Jack Harlow: I’m *Not* Vanilla Baby [VIDEO]

Hi.

How could someone simply saying hi make you immediately like them?

The tough one. I don't know if I could describe myself on camera. I'm self-proclaiming myself as the best rapper in the world right now. Right here, TikTok took it up a notch.

Every video I see of him, I'm like, Hmm, Jack Harlow. Jack Harlow does mention my name in the song. This new Jack Harlow song. It's currently going viral right now.

And I can put you in.

In the upcoming remake of White Man Can't Jump, he would have been nominated for a Grammy.

Thank you.

I am so happy you made it from Vegas me too. That was like a close call.

Couldn't wait to get out of there.

Just like not the vibe to be in Vegas all the time.

Shit, it's not the vibe any time.

Were you there for 24 hours?

I was there for business.

Business no pleasure.

Oh, you know, I take pleasure in business sometimes, but yeah, I know what you're asking me now.

No, you didn't meet any ladies.

I didn't spend any money, okay?

Okay, good to know. I want to go back to the beginning because I'm like, already you sitting in this chair, Jack. The ladies are blushing, they're happy.

That's right.

You just moved back.

Yeah.

Tell me, why is your hometown so?

Why are you looking at me like that? Nah, just excited.

Talk to me about your hometown and what it means to you.

Gosh, where do I start?

Little different than L.A.

Yes, very, very, very.

Is it okay? You just said, like, you kind of like, roll it off the tongue, you're like, Louisville. is it Louisville?

You almost got it, you almost got it. I'd say locally, it's the ville is More Vol.

Vol.

Louisville, Louisville, Louisville.

Louisville. It kind of is just like, in the throat, you're just like, Oh.

Yeah, like, Oh, it's not Louisville, it's buttery, it's syrupy.

Yeah, but like, if you hear people say, Louisville, do you give a shit?

Well, not deeply, and I'm beyond my like correcting at stage. It's just it's not tasteful, but you peep it, you notice.

Yeah, yeah, well, cause I so I. My friends both went to college there, like my good friends. And then when I went for a wedding last year, I was trying to suss out the vibe cause.

Louisville, Louisville, Louisville. Yeah, you're there.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about Kentucky?

That's a good question, it's really good, I see why you're in the position you're in, you know what to do.

Yeah, there is like, you, what were you like as a kid?

I wasn't allowed to play video games when I was really young, so I read a lot.

What did you read?

Novels on novels really into Harry Potter.

I didn't realize you were a Harry Potter. Stan. Can we talk about that for a second?

Well, I'm not a Stan, but yes.

Then what the fuck are you?

Fuck it, I'm a Stan, let's go.

Oh, you're like, easily persuaded?

I'm easy, Yeah, you're easy.

Peer pressure. Let's go, John, the whole time.

I'm going to just keep pressuring you.

Who's your favorite?

Of the Harry Potters, Yeah, the characters.

Yeah.

Who was that Asian girl he was fucking with?

She was, like, there for a second.

She had me, she had me weak, I can't lie, she had me open reading that shit.

Do you think the first time you jerked off was when you were at the 16th chapter? And you were like, All right, I got to put the book down? I'm getting hard.

No, I know what the first time I beat my dick was.

Share with the class Jack.

I just realized I've been waiting for a chance.

No one wants to talk about that shit. They'll bleep it out, they'll cut.

This is right up your alley.

This will be the whole promo, this will be it.

I just remember.

Do you remember that feeling like, what did you think to yourself?

I thought, God damn, I get it, shit's all right.

I love how you gave yourself blue balls for like, the first time.

I was terrified, I didn't know, because it just was rising and rising and rising. I'm like, where are we going? Great.

You said that you weren't allowed to play video games. What was your house like growing up? Like, what was the dynamic? who's in your house? What's going on?

My two parents who love each other deeply to this day, and my little brother, I owe a lot to my parents. I got good parents.

They're still together.

They are deeply in love. Wow.

So are you kind of like a romantic guy?

You know, I was for a while.

