Album Info

18

By Jack Harlow

Hip-Hop/Rap - 2016

When Jack Harlow opens his third mixtape by stating, "I feel like the chosen one," the words are no ordinary... more

Tracklist

1

The Chosen One

3:01 min
2

Got Me Thinking

4:00 min
3

Ice Cream

2:37 min
4

I'm Good

3:09 min
5

Obsessed (feat. Otis Junior & Nemo Achida)

3:24 min
6

Selfish

3:02 min
7

Magazine

2:59 min
8

Never Woulda Known (feat. Johnny Spanish)

3:23 min

About 18

When Jack Harlow opens his third mixtape by stating, "I feel like the chosen one," the words are no ordinary boast. Expectations were already rising for the teenaged Louisville MC, who began rapping at the age of 12, started making his own CDs not long after, and spent his high school years selling out local shows and scoring an opening slot for Vince Staples. Harlow was just a few weeks past graduation when he released 18, his first for Private Garden, the label he named after the collective that he'd formed with friends at school. As one might expect from a set with such an audacious yet endearing cover image (where he poses wearing just boxer shorts and glasses), the music showcases a performer and lyricist who is unafraid to bare his anxieties and expose himself while still conveying a youthful brashness. As he puts it in "The Chosen One," "Attracted to my confidence, swagger hella prominent, it's actually astonishing they mad at my accomplishments." Keeping a firm grasp on the tight hyphy production by Phinesse The Beat, Harlow delivers his lines with a playful swagger that suggests he doesn't necessarily believe he's all that. Beyond the all-grown-up-now facade and his claim in "Never Woulda Known" to have "come a long way from that Guitar Hero mic" he wielded in his early days, he exudes a teenage mix of confidence and vulnerability on the eight tracks here. That quality lends a disarmingly casual charm to "Ice Cream," on which Harlow boasts about his rising local rep ("I'm the prince of my city") while sounding slightly surprised by his newfound appeal to members of the opposite sex. What's most striking is how much he relishes the opportunity to dart across the beats supplied by Wonya Love. The pleasure he takes in his task is infectious, possibly even more so because the talented 18-year-old on display here can't know what he'll soon accomplish.