The Kid LAROI has discussed his intense rise to stardom.
Before becoming one of the biggest hop hop stars on the planet, LAROI was just a kid from Sydney dreaming of bigger things. While speaking with Billboard about his performance at the NBA All-Star Weekend performance, the rapper recalled his naivety at the beginning of his career.
“I signed my record deal with Columbia when I was 15 … at 15, you don’t know anything,” he said. “You really don’t. You’re like a literal child, even if you don’t understand that at the time. I’m about to be 20 this year, and I f–king look back at 15, and I feel like I was a literal child and a baby.”
According to LAROI, finding fame at such a young age was both a “big blessing” and a “bit of a curse.” He contemplated similar themes on his latest single, “Kids Are Growing Up (Part 1)”, a deeply personal track about the pains go growing up.
“Growing up, I watched my favourite rappers’ interviews ? I ain’t believe ’em when they said, ‘It ain’t all what it seems’ / But now I’m here, realised they were tellin’ truth,” he sincerely raps in the track.
The accompanying music video saw LAROI journey through several momentous scenes from his youth, including measuring his height against a wall, partying and rebelling with friends, and visiting a family member’s grave.
The track will feature on the rapper’s forthcoming album, The First Time, which will be the follow-up to his acclaimed 2020 mixtape F*ck Love.
LAROI, however, told Billboard that he now has problems with how he presented himself in the reissue of that mixtape, F*ck Love 3.
“I kind of don’t like that project, man,” he claimed. “To be honest, I don’t really agree with a lot of the stuff on there anymore. I mean, I don’t agree with the message of the album in general. ‘F–k Love,’ I think it was an immature statement to make. I think it was like a heat of the moment statement.”
The Kid LAROI has a busy period ahead of him: alongside the release of The First Time, he’s confirmed as one of the performers at this year’s Coachella. He appears on the 2023 lineup alongside stars like Bad Bunny, Frank Ocean and BLACKPINK. LAROI will perform on the Saturday, accompanied by the likes of Rosalía and Charli XCX.
