Australia's
the Kid LAROI made a rapid ascent to fame at the tail-end of the 2010s thanks in part to his connection with
Juice WRLD, who mentored the teenage rapper on tour and later collaborated with him on the 2020 breakout track "Go." He issued the mixtape F*CK LOVE in July of that year, quickly expanded it with seven additional tracks as F*CK LOVE (SAVAGE), and extended the concept into a series in 2021 with a chart-topping third installment,
F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU.
Born in Sydney but raised in the New South Wales outback town of Broken Hill,
Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard got his love for hip-hop and R&B music from his mother, who turned him on to albums by
Fugees, Tupac, and
Erykah Badu. After moving back to the Waterloo neighborhood of Sydney,
Howard began performing at the age of 13 using the name
the Kid LAROI. His debut EP, 14 with a Dream, was released independently in 2018 (he was 14 at the time). That same year, he earned national attention as a finalist on the Triple-J Unearthed competition and landed a spot opening for American rapper
Juice WRLD on his Australian tour. The two musicians struck up a friendship, with
Juice WRLD helping to mentor
LAROI in the industry.
A contract was struck with Columbia Records and
Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions in 2019, helping
LAROI's single "Let Her Go" find a wider audience. 2020 proved to be his breakthrough year, however, first with the
Lil Tecca collaboration "Diva" and then with his
Juice WRLD-assisted hit "Go." The track helped
LAROI's first mixtape, F*CK LOVE, reach number three on the Australian chart and an impressive number eight in the U.S. In November, he released an expanded version of the mixtape as F*CK LOVE (SAVAGE), padding the original material out with seven additional songs, including single "Tragic," which featured
Youngboy Never Broke Again and
Internet Money, as well as tracks with contributions from
Marshmello and
Machine Gun Kelly. In December he issued new
Juice WRLD-adjacent single, "Reminds Me of You," as well as a remix of his song "Without You" made in collaboration with
Miley Cyrus. Both songs made it to the Billboard charts, and "Without You" cracked the Top Ten. In 2021, along with releasing several other charting singles,
LAROI's joint effort with
Justin Bieber, "Stay," rose to the Top Three position of the U.S. charts. The song was included on the third iteration of F*CK LOVE,
F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU. The mixtape included all of the material from both previous installments and 13 new tracks. "Stay" was included on the project, as well as songs with features from
Polo G,
Lil Durk,
G Herbo,
Mustard, and
Stunna Gambino. This edition topped the main album charts in Australia and the U.S., among other countries. ~ Timothy Monger