this one drops like thor's hammer you took a year off and got you together huh this is big bro this record is big thor's hammer thor's hammer welcome back jack hollow this is what all fans wanted which was um that that sort of cheekiness that ability to be able to speak with confidence but uh back it up with with great music man um let's talk
about this song where'd it come from imagery ideas first i'm back man i'm excited to talk to you yeah man i'm excited to be here yeah this is one of those ones i've had it for a few months i wonder boy wanted to play me to beat we were in the studio and as soon as i heard it you know those horns have something epic about them but as soon as
that those kicks come in oh the drums are a little they're not on the one so it's like a different type of bounce so when it hit me i was like it's just one of those ones and you just like when somebody plays a beat in front of a group of people that that that's that special and you're sitting there you feel an obligation to go rap because
everyone's like wow we'd love for this moment to happen you know that's what makes you sort of a performer so you you become a performer in the studio because it's like okay let me give these people what i want because you're always proven to even your closest company yeah i'm really that so he played me that and i just started pinning something and i went in the booth
and i just laid a verse and i remember i i went back to atlanta a little while later and i played don cannon a bunch of my music just to show him where i was at and i was playing stuff and then i at the very end i played him played him in this verse that was on nail tech he's like yo what is that i was like oh you like that he's like yeah you need to finish that so i got it
together man did you always kind of intend to spend last year preparing to come back do you know what i mean because a lot of your contemporaries will just keep feeding it feeding and feeding and feeding and feeding even when you're working you know i wanted to stay present last year but you know i knew i had to bring it you know i have
big plans for myself and you know how i represent my generation and you know what i'm going to mean to this next decade so you know i like to take my time and make sure i come with it i'm a body of work type of artist so you know it wasn't necessarily that we boycotted putting out music last year but you know i just took my time you
know the record i did with nas gave me some you know gave me some some room to keep cooking things just worked out last year it's crazy last year was the biggest year of my career i really feel like that sort of ability to step away from the treadmill as it pertains to jack harlow like your work ethic to be able to collaborate in other people's space
was great for you because you've been working non-stop if you take a look if any jack harlow fan knows 16 17 18 19 20 two two and twenty so you're always releasing so it must have just felt good to just be able to get that space i'm focused right now and um i think you know taking time off makes them miss you a little bit and you know i'm not in
a place where i can disappear for two years yet but i'm looking forward to getting in a space where i could take my time because the last thing i did was so special that they have no choice but to check for you when you come back and i see all the great ones i look up to they get a chance to take their time because they leave such a strong mark so
um you know it's all about the music first there's a lot that comes with me now you know people are starting to people are starting to attach to me for different reasons but for me it starts with the music look at this guy with his baby blues back here missed you man good to see you bro out here you got light you got light in your eyes and uh and
the simple reason for that apart from obviously achieving goals and reaching you know the manifestations you set for yourself is is you know you you got clean you got focused um looking back on that decision now how important has that decision been toward helping you become the artist you are now being able to walk away from those distractions that really are a
byproduct of being young and hungry i never had a problem but i just i just got to a point where i just wanted to see what it was like you know i didn't i didn't have any issue but i just wanted to see was like yo if i just if i don't drink at all you know what could it do for me and so i went from you know drinking a few times a week and you know you travel
so much as artists you just get you just end up getting handed drinks you know what i'm saying it just it's just in front of you it's in the studio you have dinner after dinner it's just stuff so i just i just said you know moderation's a struggle for me i figured the best thing i could do is just you know cut dry just dead it and so i
did it and it's you know one of the greatest decisions i've ever made i'm more focused than ever i tell people it sounds crazy but i feel feeling stronger than i felt them you know what i've noticed about is it kind of numbs you it kind of dulls you down and now i feel raw i feel raw feelings i felt like when i was eight years old
like i'm excited about the music i'm excited so i'm charged up right now i'm inspired i'm in the best shape of my life like i'm really i'm really focused man um yeah i'm a well-oiled machine right now i want to talk about lifestyle with jack harlow right now you know we've we've just we've gotten to the edge of that subject i want to get inside just a