What happened?

I don't know, I'm just deeply in my patch, in my patch stage right now. Like, not that I'm, I'm not. I'm not like, necessarily cutthroat. I just like, I think when I was 21, I just seek so much validation.

Yeah, peace out.

So it's a different stage, I think something in the last, like 12 months, probably something shifted.

I think I know it shifted, but we'll get there.

Can't wait to hear your diagnosis.

Yeah, yeah, don't worry, we're going full diagnosis. This is a therapy session, just so you know, are you in therapy?

I am.

Okay, good, well, this is an extended version. Good, you can tell your therapist we don't need our session. This week. I sit down with Alex.

Yeah, it's already canceled.

You said that you were like you were looking for validation. Talk to me about what you were like in high school. Did you get the girls? Were you a loser? Were you bullied?

I could always get the girl I wanted. It's not like I was like, I didn't have my way across the board. But I could get the cute girl. Okay, I could get the cute girl I was well liked in high school.

What were your friends like? I feel like that kind of like, were you like an athlete guy? were you a chess player? were you in the book club?

I started making music so early that the rapper category kind of got stamped on me really early, so I would pass out CDs in school. And everyone knew I was chasing this for a long time, so I was in sort of my own category. Even locally, I experienced the taste of fame from the age of like 14 on. Because I would go out in public and people would stop me and ask me for pictures just at other schools, so it was unique.

I feel like I know what was his name. Was it like, Sammy, do you know who I'm talking about?

Sammy Adams.

Sammy Adams from Philly Yeah, and I remember, I know what you're talking about of, like, I feel like a lot of high school.

I opened for Sammy Adams when I was 18 years old. Shut the fuck up. I was 18 years old, no one was there to see me. Aw.

That's kind of funny, the juxtaposition of like, you being a rapper and then having like your glasses and like, maybe not, like, looking the part.

Yeah, I think, I think when I was younger, I really was like, banking on that juxtaposition. I think. I think I was like, Ooh, this shock value is going to be what does it for me? And then I think I got to a point where I took the glasses off and like, started. Like, tending to. How I looked became slightly more vain, and I was like, I like looking in the mirror and being pleased.

Were people in your hometown like, I feel like sometimes people are assholes at that age, being like, you're a fucking loser, stop trying to make it. Were people around you supportive, or were they like, you're dumb? Move on.

It was split, it was polarizing for people, people were, it was, it was very divisive. Like people either thought it was super tight that I was doing that, or they thought, like, from a distance, they never would say it to me. I was. I wasn't stuffing the locker material.

You know, what's funny is like, just so anyone listening the ladies like, I think there's something on Google. Cause I was going to give you merch. And I was like, Oh, like, I. I remember I met him at SNL. I'm like, he's taller than I expected, and online there's something of like, he's either 5'8 or he's like 6'2, and there's like a misconception.

Thank you.

So, yeah, you weren't getting stuffed into lockers?

Thank you for that, too.

You wouldn't have fit.

That's right.

Um, how would your teachers have described you back then?

If they were British, they would have said Cheeky. I was well liked by my teachers, but I was not focused on school at all.

Good grades, bad grades.

Poor.

Poor.

Mediocre?

Like d's or c's.

C's and D's not failing getting through, but, like, not focused cheating.

You know, it's a skill.

Fuck the thing is, at the beginning of high school, we signed like, a, uh, did you have to do that? We signed like an oath. And I was like, Fuck man, they could take me to court because I didn't earn much shit. I'll tell you what.

How far would you go to cheat? Like, did you have any like tricks?

I had tricks.

Sure, you had tricks, now you're not in school.

Trust me, I had tricks. okay, I had tricks. I was, uh, I was just in with smart girls in the classes I was in with them.

Baby, you helped me cheat.

Right, how intimate is that, though? How intimate is that? That is special. And I used to put my arm around her, like, you helped me.

It was the attention, what you gave them, or did you ever hook up with anyone that helped you cheat?

