record came with each other from that. The energy of the party was just infectious there.
some days for the videos of my songs, I want to have the same idea every time, although my homies have to put me in check to come up with more creative ideas. I have good companions and also a wonderful team that help me to flesh out new ideas."
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