On a recent podcast interview, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow said that, to craft his new album Monica, he “got blacker.” The problem is… Jack Harlow is white. The statement, while extremely tone-deaf, speaks to his intentions with this musical pivot: musically, Monica turns to the historically Black genres of R&B and neo-soul to craft a new image designed to shed the stigma of being a “white rapper.”
The pivot is more costume than culture, but in doing so, Harlow seems to be following in the footsteps of several white rappers over the past decade. Artists like Post Malone, MGK, and Jelly Roll have all had radical shifts in sound and image over their career, separating themselves from their roots in hip-hop. So, in response to Monica, Reanna and Charlie ask: where have all the white rappers gone?
Links: Newsletter, YouTube
Songs discussed:
- Jack Harlow – First Class
- Jack Harlow – Lovin On Me
- Jack Harlow – Trade Places
- Post Malone, Hank Williams Jr. – Finer Things
- Jack Harlow – Tyler Herro
- Jack Harlow, Doja Cat – Just Us
- Jack Harlow – Lonesome
- J Dilla, Common, D’Angelo – So Far to Go
- D’Angelo – Spanish Joint
- D’Angelo – Feel Like Makin’ Love
- Jack Harlow – All Of My Friends
- Led Zeppelin - Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
- Paul Wall, Big Pokey – Sittin’ Sidewayz
- Beastie Boys – Fight For Your Right
- Post Malone – White Iverson
- Post Malone – Leave
- Post Malone, Morgan Wallen – I Had Some Help
- James Taylor – Machine Gun Kelly
- MGK – LOCO
- MGK, blackbear – my ex’s best friend
- 5 Seconds of Summer – She Looks So Perfect
- MGK – cliche
- Jelly Roll – F*ck What They Talkin Bout (ft. O.N.E.)
- Jelly Roll – Need A Favor
- Bubba Sparxxx – Deliverance
- Eminem – Cleanin’ Out My Closet
- Eminem – Without Me
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