Harry Mack is a multi-talented M.C, producer, freestyler, percussionist, lyricist, and rap sensation hailing from Portland, Oregon. His unique, improvised multi-layered bars have dazzled everyone he has come in contact with, whether he's incorporating strangers random wacky words and custom tidbits into his raps on Guerilla Bars, to performing his music off his debut album Contents Under Pressure at the biggest music festival in America with the support of J.Cole, Travis Scott, and Kendrick Lamar. His infectious positive attitude follows him wherever he goes, opening many doors to his career such as Ellen and The Cruz Show, to freestyling for Kendrick Lamar. I talked with Harry about his biggest inspirations, what his first freestyle was like, and much more:

James: How would you describe what you do for people who haven't heard of you before?

Harry: My name is Harry Mack and I'm known as a rapper and an M.C. I'm also a producer, and I'm primarily known at this point as an improviser or a freestyler as we're called in hip-hop. Essentially, I'm known for making up rap lyrics off the top of my head, usually about the scenery that I see around me.

James: How long have you been rapping for?

Harry: I started rapping back in fifth grade when I was 10 years old and I'm currently twenty-nine. So I guess that means I've been rapping for about 19 years.

James: How did you first discover your unique talent?

Harry: That part is funny because I don't feel like I did discover a unique talent necessarily. I have been a musician my whole life. I started playing the violin when I was seven. When I was 10, I started playing the drum set right around the same time when I started writing rap lyrics and kept a rhyme book with me at all times. So I've been involved in music my whole life. I've always loved music. It's always brought me a lot of joy to be a musician. And it's always been a passion of mine ever since I was a kid.

When it comes to freestyling, which is what I'm most known for now, it wasn't so much that I discovered this unique talent one day. My first freestyles were horrible. I wasn't naturally gifted as a freestyler. I don't think that's a thing, to be honest with you. I think it always requires practice and I believe anybody could become a competent freestyler if they invested the time in practice. So it wasn't a unique talent that I discovered, but a rather unique skill set that I nurtured over time by continuously practicing and freestyling with my homies and just getting better and better.

James: What was life growing up like?

Harry: I grew up in Portland, Oregon, which is a beautiful city, but it rains most of the year. So I'd say for about nine months out of the year, the skies were gray and it was raining outside, which might seem like a bad thing. But for me, it worked well because we were inside the house a lot.

We were inside making beats writing rhymes, and working on music. That worked out well for me. My family was very supportive of my music. I was a drummer as well. It's a loud instrument to be practicing in the house. My parents were very supportive and supportive of my rapping. It's something I've been doing for a long time.

James: Who was your biggest inspiration?

Harry: I've been inspired by so many artists. Thinking back to when I was growing up as a kid, one of my first influences as a freestyler and lyrical improviser is comedian Wayne Brady.

I would see him on Whose Line is it Anyway? all the time. My mom was the one who put me onto Wayne Brady and Whose Line is it Anyway? She watched the show and loved it, but especially loved the part where Wayne would call somebody down from the audience and then learn a few tidbits of information about them. Then, he would instantaneously convert those tidbits of information into a fully formed song with a verse, chorus, and musical accompaniment. He also has an incredible singing voice. He's just an amazing talent overall. Wayne Brady is incredible.

It's more of an adult show. I was only in third grade, I think, at the time that she introduced me to it. But it was so important for her to show me his talent because she knew that I was already getting obsessed with music and knew that I would love it and appreciate it. When I saw Wayne Brady on Whose Line is it Anyway? my first thought was "that's impossible. But since he's doing right now that that must be possible. So what's the trick? I have to figure this out." I was immediately very intrigued by what he was doing.

A little bit later when I was in sixth grade, I went to the local record shop in Portland and found an album called The Lost Freestyle Files. I picked that album up. I didn't know who they were, but I was already getting into freestyling and trying to learn about the craft. Because his album was called The Lost Freestyle Files, I decided to check it out and it blew my mind just like Wayne Brady had years before, but in a different way because Supernatural is a hardcore hip- hop M.C and he's an incredible improviser and freestyler. I became obsessed with what he was doing. Like I thought with Wayne Brady, I said to myself, "it shouldn't be possible that the level of improv sounds so easy. So, how's he doing it?"

James: What were you planning on doing if music didn't work out?

Harry: I have never had a Plan B because I don't look at music as a job. It is my job, of course, and it's my career, but it's much more than that to me. It's something that defines me as a person.

It's what I consider to be my calling in life. I feel like I'm meant to be a musician. I never looked at it like, I'm going to try my shot at music,? I thought, I know it's hard. Hopefully, it works out. If not, maybe I'll go into some other field. I've always known that I am a musician. Whether I'm doing it professionally or not is irrelevant.

James: What was your first freestyle like?

Harry: My first freestyle was terrible. I'm sure it was awful.

When we first started, we were 12 years old and had no skill set. We had no idea what we were doing. We just knew that we loved hip-hop music. I and my friend Brady would go over to his house every day after school and watch 106 and Park, which was a show where guys would freestyle battle each other. We would also watch Rap City, which is a show where all the famous M.C's would go on and freestyle. We were obsessed with what they were doing. We loved it and we wanted to try it. But we had no skill set. We had no experience. And, I'm sure my first freestyle was just hilariously bad. I would love to hear it.

James: What was spitting bars for Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore and Joey Bada$ like?

Harry: Those were all incredible experiences. I'm a big fan of all of those artists and they're all influences on me. Having the opportunity to not only meet them but also showcase my talents in front of them and get some real feedback was incredible. Shout out to The Cruz Show and Power 106 who presented me with those opportunities. I think the time with Joey Bada$ is my personal favorite. It's almost impossible to say, but that was an incredible day for me.

A lot of stars aligned all on that day. It was my first time appearing on an official hip-hop platform like that. I went and did my little freestyle segment for The Cruz Show. Afterward, they were so impressed by it that they asked if I would be willing to perform as part of their Powerhouse 2017 festival. That was my first festival billing as well, which happened that day. And on top of that, I had one foot out the door.

As I'm getting ready to leave and head home because I think my day's done, they stopped me last minute and said, "Hey, somebody special is coming by the studio right now. Would you be down to freestyle for Joey Bada$?" And of course, I said, "yes.'' I'm a huge fan of Joey's work. He's an incredible M.C. and lyricist. It was a huge blessing to have that opportunity to freestyle next to him.

James: You often use your hands a lot when rapping. What's the significance and how does it help with your freestyling?

Harry: Concerning the hand movement, it's happening automatically. I don't notice it. The truth is there's a lot of adrenaline going when you're freestyling, especially when you're freestyling in front of famous rappers or freestyling in public settings where you're very exposed and out in public performing for strangers. There's a lot of adrenaline.

James: How are you able to rhyme creative flows on the spot? Walk us through what's going through your head as you freestyle.

Harry: It all just comes down to practice. It's something that I've been doing repeatedly. For almost 20 years, I've been practicing freestyling and have started to develop certain techniques and tricks as I go.

It's sort of like juggling. I throw one line in the air and just as I'm catching that line, I'm throwing the next idea up in the air. I'm in this constant cycle of seeing something I want to reference rapping about and then looking ahead to the next thing. To put it in simple terms, I'm just always about a half a step ahead of wherever my mouth is.

James: What is the highlight of your career so far and why?

Harry: That is a great question. I would say the highlight of my career so far has been releasing my debut album, Contents Under Pressure, which came out in January. It's been a goal of mine for years and years to release my original music. And it's something that quite honestly, I was just too afraid to do for so much of my life. It's hard as an artist to put yourself on display like that. And to put your work out for people to hear, critique and judge.

That held me back for a long time. Fortunately, my freestyle videos started getting some traction and I started to build a platform and a fan base. It gave me the confidence to say, I'm going to go forward with this and I'm gonna put my voice out into the world. So that was a huge personal achievement for me. I'm proud of it.

James: How did you come up with the idea of Guerilla Bars?

Harry: Guerilla Bars is something that I've been doing from the very beginning of my career as Harry Mack. The first video that went viral was my Venice Beach freestyle video where I was standing on the Venice Beach boardwalk rapping about everybody who passed by and organically formed a crowd while rapping about the scenery. That's kind of my roots. As far as being a hip-hop artist that's known, it started with me essentially doing Guerilla Bars. Afterward, I took some time off YouTube to work on my album. I wasn't creating as much freestyle video content. And then a few months ago, I decided to dive back in full steam ahead on the freestyle content. I wanted to elevate the brand a little bit and give the series an official name.

James: What were some of your favorite moments from Guerilla Bars?

Harry: There's so many there are so many great moments that have happened. In episode 3, There's a lot of hilarious moments of really great groups of people. We met these guys who are professional fitness trainers who were exercising on muscle beach. They wanted to workout while freestyling. While I was doing my freestyle rap, they were in the background doing pull-ups and stuff like that. They had astonishing energy and were really into it.

In that same video, there was a bridal party out at Venice Beach consisting of about 20 women who were all dressed up day drinking and celebrating. They had incredible energy. Episode 3 might be my favorite.

Harry Mack - Guerrilla Bars (Episode 3) /// Live Freestyle Rap

I also loved in episode two when we were at Griffith Park in L.A., which is a calm, quiet, sort of serene viewpoint that people visit to just see a big view of L.A. You're not supposed to be making a ton of noise up there. We forgot that it was like that. When we got up there, we were very nervous to play a beat off my speaker and start freestyling. It seemed like it would be very abrasive.

But we did it and it and it turned out great. So in general, my favorite moments are when it feels like maybe we're going to fail, but we're able to push through and make some magic happen.

James: On Wordplay Wednesdays, you freestyle for over two hours using fans' word suggestions. How are you able to keep your composure for that long?

