Seventeen-year-old First Nations rapper The Kid LAROI is hitting major career highs with the release of his debut mixtape, F*CK LOVE.

Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, whose moniker is derived from his mob, Kamilaroi, has achieved global success with the mixtape, reaching #8 on the US Billboard, #3 on the ARIA album charts and #12 on the UK charts.

After reaching #8 in the US, he took to Twitter to say: "I love you family. Forever. This is more than I could of [sic] ever asked for."

40k first week, #8 on Billboard. I love you family. Forever. This is more than I could of ever asked for. I really can't thank you enough. Wow. ????❤️.

— charlton (real emo thug) (@thekidlaroi) August 2, 2020

This makes LAROI the first Australian-born rapper to have a project debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200 since 2014.

Since the release of F*CK LOVE, the mixtape has been streamed over 50 million times on Spotify with over 40,000 units sold.

The teen whose childhood spanned stints in outback Broken Hill and public housing in Redfern is now one of Australia's biggest rap exports.

LAROI began performing at the age of 13 and released his debut EP 14 with a Dream independently when he was just 14-years-old. That same year, his meteoric rise to prominence began when he became a finalist in the triple j Unearthed High competition, which seeks to promote talented musicians still in high school.

The young rapper's debut mixtape contains 15 tracks spanning over 30 minutes as he showcases his musical talent and emotional depth, documenting the heartache of millennial romance.

To celebrate the mixtape, artist Scott Marsh has painted a mural of LAROI in the Sydney suburb of Waterloo, where LAROI was born. He is now based in LA with recording giants Columbia Records, living with his mother and brother.

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A post shared by Scott Marsh (@scottie.marsh) on Jul 22, 2020 at 10:52pm PDT

You can listen to F*CK LOVE via Sony Music Australia and Spotify.

By Grace Crivellaro