Jack Harlow is ready to dive deep into acting.
The 25-year-old rapper is making his acting debut with Sinqua Walls. White Men Can’t JumpA remake of the 1992 basketball movie. It launches this Friday on Hulu.
Following a screening in New York on Monday, Harlow revealed during a Q&A that she plans to make her acting career more than a “side hustle” of her music.
“I gained my confidence as an actor thanks to this movie, and for me it’s not a side mission,” he said. “This isn’t just a side mission I take on to keep the showman thing going and earn some extra cash.”
“I really stumbled upon it and fell in love with it, and I develop a deep passion for this craft, as with music. I don’t want it to be a side hustle, I just want it—go after it and I’m going after it and I’ll keep doing more,” Harlow added about acting. .
Don’t miss any stories — sign up PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter From engaging celebrity news to engaging human stories, to stay up to date with the best PEOPLE has to offer.
Harlow – pranking while making Los Angeles set White Men Can’t Jump every day felt like “summer camp or school” – also “acting is much harder than music if you ask me; it’s much more demanding, so I loved the challenge and I’m so grateful it’s the beginning.”
Artist who released his last album jackman. Last month, he shared that he found a new kind of “freedom” in acting, which he hadn’t experienced during the music making process.
Peter Iovino/HULU
“It’s funny, I consider myself an absolutely authentic artist. I’m telling the truth on the mic, but maybe sometimes I feel some slight restraint in hip-hop because there’s a tradition of that and I know I’m a guest of the genre,” he said.
“There are things that go through your head from time to time. But I feel a degree of freedom with acting – I feel like I can come out and be who I want to be today. I don’t know, I feel free.” ”
Inside White Men Can’t JumpDirected by Calmatic, Harlow plays Jeremy, a former basketball player who struggles with his future when his athletic dreams become impossible due to an injury to his knees. Before anger issues derail this plan, he forms a bond with Kamal, a local star player ready for his NBA trajectory.
Harlow said he’s glad his character shares so much of his own personality, which makes the performance more accessible as a beginner.
“I was lucky that so much of my true personality was seeping into this character. I think it gave me some relief and I didn’t have to completely transform,” he said. “Obviously Jack and Jeremy are different, but… very, I don’t know… I felt at home.”
White Men Can’t Jump Hulu on Friday.