How Jack Harlow’s ‘Come Home The Kids Miss You’ Album Was Made
Written by SOURCE on May 12, 2022
When Jack Harlow first announced the release date for his sophomore album, Come Home the Kids Miss You, people couldn’t help but notice the timing. It was set to be released on May 6, right between the album rollouts for Future and Kendrick Lamar. Dropping between two of rap’s biggest stars is a bold move, but to Rogét Chahayed and Angel Lopez, the album’s co-executive producers, it was divine timing.
“We’re sandwiched right in between these titans, but to me, it’s the echelon that Jack deserves to be standing in,” Chahayed tells Complex.
Chahayed and Lopez both connected with Harlow earlier this year, before getting started on the album. Harlow was just coming off the success of big hits like “Industry Baby” and “Whats Poppin,” and there was a lot riding on him. But Lopez says their goals for the album, on a sonic level, were clear from the beginning. “We want to make a rap album for Jack where he is heard clearly, but you’re also able to digest and enjoy the musicality,” he says. “We don’t want to tap into the territory of filtering things and using certain drum sounds and sticking to reversed, obscure sounds and filter sounds, as a lot of hip-hop and rap music is right now.”
In its first week, the 15-track album, which includes major features from Drake, Lil Wayne, and Pharrell Williams, is on track to sell between 110,000 and 135,000 first-week units. Both Chahayed and Lopez predict that more accolades will come as people digest the album, but they’re focused on more than that. “I want to spark the conversation with creatives to step up to the plate.” Lopez explains. “Let’s bring substance back. Let’s bring real stories and delivery [back]. Let’s bring the care of music back, and not just let A&Rs call you up and ask for a hundred beats so that an artist could just treat it like fast fashion. This is not fast fashion. We really brought it to a designer house, and I’m proud of it, and I stand next to it, and I feel that this album’s the greatest album of this year to come out. And I say again, I’m standing strong on that.”
Complex spoke in length with Rogét Chahayed and Angel Lopez about executive producing Jack Harlow’s Come Home the Kids Miss You, sample clearances, and why Jack is a “once-in-a-decade” artist. The interview, lightly edited for clarity, is below.
