A Perth duo of producers who’ve worked with Kanye West and Kid Cudi have expressed disappointment that The Kid LAROI missed out on an ARIA last year, despite having now topped the charts with his album F*ck Love (Savage).

The production duo are called FnZ and are made up by Michael Mule and Isaac DeBoni. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in today’s edition, they’ve shared that they believe there’s an oversight when it comes to Australian hip hop.

The pair used The Kid LAROI as an example, who is a teenage rapper that is part of the Gomeroi/Kamilaroi/Gamilaroi community of northern inland New South Wales. His rapper name ‘Laroi’ which references his Indigenous roots. 

“We’re from Perth and producing a bunch of their songs, but people can’t read a credit and put two and two together. Laroi just got snubbed at the ARIAs, too. Dude is gonna be one of the biggest pop stars of the next decade and they couldn’t figure that out either,” they told the publication.

They added, “When it’s all said and done, we will have done more for the Australian industry than many of the local artists that they obsess over on Triple J or something like that.

“Anyone that wants to produce for some of the biggest artists in the world can look at us and see that it’s possible, even coming from a place as isolated as Perth. That provides inspiration for people and that matters to us more.”

After featuring in the ARIA top 50 album charts, F*ck Love (Savage) by The Kid LAROI finally hit number one on Sunday, February 7. The indigenous rapper took to Twitter to celebrate and thank his loyal fans.

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“#1 in my own country. Words cannot describe this feeling. Anybody who knows me, knows that where I’m from means everything to me. I’m more than blessed to have my country behind me, and I promise that I won’t let them down,” his post began.

“One of my biggest goals in this whole music s**t from the beginning has always been to show the rest of the world what Australia has to offer, and how much raw and unseen talent that we have. It’s not an overnight process, but I can feel it slowly happening.

“& I’m taking this s**t all the way too. I love you so so so so much family. I cannot thank you enough. Australia to the world.”

The indigenous rapper supported the late Juice WRLD by opening for him in Sydney and Melbourne shows and was later signed to his production label, Grade A Productions.

Check out The Kid LAROI and Juice WRLD’s song ‘Go’.

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