Jack Harlow Surprises Georgia Teachers Behind Viral ‘What’s Poppin’ Remix
Rapper Jack Harlow had a surprise for the two Georgia high school teachers behind the now-viral epic remake of his popular hit, “What’s Poppin.’”
Harlow released the song back in January, and it quickly became a defining song of the 2020 summer season. But, with students resuming school this fall, Audrianna Williams and Callie Evans, two teachers from Monroe High School in Albany, Georgia, welcomed them back with their spin on the song, which quickly took off online.
Following going viral, both ladies were on Good Morning America on Thursday (Aug. 20), where they discussed how they came up with the incredible remix. While Williams and Evans were on the show, the hosts surprised them with an appearance from none other than Harlow himself, who had nothing but praise.
"I can't even tell y'all how amazing you are,” he told Williams and Evans. "Thank you for making my song better, you killed it. I love you guys.”
The 2020 XXL honoree praised the teachers for their dedication to their students and gave them a token of appreciation. “I grew up with teachers that had a huge influence on me my whole life, and it stuck with me, so what y'all provide to society is invaluable,” Harlow said. “I can't thank you enough for doing the job you guys do, so just as a small token of my appreciation, I wanted to give both of you two thousand dollar gift cards to treat yourselves to whatever you want. I really appreciate y'all doing what you do.”
During their appearance on the show, the teachers said that they were shocked and surprised by the response to their viral rap video.
Williams first started doing end of the year rap videos when she first started teaching four years ago. This time around, she chose to do one for the back-to-school season because of the pandemic.
“I wanted to kind of keep the rap going to keep the morale of the school up, so I asked Ms. Evans if she could join me in the next year's school's rap and she was down and from that, it was history,” she shared.
- advertisement
The accompanying music video has racked up 30,000 views on YouTube alone since it was uploaded two days ago on Monday (Aug. 17). The pair were moved to see that people found joy in the fun visual.
“Because Albany was impacted dramatically because of COVID-19, we wanted to basically just motivate not only our students and teachers but our community. We had a lot of people that lost their lives and I’m sure the students were discouraged to even come to school in those circumstances,” Evans said. “So, we just wanted to show them how important it is to overcome adversity and push through no matter what.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia was among the states hard-hit by COVID-19 with more than 241,000 reported cases and 4,700 deaths.
Williams added that the uplifting video was for teachers just as much as the students, saying “We needed that encouragement.”
Check out their viral remake of “What’s Poppin’” below:
