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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.17 55 Harlow's Thanksgiving Eve show at Headliners. Photos by Urban Wyatt bedroom and started going by the moni- ker Mr. Harlow. In seventh grade, he gave away 100 copies of his first solo mixtape, Extra Credit, for free. "Kids were wanting them as soon as I got in the damn door," he says. "ey were like, 'It's kind of ass and his voice is high-pitched because his balls haven't dropped, but dude actually made a mixtape.'" He loved how Febreze made his room smell after soccer practice, and the last song was titled "e Febreze Song." "I use F-e-b just to keep my air fresh. If you think it smells bad I could really care less," he rapped. "Spray it all day, you can smell around my house. Febreze is the best, so for- get about Oust." e music video featured Harlow and his friends, the Moose Gang, spraying cans of Febreze behind the CVS near his house. Cops shut the production down for a minute because they thought the boys were using spray paint. "I explained I was a rapper making a video," Harlow says. His bedroom shared a wall with his parents' room and, late at night, he'd scribble lyrics in notebooks while the beat vibrated pictures on the wall. "For me, that was a lullaby," Maggie says. "It was the soundtrack of him at work." Sometimes Brian would walk past Jack's room, hear the music, and say, "Who is that?" "at's me, Dad." "Wow, you wrote that?" Harlow's music obsession left little time for school. "Studying was way out of the question," he says. "It's very hard for me to apply myself to things that I'm not passion- ate about." At parent-teacher conferences, Maggie would introduce herself: "Hi, I'm Jack Harlow's mom." "Jack. Harlow," the teacher would say. "Let me tell you something, that kid is really funny." "ank you. How's he doing in school?" "Oh, yeah, he sleeps in class." A football coach at Atherton heard Har- low's music and connected him with a studio in Buechel called Fort Knocks and a pro- ducer who goes by Larr B.I.N.O. "Graffiti on the walls, reeking of weed," Harlow says. B.I.N.O. says, "I've watched Jack grow up, from the time when he rapped about being a virgin to saying cuss words to messing around with girls." Junior year, Harlow put out Finally Hand- some as Jack Harlow, not Mr. Harlow. "I have a very memorable name," he says. "And my brand is being true to self." e music caught Craighead's attention. "His content was childish, but I saw the talent," says Craighead, who worked on e Handsome Harlow EP and 18. "Most people don't have that talent at any age." Early on, as Harlow's videos gained traction on YouTube, his parents started fielding calls from potential managers and others who wanted a piece of their son. One of those people worked with Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, and that connection led to a meeting with Def Jam in New York and Atlantic Records in Los Angeles during freshman year. When Harlow learned he'd be going to a meeting at Braun's home in the Hollywood Hills, he said, "I'm kind of surprised it took that long." Braun's place had a basketball court, swimming pool, koi pond. "Biggest house I've ever been in," Harlow says. "He had like original Warhols on his walls." Braun painted the scene: For Harlow's public debut, he would come out during the middle of another rapper's show looking lost. e crowd will start mocking the way you look, and then you'll drop the heat! "He was saying this about my son, and my body was generating chemicals I can't even explain to you. It wasn't even adrenaline. I was squirming in my chair thinking, is is happening," Maggie says. "I literally can picture the room and put myself back in that moment." at meeting didn't lead to any offers, but the one in New York with Def Jam president Joie Manda did. But while Har- low and his parents were still debating and negotiating the offer, Manda left the label. Without him there, the Harlows weren't sure if anybody at Def Jam would fight for Jack.