Harry Mack

Biography

Harry Hamilton McKenzie (born February 17, 1990), commonly known as Harry Mack, is an American rapper, producer, drummer, and YouTuber from Portland, Oregon, known for his viral freestyles performed in public. He has a large social media following, with millions of followers on multiple platforms. His most popular series include Guerrilla Bars, where he raps on the streets, and Omegle Bars, where he raps virtually on the online chat service Omegle. Aside from freestyling, he has also released a full-length album, Contents Under Pressure.

Early life

Harry McKenzie was born on February 17, 1990, in Portland, Oregon. His background in music began at age seven playing the violin, followed by drum playing in fourth or fifth grade. His older sister introduced him to hip hop via the radio Jammin' 95.5. Mack began rapping in sixth grade, at 12, with his friend Brady B, an aspiring DJ. They formed a group called State of Mind and released an album when they were in middle school. Mack went by the alias MC Wundur at this time.
The group continued making music into high school and added two more members: Elan Eichler, an MC known as Mighty Misc, and Jack Baars, a DJ and producer known as DJ Malfunktion. They began to take it more seriously starting in their sophomore year and booked venues to perform at and sold CDs. Originally from Portland, Mack moved to California in 2008 to major in Jazz Studies at the USC Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, as at the time he wanted to become a jazz drummer. He enjoyed the improvisational aspect of jazz and began to practice freestyling to work on his ability to do so. His roommates would test him on his freestyling every night.

Career

Mack's college roommates eventually made him start practicing in public, in places such as Venice Beach. He uploaded a video of one of his sessions in February 2017 titled "Venice Beach Freestyle (Part 1)", which reached nearly a million views within a few months, catapulting him into the mainstream. In March, Mack freestyled on the Power 106 radio for fellow rapper Joey Bada$$, who threw words out for Mack to implement into the freestyle, a common occurrence in Mack's work. This event was covered by XXL, which praised Mack for his lyrical abilities. Mack came back onto Power 106 to freestyle for Kendrick Lamar in June, Casey Veggies in July, and Macklemore in September. Also in September, he freestyled on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and also made a short film with Red Bull, touring them around Los Angeles.

In June 2018, Mack partnered with Mitsubishi Motors to create Harry Mack Freestyle Test Drives, a marketing campaign where Mack freestyle about the features of the car a person was driving as they tested it out. United Talent Agency represented him and helped him make the deal. Mack independently released his first album, Contents Under Pressure, on January 18, 2019. He eventually signed to Mush Man LLC in August 2019. In December 2020, he interviewed Counter Strike: Global Offensive player n0thing and freestyled over his gameplay on Twitch. He also teamed up with Marc Rebillet in May 2021. In celebration of him reaching a million subscribers on YouTube, Mack freestyled for ten hours straight in June 2021. In August, he participated in PogChamps 4. Mack performed at the Shacknews E6 in 2022. In this year, he also embarked on a tour to the United Kingdom. For his 2023 U.S. tour, Odyssey, he was sponsored by Starbucks. He had previously collaborated with the coffeehouse chain to host Reverse Roasts, where Mack performs freestyles to uplift people. To promote the tour, he appeared on TNT and freestyled for the hosts of the show. Mack helped promote the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in 2023 by performing a themed freestyle for Seth Rogen and Ice Cube. He did the same in 2024, this time promoting Bad Boys: Ride or Die with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. He had previously performed at The Streamer Awards 2024.

Personal life

Mack supported the 2019 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers' strike in a freestyle on Power 106.

Influences and style

Mack is mainly influenced by golden age hip hop artists, although he has also said that jazz rap and trap have influenced him a lot as well. He has named Kendrick Lamar, Rakim, Ashanti, Nelly, Roy Ayers, Big L, Gift of Gab, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Eminem, The Notorious B.I.G., MF Doom, Black Thought, Dr. Dre, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul as influential to him. Amongst freestylers, he names Supernatural, MC Juice, Eyedea, and Freestyle Fellowship as inspirations.