Jack Harlow is back. The Kentucky rapper, who became a main event with his cut WHAT'S POPPIN, has returned with a massive new song Nail Tech gaining immediate praise from Kanye West. He's very quickly establishing himself as one of the most versatile rappers out there hopping on tracks with everyone from Lil Wayne to Lil Nas X, seemingly able to body any beat. 

We've dug through some of his music influences to better discover the musical anatomy of Harlow. 

Drake

Harlow has listed Drizzy as one of his main five influences. They're yet to work together in an official capacity but the pair have love for each other. Last year, when Harlow played a show in Toronto, Drake's hometown, he was in attendance. Harlow took the opportunity to call out the Canadian rapper telling the crowd, I was halfway through my performance and I looked up and I see my idol looking at me, man.” He then went on to call Drizzy the GOAT.

Drake has showed love back too. When a video of Harlow rapping as a kid went viral, Drizzy commented on the video writing, "Hardddd." We reckon it won't be very long at all until we have a collaboration from the two.

Kanye West

Kanye and Harlow collided last year when Yeezy produced his collaboration with Lil Nas X, INDUSTRY BABY. When Harlow dropped Nail Tech, however, Ye really came through with the praise listing him as one of the Top 5 best rappers right now. In an Instagram post he wrote, “This n***a can raaaaaaap bro And I’m saying n***a as a compliment Top 5 out right now.” Harlow reacted:

This right here…is one of the greatest moments of my entire life…glad y’all all get front row seats to it…suddenly all the hate means nothing…imagine your hero saying this about you…I could cry pic.twitter.com/DIghd00yaq

— Jack Harlow (@jackharlow) February 18, 2022

Maybe we'll see the pair collaborate on DONDA 2 although who knows whether Yeezy's opinion on Harlow will change before next week.

Lil Wayne

Harlow named Lil Wayne as another one of his Top 5 rappers and he's also the only one that he has collaborated with. The pair united on the What's Poppin remix which also featured DaBaby and Tory Lanez. Harlow called the moment “a big notch off my bucket list” at the time on Young Money Radio. They then collaborated once again on a remix for City Girl's Pussy Talk so I guess we could call them frequent collaborators now. We wouldn't be surprised if we hear Wayne on Harlow's next record too. 

André 3000

It's hard to find a modern rapper these days who wasn't partly inspired by one-half of Outkast. André 3000 has one of the most recognisable flows out and Harlow is a big fan of it. He listed André as one of his Top 5 rappers but the pair are yet to collaborate. In fact, getting André on a track is a pretty rare occurrence. Last year, only Kanye managed with Life Of The Party off DONDA. 

Eminem

Eminem was a childhood hero of Harlow's and his influence is still present in his music today. Speaking with GQ, Harlow said that his love for Em runs pretty deep. "I grew up listening to Eminem. I idolized Eminem, big influence of mine while growing up. I mean he’s so dope," he said. 

"I remember when I was ten or eleven, I would wear like a toboggan, and hoodie and headphones around my neck. Cause I wanted to feel like him."

Harlow and Em collaborated on a remix for Killer but he's also shared that he's spoken to his idol on the phone before. He told Billboard, "we had a phone call that meant the world to me."

JAY-Z

JAY-Z is also one of Harlow's Top 5 rappers. He's actually yet to speak much on what the influence is but it's unsurprising given that JAY is an influence to nearly every rapper who has come up post 2000s.

Gwen Stefani

Here's a bit of a curveball. Harlow told Rolling Stone's First Time that Gwen Stefani has made some of his favourite music. He said that The Sweet Escape was his first favourite record and listed Wind It Up and 4 In The Morning as two of his favourite tracks. "There's a lot of great songs on that album," he said.  It was his Mum who originally introduced him to Stefani.