Harry: As far as being able to go for two hours like that, that's not that unusual for me. Believe it or not. I have freestyle practice sessions that go for two or three hours just on a random day when I'm practicing and working on the techniques. It's been that way for years.

I remember back in high school, we would again go over to my friend Brady's house after school and he had his turntables set up. There were a couple of other friends of ours who were into hip-hop deejays and emcees. We would go over there and we would hang out for hours. I remember some days during the summer we would have freestyle sessions on and off for five, six, seven hours.

That part is nothing new to me, although it is a challenge because I'm the only M.C. so I'm not able to pass the mic off to anybody else. And I'm sort of running the show and trying to curate the comments.

James: What are your biggest challenges as an artist?

Harry: I think being an artist is a challenging path in general. It's never straightforward and it's very competitive. So you have to be able to fail a lot, continue to get up, keep going, and keep trying. It requires you to be very resilient. A big challenge for me, because I'm so known as a freestyle improviser, is that a little trickier for me to find my path in the industry because I haven't followed a traditional path for hip-hop recording artists in the sense that I didn't release mixtapes.

I'm most known for videos of me in public spaces doing Guerilla Bars and performances of freestyle rap. So figuring out how to navigate and how to make sure that I'm taken seriously as an artist and how to ensure that I have longevity as an artist has been a challenge for me.

It's all a learning process. I'm figuring it out as I go. It's very exciting because I don't necessarily have to operate within the same frameworks and rules that other artists do. I'm able to sort of create my destiny.

James: Your latest album titled Contents Under Pressure debuted earlier this year. What was the creative process of making this album? Was it different going from freestyles to album content?

Harry: Definitely. It's a whole different thing. Being in the street, out in public, and freestyling for live audiences is much different as opposed to being in a recording studio with your thoughts and ideas, trying to lay something down that's hopefully going to be timeless. So they're different processes.

But I incorporate a lot of freestyling when I'm in the studio as well. Verses from some of the songs on my album were just freestyles that I did off the top of my head on the mic while in the studio. So there's a lot of crossover for me. I feel like developing a freestyle skill set helped my writing and vice versa. Working on writing my album has also influenced my approach to freestyle. So it's kind of cyclical in that sense.

James: Can you drop a freestyle for us?

Harry: Sure:

Harry Mack's Legendary Freestylewww.youtube.com

James: How are you hoping to improve your craft over time? What are your goals as an artist moving forward and how are you hoping to achieve them?

Harry: In regards to improving my craft over time, that part is going to continue to happen on its own. I'm obsessed with music. I love it with my whole heart. And it's what I love doing. So I'm always going to invest a lot of time in the craft of creating music, practicing, and developing new techniques, both as a freestyler and as a lyricist.

As a rapper, I'm always putting that practice time in. I'm always working to develop my skills. That part will continue to happen now and forever.

James: Whether you are on The Ellen Show freestyling, rapping for your favorite musicians or spitting bars on YouTube live, you are always happy to be there. How would you describe your mindset and why do you think it has led you to success?

Harry: I love music. In particular, I love hip-hop. I love rapping. I love freestyling. And I love the energy of improvised music.

I'm a drummer and my background is in jazz drumming. That's what I went to college for. I have a degree from USC and jazz studies as a drummer. Jazz is, of course, improvised music. Whether I'm rapping or playing drums or living my life and meeting new people, I love improvising. It's exciting energy to realize that you're able to create things out of thin air and make something out of nothing. We get to be alchemists when we're improvising. That's what I love about music and art and creativity in general. That's why I am always happy to be performing. It never feels like a job.

I think that is the mindset that has led me to my success. Malcolm Gladwell talks about meeting 10,000 hours of practice to be a master of any skill set. I had 10,000 hours of freestyling by the time I graduated high school. If not, I was getting close to that. By the time I graduated from college, I had well over 10,000 hours. The thing about it is that I never felt like I was putting in 10,000 hours of work. I was having the time of my life freestyling with my friends and doing what I love to do.I think it's about finding the things that you're passionate about, finding something that makes you happy in life, something that gives you purpose and investing yourself in that to lead you to success.

If you believe in it and if it's something that you love doing, you'll automatically invest the time that's needed to make sure it flourishes and succeeds.

James: What are your goals as an artist moving forward and how are you hoping to achieve them?

Harry: I just want to release more content. Going into 2020, I want to continue to push with the Guerilla Bars and Wordplay Wednesdays. I want to continue to release new music. I'm looking to release a project at some point in 2020. I have that to look forward to. I would also love to travel the world off of my off the strength of my music.

I did my first headlining tour this past May, which was a mini-tour here in the U.S. We hit up five major cities within the US to test the waters. It was very successful. I'd love to expand on that and see more parts of the world. More importantly, I'd love to continue to create art that inspires people, makes them smile, and makes them feel good by giving them positive energy.