Jack Harlow — Come Home The Kids Miss You — Album Review
Hip-Hop | Rap
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
While I have known of Louisville rapper Jack Harlow for quite some time now, it was only really this year that I really started to dive into his own music. This is likely in light of his upcoming set at Reading Festival this year, which I am very excited to attend.
While I gave his debut album, 2019’s That’s What They All Say a proper spin a few months back, it seems that I might not be the only person getting into Jack Harlow in 2022. Throughout the year, the rapper has managed to add a great deal of new listeners to his fanbase. And this is likely through all of the teasers he had released leading up to his sophomore album.
The album in question is titled Come Home The Kids Miss You, and it was finally released last Friday. Boasting features from Pharrell Williams, Drake, Justin Timberlake, and Lil Wayne, Come Home The Kids Miss You seemed like an exciting prospect by that merit alone. However, we all know that most of us were listening to this album, to get a true taste of what Jack Harlow has to offer; myself included.
It seems quite jarring then, that this album is such a mixed bag. Whether it was Jack Harlow’s own bars, or the beats behind them, many of the tracks just seemed a little too bare-boned.
Given that this is a sophomore project, of course, Come Home The Kids Miss You served as a great opportunity for Harlow to really push the boat out and offer us his own creative spin on the hip-hop genre (after all, I believe he has done this before with various tracks on That’s What They All Say). However, a vast chunk of the album came off as a little too “commercially tampered with” (I guess that’s the best way to put it) for my liking.
Although, this seemed more apparent on the album’s earlier leg, than with its later half. I found that the further I got into the album, the more I enjoyed it. But of course, many of the better tracks can be found later on. I also found that the tracks that maybe weren’t as commercially appealing (perhaps with the exception of “Dua Lipa”), were the ones that I personally felt gave off most of Jack Harlow’s creative side.
And I think that pretty much sums up what I wanted more of from this album; creativity. The lack of it won’t necessarily stop someone like me from enjoying it now. But by the time we reach the end of the year, I don’t think Come home The Kids Miss You would be as memorable as I would’ve liked it to be.
There isn’t really much to take away from this album in terms of narrative either; just another story of success, and not a very engaging one of that either.
But to give credit where credit is due, I definitely wouldn’t say that Come Home The Kids Miss You is a fundamentally bad album by any stretch of the imagination; I just feel like I haven’t been properly introduced to Jack Harlow yet through his music. I don’t doubt that I will during his Reading performance, but if we’re talking future music, a more introspective third album certainly wouldn’t go amiss.
Favourite Tracks: Dua Lipa | Lil Secret | State Fair
Least Favourite Track: Young Harleezy
Generation Now | Atlantic Records
