Louisville Magazine

AUG 2017

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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56 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8.17 The Private Garden: Lucci, Harlow, 2fo, Shloob and Ace Pro at Bonnaroo (top). Harlow onstage at Forecastle. "At the time, I felt like it was the worst thing that happened," Harlow says. "But looking back, I would have been a novelty locked into a five-album deal. I was still doing the funny-and-nerdy thing. At 14, I hadn't developed as an artist or a person. It would have stunted my growth." "Jack was taken to the brink and then it all disappeared," Maggie says. "It helped him realize it's not gonna fall in his lap." After six months on Berry Boulevard, Harlow moves to Germantown, into a two-story house purchased by his grand- mother, who owns rental property. "Just a better situation all around," he says. "My grandma is the clutch-est." e front room's wood-paneled wallpaper features deer and seagulls and game birds. "You know Santa Fe Grill near U of L? Same wallpaper!" Harlow says. Craighead's room is on the main floor, and Harlow and Garvey — "Harlow featur- ing Cope" — have bedrooms upstairs. On the carpet in Harlow's room is the mattress he used to sleep on in his parents' house. e Pittsburgh Steelers blanket is for his favorite football team, a passion passed down from his dad, who's also the inspiration for his growing collection of country music T-shirts. e one from the 2007 Flip Flop Summer Tour stars Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn. "Country is not necessarily my cup of tea, but the melodies are fire," Harlow says. ("I guar- antee he can't name a Kenny Chesney song," his dad says. Harlow: "He's right.") Harlow is still deciding what to do with his narrow nook that has a window. "Just fill it with plush shit, maybe read a book," he says. He mentions how he checked out a mystery called Murder at the MLA from the library because he liked the cover. It's almost over- due. "I've read one page. It's not very good," he says. "But I'm trying to get back on my reading shit." Right now he's using the nook as storage for a few possessions: a watercolor his brother did of Outkast's Stankonia album cover; a painting of the family dog, a Golden Retriever-poodle-Labrador mix named Raybo ("I wish he lived with me, but I don't want to care for him like that"); an autographed copy of e Pursuit of Nappyness, by Kentucky hip-hop group Nappy Roots. He bought that CD at ear X-tacy during an album-release performance, his first-ever concert. "Now some of the guys in Nappy Roots are fans of me," Harlow says of the Kentucky hip-hop group. "Crazy how it goes full circle." A black-and-white photo captures him on- stage at Forecastle when he was 17, during a set by local producer/rapper Dr. Dundiff that showcased more than a dozen Louisville hip- hop artists. "Jack's the only one from Louis- ville who could make it as a national rapper right now," Dundiff says. Local entrepreneur/ film producer Gill Holland put out the Hand- some Harlow EP on his sonaBLAST! record label, and he says, "Before I worked in the film business, I thought the concept of star quality was BS. But the weird thing is, after you sit through hundreds of casting sessions and auditions and watch tapes, there are some people who, for some reason, just have that star quality. Jack has it. And he's already had a great career and is only 19." Chris omas, Harlow's manager at Austin, Texas-based C3 Management, says, "Right now, we're talking to labels, distributors, and figuring out how to grow the Private Garden collective." Early on, Harlow knew that some people would never be able to see past the fact that he's a bespectacled white rapper with finger- in-the-socket ringlets. "I'm always going to look a certain way and can use that to my advantage, but I don't want it to become a Photo by Urban Wyatt Photo by John Miller

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