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Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include more Louisville references in Harlow's video.
Louisville native Jack Harlow dropped his latest single, “Nail Tech,” at midnight earlier today.
Since the success of 2020’s That’s What They All Say, which threw Harlow into national fame, the rapper has been teasing new work that he says will be “more expensive” than his previous music.
As with much of Harlow’s music, “Nail Tech” has several homages to Louisville.
Harlow appears in a boxing ring with Louisville hip-hop legend C-Tez with a lyrical reference to the rapper's song, "Bow." “The king’s back in his hometown," Harlow raps before being joined by a chorus of voices, "When them wheels hit and I touch down, they / Bow / Bow / Bow.”
Harlow also wears a large, silver Kentucky-shaped medallion that looks like the one the late, great Louisville rapper Static Major was known for sporting. (Harlow has flashed Major's accessory before in his "Luv Is Dro" music video, a song that actually uses Major's voice.)
In one scene, as he throws a UofL L, Harlow says, “‘I don’t take L’s, I give ‘em and I chuck ‘em up.” (He also does the gesture briefly when saying in the opening scene, “You smell me? That’s L-V,” referring to Louis Vuitton.)
Harlow also drops what might be a reference to Mayor Greg Fischer’s proclamation that Dec. 18, 2021, was “Jack Harlow Day” in Louisville: “My city hall and I'm cosigning this wave, comin' up next out it.”
Harlow’s love for his hometown is well-documented: Around the holidays he played a series of Louisville shows and he often reps the Bluegrass in interviews.
He has faced criticism from some locals recently for his DJ allegedly shooting a nightclub employee and mom, Kasmira Nash, around Derby time. Harlow was present when Ronnie O'Bannon reportedly shot and killed Nash, and Harlow has been added to a lawsuit from Nash’s family that claims he and Atlanta record label Generation Now “negligently employed, retained, and/or affiliated with O’Bannon,” and “recklessly facilitated their attendants, associates, affiliates, employees, and agents bypassing the security screening at Vibes and entering Vibes without proper security screening.”
Harlow's new video also cuts between a number of sets of scenes: Harlow treats hip-hop artist Yung Miami to a manicure, walks through an office building named “Private Garden” in honor of Harlow’s collective of creative friends (who also make cameos in the video), and presents a vibrator to a crowd of women Steve Jobs-style.
There are a few moments of product placement — Harlow shows off his New Balance sneakers as he hangs his legs out the window of a white Tesla, and he later brandishes a Venmo debit card. Harlow, a longtime fan of New Balance, recently became a product ambassador for the company and is slated to premiere a new sneaker at the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game tonight.
Harlow released a teaser for the song on Feb. 10.
2/18 pic.twitter.com/X7d0mPqDKf
— Jack Harlow…NAIL TECH TONIGHT (@jackharlow) February 10, 2022
He announced that the song would be called “Nail Tech” via social media on Tuesday.
View this post on Instagram
In the days (and hours) leading up to the stream, thousands of Harlow’s fans dropped excited comments for the new song on social media. Some of them tuned into a live listening party on a Jack Harlow-themed Discord server.
Still, perhaps no one was more excited for the video than @jackharlowsfingernails on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Funnily enough, the account owner’s joking prediction last week that the song would have a connection to fingernails turned out to be correct.
View this post on Instagram
If you liked “Nail Tech,” you’ll be able to see Harlow headline the Forecastle Festival at Waterfront Park this May.
Watch the video for “Nail Tech” here:
