Photo: Noam Galai/Getty

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 15: Jack Harlow attends the New York Special Screening of “White Men Can’t Jump” on May 15, 2023 at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)

Jack Harlowis ready to dive deeper into acting.

The 25-year-old rapper makes his acting debut alongside Sinqua Walls inWhite Men Can’t Jump, a remake of the 1992 basketball film. It debuts on Hulu this Friday.

After a screening in New York City on Monday, Harlow explained during a Q&A that he intends to make his acting career more than just a “side hustle” to his music.

“Through this film I was able to gain my confidence as an actor, and to me, this s— is not a side quest,” he said. “This isn’t a side mission that I’m tacking on just to keep the entertainer thing going and make some extra money.”

“I really got the bug and fell in love with this, and I’m developing a deep passion for the craft of this the same way I had in music. I don’t want it to be a side hustle, I want to full-on go after this, and I’m going after it and I’m going to continue to do more,” Harlow added of acting.

Noam Galai/Getty

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 15: Jack Harlow speaks onstage during the New York Special Screening of “White Men Can’t Jump” on May 15, 2023 at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)

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Harlow — who joked that making the Los Angeles–setWhite Men Can’t Jumpfelt like “summer camp or school” each day — also admitted that “acting is way harder than music, if you ask me; way more grueling, so I loved the challenge and so grateful that this was the start.”

The artist, who debuted his latest albumJackman.last month, shared that he found a new kind of “freedom” in acting that he doesn’t experience in his music-making process.

Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow inWhite Men Can’t Jump(2023).Peter Iovino/HULU

Hulu’s White Men Can’t Jump movie with costar Sinqua Walls

“It’s funny, I definitely consider myself an authentic artist. I tell the truth on the mic, but maybe sometimes I feel some slight constraints in hip-hop because there’s a tradition to it and I know I’m a guest in the genre,” said Harlow.

“There’s things that go through your head from time to time. But with acting I feel liberated to some degree — I feel like I could show up and I could be whoever I want to be today. I don’t know, I feel freedom.”

“I got lucky that so much of my real personality got to leak into this character. I think it eased me into acting a little bit that I didn’t have to completely transform,” he said. “Obviously Jack and Jeremy are different, but … it felt very, I don’t know— I felt at home.”

White Men Can’t Jumpis on Hulu Friday.

source: people.com