In May 2022, Drake joined Jack Harlow for “Churchill Downs,” the tenth track on Harlow’s sophomore studio album Come Home the Kids Miss You. The song served as a quasi-passing of the torch moment, where Drake raps the lyric Box at the Churchill Downs, that’s motivation / And shorty like, “You know that boy Jack is goin’ places?” / I know.
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“Churchill Downs” would go on to peak at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, also granting Drake the utmost respect and admiration from his hip-hop protégé in Harlow. Now, just over a year removed from this unforgettable moment, Harlow is now the one showering praises upon Drake.
On Friday (June 16), the Rap Radar podcast released their new episode, where the show’s co-hosts Brian “B. Dot” Miller and Elliott Wilson interview Harlow on the heels of White Men Can’t Jump‘s May 19 release on Hulu, the first film Harlow has ever starred in.
At one point in the conversation around the 40-minute mark, Harlow begins discussing how the hip-hop community has trouble putting newly-released albums in the same tier as classic albums that have had more time to digest with listeners. Because of this, instead of celebrating new artists, they continue to gravitate to the seasoned icons who still make music, such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole.
“What people want is changing, what the youth wants is changing, and it’s almost like Drake, Kendrick, and Cole, their voices are damn-near nostalgic at this point,” he said. “We know this is good ’cause this is from the days when things were a little better… It’s almost like we’re living in a time where people feel like this era isn’t special enough to stamp anything as timeless or classic as if the time of classic shit, it already happened.”
He bounced off this talking point to say that he feels Drake’s highly-scrutinized 2018 album Scorpion will be considered a classic down the road, but is not at the moment because it’s too recent.
“I guess what I’m saying is, I think Scorpion is gonna be a classic,” he asserted. “I think these albums as time passes, it’s just how it is.”
Elsewhere in the interview, revisiting the legendary status of Kendrick Lamar, Harlow recalled the time he met the Compton rapper at the Met Gala earlier this year. Taking place less than a week after he put out his third album Jackman in April, Harlow says Lamar gave him props for his approach on the LP, substituting radio appeal for introspective lyricism.
“I ran into Kendrick at the Met [Gala], and it was a few days after the album dropped, and he was like, ‘Yo, that’s the best move you could’ve made. Shit is incredible.’ He gave me enough props [to where] I could’ve just walked home,” Harlow said with a smile on his face. “I didn’t even want to meet anyone else. It was one of the best feelings on Earth.”
Check out Harlow’s entire discussion with Rap Radar below.
Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
