Jack Harlow Says Most of the Hate He Receives Is From ‘Other White Boys’
TL;DR:
- How Jack Harlow thinks about online comments
- A line in “Tyler Herro” is inspired by something Harlow has noticed in his life
- The rapper wants to inspire the next generation of artists
Jack Harlow has been rapping since he was 12, but his career has only recently begun to really blow up. The Louisville, Kentucky native known for such songs as “First Class,” “Whats Poppin,” and “Nail Tech,” is no stranger to online hate. But, at this point, he’s found a way to deal with it. One thing he’s noticed, though: “the bulk of hatred was coming from like, other white boys.”
How Jack Harlow deals with online comments
It’s a brutal truth that each and every celebrity is subjected to online hate. And everyone has a different coping mechanism.
“They say the worst things you can imagine,” Harlow told Rolling Stone. “‘This guy’s f***ing hideous. He’s disgusting. He looks dirty. He looks f***ing gross.'”
But, to the rapper, it’s all noise — both the good and the bad comments. And, at the end of the day, he knows what a person comments online is more about them than him.
“It builds up to so much, the same way the love builds up to so much that it starts to mean nothing to you,” he said. “Just the same way when I read like, ‘Oh, he’s cute.’ When you see enough of those, you just realize people are either happy or unhappy. That’s how I see it.”
The ‘First Class’ rapper has noticed one type of hater in particular
There’s a lot of truth in Harlow’s “Tyler Herro.”
“The ones that hate me the most look just like me/ You tell me what that means/ Make a slick comment and see what that brings…”
Something that’s stood out to the rapper is that he gets a lot of criticism from white men.
“I felt like the bulk of hatred was coming from like, other white boys,” he said. “Or very well-educated white guys were writing thinkpieces on me and trying to discredit me… And then I started to realize, well, this isn’t a unique situation. So I felt like well, let’s make this bigger than me.”
Jack Harlow wants to inspire the next generation
Harlow pays no mind to the noise. He wants to do for young people what artists like Kendrick Lamar did for him when he was young.
“What’s driving me to push the envelope is I know there’s still kids that are 11 years old that want to be the best rapper alive one day, like I wanted to be at 11, and there’s not enough people making music for those kids,” he said. “There’s not enough people making music to inspire. There’s a lot of dope s*** out right now. I’m not saying the game isn’t creative, but it’s just not enough s*** for the way I remember being in middle school, and listening to ‘Rigamortis’ by Kendrick Lamar, and thinking, ‘This dude is the best alive. And that’s what I want to do.’”
It’s a switch for Harlow to go from the inspired to the inspirer. But he’s excited to embrace his new place in the order of things.
“Now I’m starting to realize, OK, I can set the tone,” he said. “That’s an exciting feeling. Because there’s kids that are going to be inspired by me, and that’s what drives me to still make the music I’m making.”
