Music

Unreleased Collabs and Hard-to-Find Freestyles: This is the Best of The Kid LAROI

From the never-released Lil Skies collab to the deleted Drake freestyle, we’re looking back at the top tracks of The Kid LAROI’s early days.

Two years ago, when we first sat down with The Kid LAROI in Sydney, the 15-year-old told us he was hoping to get to a place where he could afford the shoes he and friends wanted at Footlocker: “We might even try the shoe on or something, and then put it back on the shelf. We don’t got no money to pay for that!” Fast forward to his 16th birthday, Laroi was celebrating in Greece with his new friend and mentor, Juice WRLD. As a present, Juice laid down a verse for his protégé, laughing “That’s a $200,000 dollar gift, lil bro!”

The collaboration with his musical hero wasn’t the only dream of Laroi’s that had come true since dropping his 14 With A Dream EP in 2018. In March last year, after experiencing months of homelessness with his mother, the rapper was able to pay for more permanent housing for his family. Around the same time, Lil Bibby and G-Money signed Laroi to their Grade A Productions management team. Laroi relocated to Los Angeles, and things really started to pick up speed.

With his major label mixtape debut Fuck Love now out in the world, chances are we’re going to see a few more of Laroi’s dreams coming true this year. Before his career really blows, we’re taking a look back at the best tracks from the Sydney rapper’s early days.

Check the list below and stream The Kid LAROI’s debut mixtape here.

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01. Moving ft. Lil Skies

This catchy-as-hell song premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show back in 2018, but (cruelly) was never officially released to streaming platforms. It was Laroi’s first collaboration with a big-name international artist, and he hardly had to lift a finger to make it happen. Lil Skies hit Laroi’s DM offering a verse—“send me sum wit a open verse i gotchu”—and a screenshot of that convo ended up being used as the single art. At the start of the song, Laroi offers a nice hint at the impact he’d go on to have as an Aussie in LA: “It’s not all like, Kangaroos and deadly animals and shit… Australia needs somebody that—nah, a group of people, that open up everything for the rest of the people.”

02. GO GET IT

The opening track of Laroi’s 14 With a Dream EP showcases his natural gift for melodic, memorable hooks—it’s all the more impressive when you consider he wrote it at 14 (as the title suggests). With bouncing production from fellow Sydney artist Miracle, this song has hardly aged in the two years since it dropped. Plus that “Have you ever had a dream?” sample is always welcome.

03. Let Her Go

‘Let Her Go’ was only the second song Laroi officially released to streaming platforms beyond Soundcloud. When the track’s Cole Bennett-directed video clip went medium-viral last year, the Aussie got a big push in the US. It’s easy to hear why: Laroi’s deeper, maturing voice is full of emotion, echoing Juice WRLD in the best way.

04. NONSTOP (Freestyle)

For a lot of local listeners, this was the track that signalled Laroi was one to watch: a 14-year-old riding a Drake beat more like a Drizzy peer than a teenage fan. Laroi has since erased this track from his YouTube (rude!) but it’s still one the best. We miss the video clip, which saw LAROI and his Aussie mates rolling through Redfern.

05. GO ft. Juice WRLD

‘GO’ was the song Juice and Laroi recorded together in Greece, and after Juice’s untimely passing, the gift of the verse is all the more special. It’s Laroi biggest hit to date, currently #1 on the Australian National Indigenous Music Chart, peaking at 23 on the ARIA Chart and 52 on the Billboard 100.

06. BLESSINGS

Arguably LAROI’s first hometown hit, ‘Blessings’ shows off the sound that day-one Laroi fans came to love. With a beat from 14 With A Dream executive producer Miracle, the lyrics from “Blessings” hit even harder when you look at where LAROI is now: “No one ever saw the vision/Told me I was too young/To come in this game/But I envisioned something different.” Blessed indeed.

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