*Actor Jharrel Jerome has been rising higher in Hollywood in recent years. He won an Emmy for his role in Netflix’s “When They See U” and played a remarkable role in “Moonlight,” a film that went on to win an Oscar.
Recently, he landed a leading role in Prime Video’s “I’m a Virgo.” As he soars high in Hollywood, the actor has also set his eyes on music. This fall, he releases the last two parts of his four-part project, “Someone I’m Not.”
He released the first part, “Rap Pack,” in August. The following month, he released the second part, “Trip Pack.”
In late 2023, he is set to release “Love Pack” and “Trap Pack,” to complete his debut album “Someone I’m Not.”
In a recent interview, he said he expected the reactions he gets from the people listening to his music.
“I think a lot of the reactions I’m getting were what I expected,” he said.
He continued: “First of all, I didn’t put too many expectations in my head. When it comes to me and the music, I have such a personal ease about it, in terms of just letting it out. I’m not looking for anything much. I’m just following my passion. When I’m 45 years old, I don’t want to be thinking, ‘Damn, I used to like rapping. I never really rapped.’ I want to just say, ‘Hey, I dropped some songs for people,’ and I did my part, in terms of my passion. In terms of the reactions I’m getting right now, [I’m] definitely getting a lot of great reactions, and I’m getting a lot of curious reactions.”
But who inspired him to hip-hop? He explained that he is from the Bronx and was raised by a young mother who played only ’90s and late ’80s hip-hop.
“I grew up on Slick Rick, Big L, LL Cool J [and] Big Daddy Kane. And then I transitioned to falling in love with [A] Tribe [Called Quest] and Eminem and Kanye [West]. I really come from the conscious storytelling side of hip-hop and its roots, but I love the new style too,” he added. “My heart really shaped its love for hip-hop through artists like JAY-Z and Nas and Kendrick [Lamar] and [J.] Cole.”
He said that when he was in high school, he listened to Kendrick and Cole most of the time, and that’s what influenced him on how to go about his lyricism, the flow, etc.
“Kendrick and Eminem and Andre 3000 are artists who have played multiple characters on the mic. They never named the characters, but they all played different characters with different cadences. I’m very inspired by that, as well.”
Jharrel regrets that some of his fans do not understand why he is venturing into music when he has a promising career in the movies. However, they are firmly behind his musical efforts.
“I’m getting a lot of confused fans. I’m getting a lot of people who are like, ‘This is hot, but what is this?’ I’m getting a lot of people who are like, ‘I love this, but don’t leave the acting,’ or ‘OK, so is it just the music?’ There are a lot of questions going on right now, and it’s a big reason why I even took this long to package my music and let it out. I care about it so much personally. I knew that I would confuse fans, so I wanted to make sure that when I was coming out, I was coming out the way I wanted to and just letting it all fly.”
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He has made it clear he is not planning to pause or slow his acting career; his music and acting will run concurrently.
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