Week of 8/4: Jack Harlow x Pooh Shiesty, A Great Big Pile of Leaves
Michael and Eli once again are forced to say nice things about a certain white guy rapper, Miranda discusses a single from a band that she had accepted was done long ago
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him), Eric Bennett (they/them), Michael Brooks (he/him) and Miranda Reinert (she/her). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. On Substack, we’re also a weekly roundup of songs. Our format is simple: each of our four hosts picks a song they love and writes about it. There will be one free post every week, and more at the end of every month for paid subscribers. For the sake of your wallet, don’t start a paid subscription on Substack. Instead, sign up at the 2$ tier or higher on Patreon and we will gift you a subscription.
Jack Harlow x Pooh Shiesty - “SUV’s on Black”
Eli Enis:
If there’s anything I find little to no pleasure in, it’s giving Jack Harlow his flowers. As longtime readers of this newsletter will know, Michael once suggested that we review his song “Tyler Herro” back when he and I went head-to-head every Wednesday, and I came away feeling much more positive about the track than I anticipated. Harlow is by no means a bad rapper, but him being a white dude with swag gives me PTSD flashbacks to the 2010-2013 versions of him — douchebags like Chris Webby, Hoodie Allen and Asher Roth. It’s not really fair of me to draw those parallels because Harlow doesn’t seem to have the same level of cluelessness and/or bedroom full of empty Zumiez bags, and he’s also a way better rapper, but something about Harlow as a person just turns me off (and in a way that Post Malone doesn’t, tbh).
That said, I gotta hand it to him on “SUVS (Black on Black).” It’s a good, catchy song that he sounds super in-the-pocket on. All he has to offer is “I went from x to y” flexes, but he sounds good while flinging them across the beat like an ultimate frisbee star (tbh he looks like he played pick-up ultimate games in college). The only reason I was legitimately interested in listening to this thing was because my man Pooh Shiesty is on it, who dropped one of my favorite mixtapes of the year back in February and has continued to be a joyful presence whenever he pops up on a song.
Sadly, his verse didn't really impress me here. Pooh is very good at what he does, but as of now — and he’s only been rapping for a couple years, so this could change — he really only does one thing. And that’s deliver chest-puffing street talk and cocky brags over Southern trap beats that drip like molasses. Whether it’s his drug of choice slowing his reflexes or his pure disinterest in moving any faster than he’d like to, he’s inherited Gucci Mane’s deficiencies when it comes to rapping at a heightened speed — he sounds like his voice has been naturally slowed down a couple BPM’s by some act of god.
Therefore, although he has plenty to say about opps and extended mags on “SUV’s”, he constantly sounds like he’s struggling to keep up on the brisk beat, like an indoor kid who’s forced to run the quarter mile in gym class. It’s not a bad verse by any means, but it is the first time that I’ve heard Pooh sound at the borderzone of his physical limits, which were always quite obvious in his own music and, I would argue, a big part of his charm. Not every rapper needs to be a swiss army knife. For what it’s worth, Harlow certainly isn’t one either, but this is his turf. I concede, he impressed me again. You won’t catch me bumping this like Michael will be, but I won’t turn it off if it comes on.
Michael Brooks:
It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about Jack Harlow on this newsletter (too long if you ask me) and if my memory serves me right, Eli was a little more into “Tyler Herro” than I was but neither of us seemed all that convinced that Harlow was an artist worth taking seriously. But a lot has changed since then, Harlow dropped his debut album Thats What They All Say last December and was recently featured on Lil Nas X’s new single “Industry Baby,” and his popularity has only continued to grow despite the harsh things I said about him online. Another important Jack Harlow milestone for me personally is that thanks to the YouTube algorithm constantly recommending a video called “Jack Harlow Funny Moments Compilation (Parts 1-5)” I’ve started to warm up to Harlow a little bit (I’m a sucker for the clip where Doja Cat briefly hops into his Instagram live, what can I say?) However, none of that stuff really matters if Harlow’s music hasn’t gotten any better. I wasn’t really a fan of the last couple of songs that I heard Harlow on but I do have to admit that I was pretty intrigued whenever he announced a new song with Pooh Shiesty, so is it any good?
And the answer is that it’s okay… I guess. I definitely enjoy this song more than I did “Tyler Herro” but to be fair one of those songs has Pooh Shiesty on them and the other one doesn’t. One thing I will give Harlow credit for is his ear for beats, the production on “SUVs (Black on Black)” is solid the whole way through, sounding like your typical 2021 hit with a couple little flourishes to make it kind of interesting. And Harlow seems to be slowly improving as an MC, although there’s still plenty of work to be done before I’m ready to call myself a Jack Harlow fan in public. That line about Life Alert isn’t my cup of tea but he’s not as reliant on punchlines like he used to be, and his music is much better for it. He splits chorus duties with Pooh Shiesty and there’s something about the way he delivers “All my brags turns to facts / all my hundreds turns to racks” that makes me want to like this guy. Even though “SUVs (Black on Black)” isn’t the song that’s going to make me a full on Jack Harlow-truther it’s a step in the right direction at least.
A Great Big Pile of Leaves - “Hit Reset”
I truly never thought we’d get another A Great Big Pile of Leaves album. It’s been eight years since You’re Always On My Mind was released and no news on new music apart from the few times a year when the band would post studio building updates on Instagram. I had accepted it. Bands break up. We are lucky to have the records we get. They define an era of Topshelf Records that was fundamental to my music taste for a long time. The playlists I make in October will always feature “We Don’t Need Our Heads” or “Alligator Bop” or one of their other noodle heavy songs that just feel like autumn to me. I had accepted their end.
But then that album they’d been half promising became real and I was hesitant. After all, it is August. This isn’t the right time of year. And besides, how much do I still want this? Then I listened to “Hit Reset” and that hesitance immediately felt silly. A Great Big Pile of Leaves is a band that is undeniably tied to emo revival and the noodly guitars haven’t gone anywhere, but there’s something so hypnotic about Pete Weiland’s voice that brings this band outside their emo peers. The strength in their music for me was always the warmth that radiates from it. It’s like the first day it’s comfortable to wear a long sleeve shirt and a denim jacket and be the perfect temperature to walk around outside. “Hit Reset” builds on the AGBPOL catalog in a way that feels familiar without feeling unnecessary and it’s thanks to that always welcome, reverberating warmth that nobody can capture in the same way.