Monica by Jack Harlow
If you asked me? No I would not guess that Jack Harlow would drop a full Neo-Soul album this year!
Neo-Soul is a genre emerged from Soul, RnB, Jazz, Funk and trickles of HipHop beats in the 1990’s. Pioneers of the sub-genre include Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Jill Scott, Maxwell and a lot lot more. Neo-Soul is where primarily black artists discover and share their truth, beliefs and morals whilst exploring hidden or undiscovered parts of themselves, often blending spirituality with vulnerability. Common lyrical themes are “introspective, socially conscious, and deeply personal storytelling that frequently explores love, relationships, and spirituality. Often described as earnest, bohemian, and politically aware, the lyrics emphasize authenticity and emotional depth, challenging the mainstream, hedonistic trends of 1990s R&B and hip-hop.”
I personally believe that Neo-Soul is an escape for black artists to connect with their softer side. HipHop is a space for self-expression on various circumstances, originally based on social climates and injustices in black-dominating neighbourhoods, typically through the emotions of anger, aggression, pain, depression but also pride, confidence and ambition. RnB was the beginning of black sexual expression, discovering the complexity of love and tension. In the modern industry, RnB has been driven deep into sexualisation, often for liberation and sometimes objectification. Neo-Soul defines a glow of emotional intelligence, grounded observations, reclamation of everything that is normal to human emotions, opposed to the stereotypes and conditions placed onto black artists and people in general.
Tones are softer and tender. Lyrics are simple and deep simultaneously. Instrumentals are smooth and groovy. Background vocals are airy and sweet-sounding. Yes Neo-Soul is a genre; it is also identity and culture.
Any artist in the music industry has the right to experiment in different genres.
Jackman is an album released in 2023 by Jack Harlow, describing his observations of life surrounding him and the space he creates in. “Particularly in his later work, he explores his place as a white man in a predominantly Black genre, addressing his privilege, the "gentrification" of rap, and his own accountability.” Take a listen to ‘Common Ground’.
Jack’s angle in the album
Based on the interview with Popcast and Jack Harlow
2 years after the release of Jackman, Jack was creating a project but did not feel progressive with it and wanted to make something that would surprise people, so he scrapped it. He wanted to uncover a deeper layer to his artistry and interchangeably, himself. He described it as wanting to do something “egoless” and true to him opposite to rap where he was braggadocios.
It was mentioned that many white rappers in the industry use rap and HipHop to climb their way to success and reside in ‘safe landing’ genres like Country or Rock. Jack was posed with this question in which he insinuated that he is infatuated with black music and surrounds himself within the genre subconsciously and physically, creating in spaces that famous black Neo-Soul/RnB artists have produced global projects in; as well as working with a lot of black artists and influences.
As an artist, it is highly likely to incorporate the influences from what you listen to on a daily basis in your music; especially as you are a self-discovering, ever-evolving artist + the music resonating emotionally and personally. Jack made it clear that he had been listening to softer, melodic tunes. He made the album from a headspace of “what do I wanna hear? Not a combination of that and what else can I accomplish within what I wanna hear.”
Jack stands out from his high-status colleagues as he colours in accomplishments from his hard work and then step back to assess what he learnt and how much more of himself he has discovered. Even before this Neo-Soul album, he was very reflective of his fame and career but I gathered that he wanted to halt the performance of producing big hits and wanted to make music that he wanted to hear.
“You get to a point where, as much as you try to find your voice, you’re also hoping to escape yourself throughout your career”
Combining his personal attraction to self-discovery, his love for soft, melodic, intimate tunes, his respect for and inspiration from black artists, experimenting in the Neo-Soul genre does not sound like a far stretch to me.
Jack stated that ‘Monica’ is comprised of DNA from pre-Jackman and post-Jackman focus and substance. You can hear Jack Harlow’s identity throughout the project. Still referring himself as a rapper, Jack chose to approach the genre with different melodic patterns and different intentions.
Artist expression in Neo-Soul often feel vibrations of energy that resonates with them and the lyrical themes. There’s a sense of comfortability flowing through each Neo-Soul album. Much less about scaling vocal and lyrical abilities, but more about what feels real and natural. To achieve a feeling of completion, one would have to be in-touch with themselves artistically, acknowledging strengths in their abilities and leveraging them to echo the meaning/emotion in between the lyrics. Jack Harlow studied and learnt how to tackle that.
In an almost similar way to his previous process when songwriting, Jack explains to Popcast that he started by ‘saying what he wants to say and finding the pocket of rhythm and rhymes afterwards’, using that method for this new album in words he describes as “feelings-driven style”.
He flows with the melody and keeps the lyrics ‘simple’ but true, letting them live on their own and allowing space for certain verses and harmonies to breathe. Of course, keeping the essence of his original form of vocal expression, rap.
“My entire career path is me trying to get closer to capturing who I actually am”
Addressing the questions around appropriation
It is definitely wise and correct to keep tabs on artists who step into a different culture musically, considering the major riff between black and white counterparts for plagiarism and cultural appropriation. No I am not surprised that many questions were raised towards Jack’s moves toward Neo-Soul. Considering the research I have taken in about his background and hearing his intention and ideas when producing this album, I conclude that he is appreciative of the Neo-Soul genre and other black music that he is surrounded in, as that is what made pieces of who he is today.
An artist who is appreciative of a culture and genre, studies it and looks up to the greats of it. And instead of changing the meaning or flow, they submerge into it. An artist who is appropriating a genre would put on a performance for virality and recognition of their versatility. That would be shown through the promotion of the album, the attitude outside of the music (eg interviews, press-talks), over-exaggeration of the clothing and fashion (even leaning into AAVE) to make a mockery of the genre or completely take-over. On the other side of the coin, I understand that Neo-Soul is emerging from underground sub-genres into a mainstream niche genre, in somewhat, a show of trends. (the weird social urge of portraying coolness and uniqueness) So it could look like a potential strategic move from Jack, especially as a white artist.
Concerns (rightfully) were raised when a quote from the same interview mentioned above went viral. “I got blacker.” Out of context, this sentence is distasteful, even micro-aggressive; but listening to the conversation leading up to that, it is relevant to the topic at hand. As mentioned before, the interviewers posed a question to Jack about leaning away from ‘safe-landing’ genres like Country and Rock, like other white rappers have done such as Post Malone and MGK. Jack basically said that instead of retreating into a white space, he gravitated towards a black space. I agree that he presented a horrid lack of words but engaging with the majority (if not whole) of the interview, it is clear that he is appreciative of the genre and loves the music!
That is what music is all about, expression and sharing. It is has been every black musician’s dream to be heard and indulged by everyone from different backgrounds. However, is it unfair to gate-keep black genres and cultures when an artist is inspired and creates within the same space?
Collaborators who are featured in the album include: Ravyn Lenae, Mustafa, James Savage, Hollywood Cole, Jermaine Paul, Robert Glasper. All who are prominent black musicians and vocalists in RnB and Neo-Soul.
I feel like Jack Harlow’s era of Neo-Soul is a step towards his goal of self-discovery and that is okay. Neo-Soul is a healing genre and culture. It reflects positivity to the artist and the audience and you can feel it sonically throughout MONICA, within his breathy and delicate tone and raw honesty of his lyrics.
