Jack Harlow has arrived with "SUNDOWN," the first single and viral hit off his Loose tape, released earlier this year.
Now, he's back with the video for "PICKYOURPHONEUP" alongside K.Camp, as he looks to capitalize off the success of "SUNDOWN." The video is directed by MJ Whitaker and sounds like it'll be getting tons of radio play. After you watch Jack and K.Camp try to get your ex to pick up her damn phone, read our brief interview.
Jack sat down with us to talk his New Balance fetish, the best rappers to come of Kentucky, and why Louisville is so unique.
Talk about being from Kentucky. Were there any local rappers that you looked up to, or was it mostly just being a fan of rap music in general?
Static Major— rest in peace to a legend from Louisville. Everybody in the city looks up to him. Nappy Roots, I used to listen to a lot when I was younger. Still do, still look up to those guys. When I finally met them it was crazy to have that come full circle, 'cause they show me a lot of love. And then Bryson now. Bryson Tiller kind of blew up while I was in high school. He’s hard. Like regardless, I was gonna be a fan of him if he wasn’t from Louisville.
I was reading your DJBooth interview. Well, just, like, skimming through it. You said you grew up in a diverse, creative part of Louisville. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Exactly. So it’s called 'The Highlands' neighborhood of Louisville, and I went to middle school and high school there. A lot of people look at it as where the weirdos hang out and grow up. Especially back in the day. My dad was from another part of Louisville, and he didn’t really go to 'The Highlands' cause it was like “they’re on some weird shit over there.” It’s just a unique place. For example, there’s this dude that walks down the main road—Bardstown Road in The Highlands—and he has a snake on. Like, a big ass snake and he carries it and walks past people and stuff. So little stuff like that sets it apart.
That’s what I kinda took from the “Sundown” video. It was just like a lot of young people showing love and being creative.
And that’s the goal, bro. Cause a lot of people that are from Louisville, the Kentucky misconceptions are hard for them to swallow. They claim Louisville over Kentucky. Now, I’m not necessarily like that, but that’s why it’s important to shoot videos and paint a picture of your city so people from the outside, like you, are like “that’s really tight” from the video you saw. Like “Damn, that’s not necessarily what I thought Kentucky was gonna be.” And everyone in the city, you know, they take pride in that, like “Yeah, he’s showing where we’re really from."
The only thing I know from Louisville is the basketball team.
Yeah, we play basketball a lot and Bryson Tiller is from there.
So when it comes to College hoops, are you a Louisville fan or a Kentucky fan?
Louisville. I don’t like Kentucky. But it’s split. Even in Louisville, there's tons of Kentucky fans, it's pretty much split down the middle. You never know what somebody is.
I see that you wear a lot of New Balances. Is that a Kentucky thing like in Philly and D.C.?
It ain’t a Kentucky thing yet. A lot of people are starting to wear them now, that listen to me and like what we do. But that’s just something I started doing in high school. I just like New Balances. I used to be get shit for it, so it just made me want to wear ‘em more. Like, cool it would set me apart.
