Why Jack Harlow Swerved From Huge Rap Hits to ‘Egoless’ R&B on ‘Monica’

Following smash hits like “Whats Poppin,” “First Class” and “Lovin on Me,” the Louisville musician Jack Harlow is making a true musical shift to intimate, hand-played R&B on his fourth album, “Monica.” In this exclusive interview ahead of the album’s release on Friday, March 13, Harlow talks to Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli of The New York Times about race, ego, Drake and the rules he instituted while recording his nine new songs. 01:04 How "Monica" departs from Jack's usual sound 8:40 Jack on ego and romantic relationships 12:34 White rappers + why Jack went deeper into Black music 19:05 Jack's collaborators and their 4 big rules for making this album 23:17 –Why Jack changed his writing process for "Monica" 26:17 Does Jack see himself as a singer or a rapper? 28:41 Jack's influences for this album 30:46 Jack's visual influences (+ why he keeps wearing those hats) 35:40 Why Jack moved to New York 38:27 Jack's Letterboxd account + his thoughts on acting 43:50 Ego & art 49:30 'The School of Drake' 58:10 Popcast Lightning round 1:04:30 Snack time! Follow Jon:   / joncaramanica     / joncaramanica   Follow Joe:   / joecoscarelli     / joecoscarelli   Listen to every Popcast ever https://www.nytimes.com/popcast Every episode of Popcast (Deluxe) on YouTube https://tinyurl.com/PopcastDeluxe Popcast Discord! https://tinyurl.com/PopcastDiscord Popcast Facebook! https://tinyurl.com/PopcastFacebook Popcast t-shirts & stickers http://itsthepopcast.myshopify.com Subscribe: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n More from The New York Times Video: http://nytimes.com/video