Bonnaroo 2019 Artist Spotlight: Jack Harlow

As we’ve been doing for the past several years now, we’re making it our mission to help you get acquainted with many of our favorites acts from from Bonnaroo‘s impressive 2019 lineup. As we dig through the entire schedule, we’ll highlight a spread of performers spanning across genres and stages (including the campground Plazas), big and small, new and old, to bring you some of the most interesting, lesser-known, or most highly-recommended among this year’s crop of artists. Though we’ll be jumping around, we’re loosely working our way through by day, and we’ll also be bringing you some special features and longer guides along the way, to help you plan your weekend before the fest. While these previews won’t span every performer, and might omit some more obvious must-see acts, we hope they’ll serve as a way to help you navigate Bonnaroo’s gargantuan lineup, and to make the most of your busy weekend on the farm!

Grab your tickets right here if you haven’t already, and keep reading to learn more in our Bonnaroo Artist Spotlight…

LEARN

Louisville rapper Jack Harlow has been working to perfect his craft for nearly 10 years. A feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he’s now only 21 years old. Raised on a steady diet of hip hop from him mother and classic country music from his father, then-preteen Harlow began making rhymes and rudimentary beats using a laptop and USB mic from Guitar Hero, distributing his first tunes on burned CDs around his middle school. By high school, a teenage Harlow began making music with more formal production and gear, independently dropping his first mixtape, Finally Handsome, in 2014, simultaneously achieving some moderate fame on YouTube and earning the attention of several big labels. Opting instead to spend a few years as a DIY artist, Harlow co-founded his own independent label and musical collective, Private Garden, along with frequent local collaborators the Homies, and dropped his breakthrough mixtape, 18, the summer after graduating from high school in 2016.

The next couple of years would see a rapid critical and commercial ascent for the young MC, as he racked up millions of plays, attracted critical acclaim from tastemaking outlets, and began to tour, making appearances at fests like his hometown Forecastle, Bonnaroo (debuting in 2017), and SXSW, and even touring in support of Portugal. The Man early last year. Now partially based in Atlanta, Harlow linked up with producer KY Engineering, and with 2017 third mixtape GAZEBO, scored even more international buzz, breaking out with tunes like “Dark Knight,” and ultimately landing a deal with Atlantic Records imprint Generation Now. A skilled lyricist with a confident, technical flow and a modern sensibility flavored with classic hip hop appreciation, Harlow has become one of the genre’s fast-rising new stars, a young rapper that grew from SoundCloud but isn’t a “SoundCloud rapper,” and a southern boy who embraces his roots, but isn’t making trap music. Last year’s fourth mixtape Loose, his first through Atlantic, showcases an even sharper, more mature side of the young artist, and Harlow’s return to Bonnaroo, a significant upgrade in stage size, marks one of the weekend’s best bets for fans of quality hip hop.

LISTEN | “Dark Knight”