I'm sure, I'm sure I did, but I don't think it was. I don't know if it was a direct like debt exchange. When I did it. Yeah, but coincidentally, I may have. But it was love, it was love.

Okay.

That it didn't have to go anywhere, it was just there's nothing like the company of a woman. I know I'm in the right arena to be saying that, but I really, I deeply believe that. Like, it's like, it's so relaxed.

It is.

Yeah.

We're pretty great, yeah, but what I can imagine is like, Did you have a girlfriend in high school ever?

I did for a portion of it.

How did that go over with her? You having all these lady friends?

Well, she's at another school.

I feel like you played a lot of games back in the day.

It didn't feel like it, I just was me, I just was, I was. I like to. I just like to have friends, you get it?

You like to have friends with vaginas?

It's like, I want to move on because somehow the wounds seem fresh. No matter how long ago it was, it's just like, Yo, let's chill, let's chill.

We're literally talking about high school and middle school.

She's going to hear this.

How many girlfriends did you have in high school?

I had one.

How long?

A year I was on the same shit I'm on now, then I'm, you know, playing the field, you know, chilling, seeing what's going on.

Oh, assessing the situation.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, you are funny, Okay, we're moving on.

What was the major turning point in your career? If you had to say, like, one big moment where you're like, Oh, people fucking know me now.

I mean, What's popping? was a huge one. There was little steps up till then. Like, there's a lot of people that approach me and tell me at different times. In the late 2010s, they became aware of me. Like, had these records that would go viral on Twitter from like, 2017, 2018, 2019? So it was building.

Here we go.

I'm out in public, I'm not in my hometown, and people are stopping me.

That must be so crazy. Like now, understanding that you always kind of were like, recognizable in Kentucky. But then to go somewhere else and be like, Oh fuck, I think I'm like, famous now, how do you handle that? Do you like it?

It's very validating, I mean, especially overseas, like walking through New Zealand and Australia and people, people know. It's like, you feel that's one of those moments where you take that time to pat yourself on the back. So it feels really good, it feels good.

Do you like the New Zealand women?

Yeah.

What country have you like, maybe liked the most of the ladies, who shows you the most love outside of the US?

I really like London, those women know how to talk, you know what I mean, they know how to talk.

You like a woman that talks a lot.

Yeah, and I like, Well, yeah.

Not too much.

To a point, Hey, let me tell you something. You are funny, you are funny, you're kind of funny, too.

Cheeky.

They're cheeky and they feel like they read a lot of books growing up.

Do you like a strong, confident, smart woman?

All those sound good.

What's your type?

I just like sweethearts, man, I like sweet ass girls, I like sweet ass girls.

So if a girl's playing a game with you, are you like, no, like? Do you like a girl that's like, Hi, Jack, like, I like you? Or are you saying just like, sweet, nice, hearted, but like?

I'm not saying a girl has to, like, be a pushover, let me walk all over her. That's not what I mean by sweet. I just mean that I don't like mean, spirited energy at all, and I don't like toxicity. I don't.

Maybe you're playing the games at 30.

Hopefully not.

Maybe you're stirring up the toxic?

There's no telling, I'm just saying it may shift from sweet to like yo. I need a woman that challenges the fuck out of me and is at this level, is above me. This, and that it's just who I am right now.

Maybe you want a woman that's like making the bread.

I mean, it doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world.

Yeah, you mentioned when you were talking about vulnerability, I'm like, What's your biggest insecurity when you were younger? and like, Do you still feel that way?

I think when I was really young, my teeth were pre braces. My teeth made it, you know, when you're like, eight years old and your teeth are fucked, me too, it's a common one. That was one.

Did you get braces where, like you would like, decorate with the colors on the little?

I think I had some blue shit going on.

But like Halloween time, you did do like black and orange.

No, but you did.

I didn't. It was like, disgusting, like I look back and I'm like, it looks like there's like carrots and black beans in my teeth.

It don't matter, then, I can totally see that, I can totally see you at 11 years old.

Oh my god, I had two big front teeth and no one wanted to finger me, no one wanted to touch me. Doc, I was always the girl, like, never on the top five.