little bit because to your point when you're in that cycle of travel and tour and and creativity um the lifestyle tends to revolve around um the things you get handed uh the celebration is the reason to celebrate in the moment um to be lauded to be told you're great have a drink celebrate cheers you know what i mean and you forget that
the work is actually what's going to bring more experience so you've taken a lot of those things away and what have you replaced them with like how do you how do you what's a great day for you i'll be honest i get kind of insecure about these questions because i don't have um a lot of hobbies like i'll meet somebody or you know i have a friend or i'll meet
a girl and she's like what what do you what do you like to do outside of music and um i know those things exist but i'm really i'm so locked in right now every day i'm in the studio you know often for 10 to 12 hours a day trying to put this together and i think everybody will understand once i give them this new work you know i feel like
i haven't had a chance to lay on the world just how passionate and how studious i am and just how how capable i am so i think my new music will let people know just how locked in i am and i know that ain't really what your question was about but to be honest i don't you know i'm not going to play putt-putt like i don't there's not there's not much like
extra and i think when i finish this album um it'll be time for some of that i think it'll be refreshing for me to get into some of that but right now i'm in total work mode man that's a great answer so when you with that in mind when you think about that's what they all say as a body of work and the general theme of this conversation is that
you know there's a significant step forward that you're ready to make for yourself and in terms of inspiring others and you recognize the power of the platform and the and the opportunity that you have at your fingertips so so that's that's the work ethic you're putting into it so looking back on that album they came out and afforded you
this opportunity what is your reflection on their record how do you feel about that's what they all say i mean i think it's wonderful i think one of the greatest things that we did with it was the sequencing but uh there's you know there's a lot of music on there that aged well and there's it's gonna continue to age well i can tell but there's a few
there's a few songs that i wouldn't call blemishes but that i would i would do differently that i wouldn't maybe i wouldn't include on this new one but one thing's for sure and i have nothing but love for that project but i've been able to consistently say this my whole career my new he's killing that's what they all say and one of the things i really like is
that you're now taking your success and you're starting to translate that into good will and you're starting to create to to provide opportunities for others from the opportunities that you've gained for yourself yeah the work you did with american red cross you come from from a unique part of of the united states of america you know and as
artists go um you know you're one of the most notable success stories to come from that space how how how much focus can you put on kind of giving back at this point when you're so deep into your album and is that a long-term strategy for you to continue to kind of build an infrastructure to help others yeah well you know i come from a city
where our biggest icon is muhammad ali and you kind of look at what he left and outside of his athletic accomplishments you know he stood for something and you kind of look at that as a model and you think to yourself okay well what am i going to leave behind because if it's just oh he was dope at rapping oh he he was a fun interview that's not
enough and so as i get older it just becomes more and more clear to me that you know the real gift is being able to give back is being able to do things for my city so um it's a huge part of my plans for the future it's huge you know i'm going to continue to focus on the music and everything too but you know they can go hand in hand and it's something i'm going to be focused
on and figuring out how to get better and better at and just especially for my city nail tech i mean is what we wanted more than what we were you know could have expected in a way and we will have very high expectations but this one's such a crusher i'm glad you like it seriously because you know you never know before you give something to
the world every opinion you get before that point matters but before it's out and you're you don't know what the verdict is going to be hearing something especially from zane lowe that he likes it means a lot and i'm serious so thank you appreciate it look it's got magic dust all over it and you recognize that which is why you
you you put magic on it but you knew you had something in your hands those are those moments i'm not going to get too far ahead of myself here because i want to respect the process and right now you're deep in that process so results are yet to be heard or talked about but um i do i do feel like i'm justified and okay to ask this question um are we are
we nearing the season of a of of a project we're getting close we're getting close i gotta take my time and make sure everything's right but um you know this is good this is gonna be the start of something nail tech is definitely gonna be the start that's the start that's the starting point that's all we can ask man is it's the start of a new era [Music]