Jack Harlow dropped in with a mid-week announcement, revealing that his third studio album will arrive this Friday, April 28. The self-titled record, Jackman — sorry to everyone coming to the realization now that Jack is not short for Jackson — will follow last year’s Come Home the Kids Miss You, which catapulted the rapper into the pop sphere with “First Class.”
Harlow announced the album with the reveal of its cover art, which features him standing shirtless beside a row of trash cans. The washed out filter on the image is reminiscent of his earliest releases, like the mixtapes Gazebo, Loose, and Confetti, all released between 2017 and 2019. But the bare pose calls to mind Harlow’s official debut, 18, which finds him similarly stripped down while recreating the post of Auguste Rodin’s bronze sculpture The Thinker — showing feet for free and everything.
“It took me a while to take my glasses off. I felt literally tethered to them, because I felt like, ‘You’re the rapper with glasses that can spit really well.’ But when I started to blossom is when I let go of anything gimmicky,” Harlow told Rolling Stone last year about his glow-up. “I’m as goofy as I am. I’m as smooth as I am. I’m as funny as I am. I’m as serious as I am. I’m all those things. The totality of myself that I’m honoring is why I’m being embraced by hip-hop.”
If Harlow appears to be going back to his roots for Jackman, it might have something to do with his latest Kentucky honor. Next week, the rapper will be presented with a “Hometown Heroes” banner in Louisville. In December 2021 during a run of hometown concerts, the city via mayoral proclamation recognized one day as Jack Harlow Day. Still, he’s moving forward. Next month, Harlow will make his acting debut in the adaptation of White Men Can’t Jump. The film arrives to Hulu on May 19.
“I want to be the face of my shit, like the face of my generation, for these next 10 years,” he told Rolling Stone ahead of Come Home the Kids Miss You, which featured some pretty divisive leans towards pop while also making a broader statement about his positioning in rap. “We need more people in my generation that are trying to be the best, and you can’t do that with just ear candy, vibe records. You got to come out swinging sometimes. … My new shit is much more serious. Right now, my message is letting muh’fuckers know I love hip-hop, and I’m one of the best in my generation.”
From Rolling Stone US
