LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new "Hometown Hero" banner was unveiled Wednesday on the side of a building near downtown Louisville honoring rapper Jack Harlow.

The "Jack's Louisville" banner is part of a series of similar ones around the city commemorating influential Louisvillians, including Muhammad Ali, Diane Sawyer and Jennifer Lawrence.

"If someone would ask me if I'd rather have a Grammy or this, I would choose this a million times," Harlow said Wednesday.

The Greater Louisville Pride Foundation, which started the Hometown Heroes program in 2002, resurrected it last year. Harlow's banner, which hangs on the west side of the A-OK Storage building at Broadway and Barret Avenue, is the first in the new "Hometown Heroes 2.0" series.

"I feel pretty emotional right now," Harlow said. "This really means the world to me. I grew up driving around, and you would see these banners and take them in. They were a point of inspiration for me."

Harlow took the podium at Wednesday's ceremony somewhat "lost for words." In between thanking Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Sen. Morgan McGarvey for being there and even thanking the more than a dozen police officers who stopped to block off nearby streets for traffic and crowd control, Harlow said he didn't want to write anything down, wanting instead to speak from the heart.

Jack Harlow

Harlow took the podium at the ceremony for his "Hometown Heroes" banner somewhat "lost for words." May 3, 2023. (WDRB Photo)

"I feel so indebted to this city," Harlow said. "It's not strategic that I shout this place out so much. It's part of my identity."

Harlow dropped a new album, "Jackman," on April 28. The new release was Harlow's third studio album after "That's What They All Say" in 2020 and "Come Home the Kids Miss You in 2022." 

Greenberg declared May 3 "Jackman" day in the city of Louisville. Beshear said he is proud that someone with Harlow’s status never forgets where he grew up.

"Just listen to his newest album, talking about some of the challenges that affect the city and state and looking for that right way," Beshear said. "This is someone who genuinely cares and wants to be apart of the solution."

In a new music video for his song "They Don't Love It," Harlow is seen walking down Bardstown Road, stopping at various places like Carmichael's Bookstore and Mid City Mall. He also stopped at Bloom Elementary School, Highland Middle School and Atherton High School. 

"I think I've had this epiphany over the last year or so that if I don't nurture what's been here for me since the beginning, there's a chance you could end up with nothing ...," Harlow said. 

Also on Wednesday, Harlow announced the creation of the Jack Harlow Foundation, which, according to a news release from the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation, "will serve as (Harlow's) primary philanthropic vehicle to reinvest, uplift and support organizations aiming to make the city that raised him a better place."

Harlow, 25, grew up in Louisville attended Highland Middle School and Atherton High School. In December 2021, he returned home for five nights of concerts in his hometown.

The Greater Louisville Pride Foundation plans to redo many of the faded, iconic banners, that have been up in the city for years. Some of the ones that will always stay include restaurant icon Colonel Harlan Sanders, Hall of Fame basketball coach Denny Crum and Louisville Slugger founder Bud Hillerich. Others that have faded will be retired and replaced with new Hometown Heroes.

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