Never getting fingered.

Never.

Damn, damn, damn, I've got the craziest story about fingering.

Okay, sure.

I low-key wanted to take this shit to NBC, but we're here. You already brought up fingering. I just want to tell you about a pregnancy scare I had.

Okay, here we go.

In middle school.

Okay, here we go.

So I had this chick I was messing with seventh or eighth grade, I think eighth grade.

Like, we're having a baby.

Like my parents, I couldn't have told them I even fingered somebody because it was like, What the fuck are you doing? fingering somebody?

Little do you know if you told your parents they'd be like, let us teach you a little thing about sex.

It would have been such a relief, so it was my birthday weekend, ruining my 12th or 13th birthday and I remember being at school. And I just like, lean against the wall in the hallway as everyone's going to class. And I just slide down the wall and put my head in my hands and start bawling. Like, I start fucking crying because I'm so convinced I just got a girl pregnant and just ruined everything.

Did you use condoms ever since?

Yes, on my fingers, too.

Wrap that shit up.

You know it?

Every time you have sex, you use a condom.

And everyone should.

Have you ever had sex without a condom?

I've always wanted to.

You think you'll ever get it to go?

Maybe after marriage.

Oh, you'll let it go raw.

Yeah.

What do you think it will feel like?

I lost my virginity. Raw, actually, what the fuck? And goddamn it was great. In that moment, I was like, Oh shit, because it had taken. It had taken me and her weeks to get it in because I didn't know you had to wet it up.

I want to feel that shit.

Thank God, I did because I, I was like, this is why this is humanity, I felt humanity in one stroke.

We know you love Dua Lipa. What other celebrities are you crushing on?

There's someone, but I don't think it's mutual. Oh, I don't really want to talk about it.

Yeah, but like, what if you like, put it out into the world?

And it's not time yet.

It's not time, it's not time yet. Can you give us a hint?

She's beautiful.

Well, fucking, obviously.

Well, there's only a few that are no, I'm joking.

You're doing great.

What does it say?

Just in case you were doubting yourself.

About this interview.

Yeah, you're doing great.

Thank you.

You're doing great, thank you. I like your purple pants, your pink outfit, it goes.

I didn't match it to the studio, but there was something about the fit that felt appropriate.

You kind of look like you're the host of this show, you fit more into this room than me.

Not at the moment, but you run this shit, let's be fucking honest the fuck, but I'll tell you.

Would you like a nurse?

You don't know me, you don't know me, you must not know what. I've written a song about nurses.

We.

Girls wear scrubs in my shows and I'm not being funny.

Okay, let's role play. You're trying to impress me, you're taking me on a date, yeah.

I really like going to dinner, and obviously that's not revolutionary, but that's just one of my favorite pastimes. Honestly, I love going out to dinner with or without a girl.

When was your last serious relationship?

Sometime in the last couple years.

How long did it last?

A couple years.

Have you ever been in love?

I'd like to think so.

How many times?

Potentially, once I hear people describe love and I'm like, God damn, that is something, that is something.

I bet you will one day thank you, and then I think maybe you'll say, now I'm really in love.

That's how it seems to go. My high school girlfriend. There might have been a sense of we're in love and then you have another one after that.

That maybe is just also life.

And then suddenly you're with somebody that fits where you're at right there. Oh, yeah, this is what the fuck I've been looking for, yeah.

A brunette that's sweet in a nurse outfit, done.

Oh, you just gave me chills the fuck.

I want to discuss some of your song lyrics. You say I'm vanilla baby, I'll choke you, but I ain't no killer baby.

You're smacking the delivery.

On a scale of vanilla to kinky, where are you at in your sex game?

Five.

Five.

Well, it's just like I have, I have my kinks, I can't front, but.

During sex.

Yes, you were immune. When I was 19, yeah, I was just like I was a breather, but.

But.

I know it's not, it's not about me in that moment.

Can you help me understand? We got vanilla and we got kinky and you're in the middle, so I'm going to say something to you.

