Harlow gives his two cents on dealing with the responsibilities that come with fame, how people claim his race is the only reason for his success, how those you look up to can become the darkest people, and how some white rap fans “have become cultural tourists who embrace and appropriate the hip-hop lifestyle while cloaked in privilege”. The record is honestly quite refreshing; the beats are fresh and uplifting; I wouldn’t be surprised if Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Money Trees’ was an inspiration.
‘Ambitious’, ‘They Don’t Love It’ and ‘It Can’t Be’ are the best tracks. They all have a relaxing vibe but still manage to have a sense of forward drive, and it’s that momentum that makes them so great. ‘They Don’t Love It’ in particular is my favourite from the album – especially the line “the hardest white boy since the one who rapped about vomit and sweaters”. I’m personally a fan of chill rap, and this is exactly what this record offers.
However, not all of the tracks hit. ‘Gang Gang Gang’ is drone-y and repetitive, and while ‘Blame On Me’ has an interesting message, for me it fell somewhat flatly into ‘I’ll listen to it once but never again’ territory. Additionally, while Harlow has some agreeable messages on race in hip-hop, he still falls into the common tropes of misogyny that continue to plague the genre, talking about how he ‘[likes his] girl natural’ and how his dream is to have ‘ten girlfriends and no wife’. For me, while it doesn’t completely ruin the record, it does limit its enjoyability somewhat.
Harlow has created a record that tries to be a set of relaxing, more experimental tracks with a backbone of interesting social commentary, which, for the most part, delivers. It’s by no means a ground-breaking album, but it does have a pretty unique sound, so if that’s your style, it might be worth giving it a listen.
