The huge hit "WHAT'S POPPIN," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since been certified 6x-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), launched Jack Harlow's meteoric rise to fame in 2020. The 23-year-old Kentucky native has quickly risen to prominence as a rap sensation in front of the industry's eyes, fast becoming one of today's most popular acts.

Jack Harlow was in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 4th, for the Variety Hitmakers Brunch, where he was honored as the Hitmaker of Tomorrow. During Harlow's speech, he shared a personal anecdote from his youth and credited the Harry Potter novels with instilling his competitive spirit.

“When I was in the second grade, I went to an elementary school that had a competitive program,” Harlow started the speech. “You could read a book and then take a quiz on that book, and if you passed the quiz, indicating you had really read the book, you would get awarded a certain amount of points. 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.

“So we get to the end of the school year and there’s a big assembly. The entire school is there, in my memory at least it feels like a stadium full of people. The climax of this assembly is the staff announcing the top three students who had read the most, or at least, had been credited the most points for reading. 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 the 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.”

With his "buzzcut, eyeglasses, and crooked teeth," Harlow stepped up to accept his medal when he realized he'd won.

Harlow continued, “Before today, that’s the only time in my life I’ve ever gotten up in front of a crowd and won an award. I just want to be clear, as a kid I was a little more of an introvert. Or at least I allowed myself to be an introvert. 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.”

Jack Harlow, who is featured on the cover of Variety's Hitmakers edition, was joined by Lil Nas X, Pusha T, City Girls, Chloe Bailey, Normani, Billie Eilish, John Mayer, and many others. Harlow's first chart-topping single, "Industry Baby," was released this year, and his 2020 debut album, That's What They All Say, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.