Jack Harlow has a lot of fans around the world, and one of them includes Kendrick Lamar, who gave the White Men Can’t Jump star his flowers for his latest album, Jackman.
Speaking on the Rap Radar podcast in an episode that dropped on Wednesday (June 15), Harlow revealed that the praise from his musical peers helped him overcome some of the frustrations he felt from his biggest detractors, who often accuse him of cultural appropriation or being a “culture vulture.”
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“I think you have to have passion, and I think you have to be a fan,” he said. “You have to be a fan of the genre, and love it. And I love the craft, and I love chasing ‘getting better.’ Of course, there’s some frustrations with not being understood, but, you know, it’s also exciting to think, ‘Let me see how I can get better.’
“But of course, there was just a lot of excitement in recording the songs, and thinking, ‘Damn, I can’t wait for them to hear this shit.’ Because I know they’re going to like it, and sure enough, it resonated.”
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He continued: “That’s why I do it, because I was waiting for a muthafucka to just tell me I’m dope. [Then] I ran into Kendrick at the Met, and it was like a few days after the album dropped, and he was like, ‘Yo. Shit is incredible.’ And he gave me enough props that I could have just walked home. I didn’t even want to meet anyone else.”
Check out Jack Harlow’s full Rap Radar interview below:
Kendrick Lamar isn’t the only rapper to give Jack Harlow his flowers. Earlier this month, Ludacris gave his official co-sign to Jack Harlow for flipping Fergie’s 2007 track, “Glamorous,” on his song “First Class” and claims that “he did it justice.”
“How can I not be okay with it?” the rapper/actor told GQ. “I’m doing shows, and there’s a whole new generation that is identifying with the record, even they haven’t heard my verse, just because Jack Harlow is doing it over. I feel like he did it justice. It’d be different if it was trash, [but] it’s not trash. Jack Harlow did it extreme justice, and I like the record.”
Luda admits he understands Hip Hop purists’ point of view, but said that “if you don’t accept what’s new, you’ll become your own worst enemy. You don’t have to necessarily like it, but you gotta embrace it.”
The double-platinum track appeared on the former Black Eyed Peas singer’s debut album, The Dutchess, released in 2006.
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Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar recently received some praise of his own from Hip Hop icon Big Daddy Kane.
In a new interview with AllHipHop, the Juice Crew vet was giving an update on his upcoming Netflix documentary, Paragraphs I Manifest, when he gave his props to both Kendrick and J. Cole — while tracing their rap lineage to other pillars of the genre.
