Jack Harlow recently won the Hitmaker Of Tomorrow award at Variety's Hitmakers Brunch, and he's told a heartwarming story about how his childhood love of reading has helped his songwriting.
During his speech, he spoke about his love for Harry Potter, which he discovered thanks to a competitive reading program his school was running while he was in Grade 2. Jack explained, “The bigger more challenging the book, the more points you earned. I read every book I could find. I read all the Harry Potter books. Boy, those Harry Potter books are worth some points.”
Thanks to his new-found love of Harry Potter, he ended up coming first in the competition, and he recounted the moment that he accepted the trophy. There was a big assembly held to announce the winners - and it wasn't even close. Jack recalled, “In third place they announce some fifth grader, he goes up and they give him his trophy. Second place, another fifth grader — he goes up, they give him a trophy.
"And in first place, a second grader, they called my name. And I had beat the entire school. I won by a landslide, I probably had quadruple whatever second place had. So I want you to imagine this little second grader, buzzcut, eyeglasses, crooked teeth walking down the bleachers on stage to accept this trophy. Before today, that’s the only time in my life I’ve ever gotten up in front of a crowd and won an award.” We reckon there might just be a few more awards in his future...
He concluded the speech by saying that reading helped him to hone his writing ability, allowing him to stand out amongst his peers. Jack concluded, “I wasn’t silent, I had friends, but I was much more comfortable just observing and enjoying my own thoughts. I think if you took a picture of me on this stage and showed that kid, he’d be pretty blown away. But to be honest, all the ingredients were there.
"It was a competition and it brought out the competitor in me, which is a big part of the genre I’m in. All that reading is what made me the writer I am now, and I’m pretty sure it’s what’s going to make me the Hitmaker of Tomorrow. So thank you so much, I really appreciate y’all.”
READ MORE: Jack Harlow Has His Eye On Being The Next Rap Superstar
If you told us that Jack Harlow was secretly a wizard, we'd probably believe you. Let's just hope that if he does indeed have any magical powers, he continues to use them for good, and not for evil.