Ok.

Missionary sex.

The best good as it gets, it's that corner booth in sex form, ain't it?

Don't you think sometimes people think missionary would be vanilla, but if you do it the right way?

I know they think it is, it's fine with me. That's how we got going, though. That's how the Homo erectus was like, that's default.

Yeah.

In there.

But I think some people really don't want to look at each other. They're like, I fucking hate you, but just let's fuck, but you're not like that, you're making sweet love.

Typically, every once in a while you gotta roll a motherfucker over, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

What is your favorite sex position?

We just spent the last ten minutes on that.

That is it if I didn't ask you.

You don't know what they call me? No, wow, what do they call you? You know, I make music, right?

No, they don't you call yourself that?

Nah, that's I don't know why I got that nickname as a young child. My grandmother called me that at two years old.

What do you think about whips and chains? Obviously it's in your song. I like no whips and chains, but you can't hold me down.

It's a no go.

I'm vanilla baby, I choke you.

I love your takes on my voice.

Sucking her toes.

Whose?

The girl you're hooking up with if, she said, Jack.

It would take the right woman. There's someone that could bring it out of me, though I know it.

Maybe it's the person earlier that you said you didn't want to say it, perhaps.

Crucial, crucial.

Hot take. Are you the guy that's sending the paragraphs?

Oh, the romance novels.

Are you putting like?

And then I bend you over and breathe in your ear, like, Nah.

Furthermore, we move forward.

I do a lot of.

I just hate when I read the paragraph if a man has ever sexed me. And it's like, first, and I'm like, Oh, Jesus Christ, here we go. It's like, then moving forward.

Yeah, I mean, that'll make you soft, I can't lie. Once they go like that, you're like, Yeah, that's a good effort.

My next question was a finger in the butthole?

I don't want nothing in my ass, but I don't mind somebody....

What about a little lick?

I can fuck with that, I can get cleaned out.

I feel like your DMs are going to be scary after this episode. Daddy Gang goes hard.

Girls, listen to this.

Only a few.

Traumatized? I mean, my first pregnancy almost came from one.

Really.

And I still.

I've never given one of those. Do you suggest?

It's too late for you.

What's your best skill in the bedroom?

R&D.

Rhythm underrated.

Just like me.

Do you think you're misunderstood?

I guess I just feel like.

What are you saying in the bedroom? what are you doing over there now after you went through your breathing phase?

Because now I don't breathe. I had work to be done, I met somebody older than me. I think it just turned my dialogue up.

Say it, let it be known. Literature Are you good at detecting if a woman is faking an orgasm?

No, I'm not.

So sad, so many women have probably faked it.

You're awesome.

Think about all the women.

I mean, surely I want to go to dinner later, for sure, because you're going to pay.

You know what it is?

They want the Uber ride home, come on.

Let's talk about your new single, it is really good.

Thank you, it's like it's nice to see you say something so earnest. I know it was hard for you, I know you're switching right back into character here shortly.

Thank you, it's so catchy.

Impact is always so validating. And I dropped an album earlier this year called Jackman that I would say, like, wasn't even in the TikTok universe. Obviously, there's people on TikTok.

Is that annoying, though? Like, as musicians watch, it's like, it's kind of wild.

For example, like that album I put out, I didn't make a single TikTok for it because.

It's.

It's where fucking culture is, and culture continues to move. There was something.

It's so.

It's unbelievable.

It's crazy.

It's unbelievable.

What, what is your writing process like?

I like you in this bag, you do. I didn't know you had this in you.

Yeah, I'm a business woman like I.

Respect that also. No, I can tell I'm joking.

We can, like, joke around.

I see how much range you got.

Thank you.

My writing process.

That's so interesting, yeah. And then you take the other ones and hold them until you find another beat for them.

Yeah, or sometimes, and then you have the occasion, like on Loving on me, Vanilla Baby was.

That's so crazy. So do you a lot of times go in there and since you're recording, like, you'll just say.

Yeah, it's like it gets too messy for me.

Yeah.