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Jack Harlow VibeZ

Twenty-two tracks from Louisville's biggest export since the Ali era. Jack Harlow is a genuinely divisive figure, and the records are more interesting than the discourse.

Louisville, and the charisma question

Jack Harlow came up in Louisville, Kentucky, releasing mixtapes through his teens and building a local following long before "WHATS POPPIN" broke nationally in 2020. He is signed to Generation Now, the Atlantic imprint run by DJ Drama and Don Cannon.

He is also the subject of a genuine and ongoing argument. His detractors say he is a competent rapper elevated by charisma and by being a white artist in a Black genre; his defenders point to the consistency of the mixtapes, the ear for a beat and the willingness to be funny on record, which is rarer than it should be. Both cases have merit, and the records are worth hearing on their own terms rather than through the argument.

What is not in dispute is that he is a very good technical rapper with an unusually relaxed delivery — he sounds like he is talking, which takes considerable work.

What to listen for

"First Class" is the biggest — a number one built on a Fergie sample that is either lazy or perfectly judged depending on your position, and impossible to dislodge from your head either way.

"Dua Lipa" is the funniest thing he has recorded and the best evidence for the charisma argument. "Side Piece" and "Young Harleezy" work the same register.

The Louisville material is where the writing deepens. "RIVER ROAD," "Eastern Parkway" and "Route 66" with EST Gee are all rooted in specific local geography, and the EST Gee pairing — two Louisville rappers with very different registers — is the most compelling thing on the list.

"Like A Blade Of Grass" and "I'd Do Anything To Make You Smile" are from his later, more introspective work, where he addresses the criticism directly rather than deflecting it.

"KNACK FOR IT," "OUT FRONT" and "WALK IN THE PARK" are the technical showcases.

Go deeper

That's What They All Say (2020) is the debut, and Jackman. (2023) is the short, spare album where he engages most directly with his own position — it is the one that changed a lot of sceptics' minds.

EST Gee is worth following independently; Louisville has developed a genuinely distinct rap scene and he is its hardest-edged voice.

For the wider question of white rappers and how their careers work, the useful comparisons are Eminem, Macklemore and Action Bronson — three very different negotiations of the same problem.

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