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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

harsh v.

1. (US campus) to mistreat, to be very unfair towards; thus harsh me out! that’s very unfair!

1989		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 94: You gonna let your lady harsh me out like that, bro?

2. (US) to ruin, to damage.

1997		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 4: harsh someone’s mellow – diminish someone’s happy mood.
2005		N. Gaiman Anansi Boys 83: Brother of mine, you are harshing a potential mellow here.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 138: It was all an Establishment plot by the pigs to hassle him and do the dirty on all heads and hippies by constantly harshing their mellow.
2013		T. Pluck ‘Six Feet Under God’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 192: ‘I got tired of mean people like you harshing my mellow’.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 389: ‘Because letting an amoral, self-serving, ruthless bastard through the door would harsh the Park’s mellow’.

In phrases

harsh on (v.)

(US campus) to criticize, to belittle.

1987		Eble Campus Sl. Spring.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 30: Athough English has dozens of particles available for word building, almost all of the examples in college slang use out, on, off and up: [...] harsh on ‘criticize, belittle’.