Jack Harlow Wanted to Perform Fergie’s Hit Song ‘Fergalicious’ at His School Talent Show But Wasn’t Allowed

Kentucky-bred rapper Jack Harlow sampled Fergie’s hit song “Glamorous” in his No. 1 single “First Class.” But Harlow’s love of Fergie dates back much further than his mainstream breakout: he was a fan even as a kid.

Jack Harlow has been rapping since he was a child

Jack Harlow has been working hard to break into the music industry since he was in middle school. He recorded his own mixtapes in middle school and handed them out to his classmates. Years later, he and his friends moved to Atlanta as he tried to get his rap career off the ground.

Harlow released his debut album That’s What They All Say in 2020. In 2021, he earned his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his Lil Nas X collab “Industry Baby.” And in 2022, he earned his first solo No. 1 on the chart with “First Class,” the Fergie-sampling single from his sophomore album Come Home the Kids Miss You.

Jack Harlow wanted to perform Fergie’s song ‘Fergalicious’ at his school talent show

Harlow confessed in a red-carpet interview with Extra that he’d heard from people around him that Fergie herself was happy with him sampling “Glamorous” on his song. “I was so grateful she cleared it,” he remarked.

“I heard through the grapevine that she loved it,” he said. “But I love Fergie. I’ve loved Fergie for years. To me, it wasn’t just like an opportunist type of energy; to me, I’ve been waiting to do that.”

“People don’t know when I was in 5th grade, I tried to perform ‘Fergalicious’ at the talent show, and they said ‘no’ because it was too explicit,” he continued. “So I didn’t get to do it. But I’ve loved Fergie for that long. And I think now, everything just connected.

Jack Harlow loved ‘First Class’ even when others didn’t

Harlow stopped by The Breakfast Club on the day his album Come Home the Kids Miss You was released. The “What’s Poppin'” rapper spoke about music and much more, including the recording session where “First Class” was born.

“When I was in the studio making it, and once the first verse and the chorus were done, I was like, ‘This is a hit.’ I was charged up. I was telling everyone around me, ‘Yo, this is a hit.’ And everyone was like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know if it’s a hit, bro.’ And I was like, ‘Damn, am I tripping? Like is it not a hit?’ … ‘I feel so strong about this,’” he recounted. 

“I’m proud of myself on that one, and I’ve been wanting that type of record,” Harlow said. “I idolized Fergie as a kid, so this is so full-circle for me, it’s crazy.”