The Kid Laroi explains why American fans are confused by his unique accent

The Kid Laroi’s musical style has been defined as a unique blend of ’emo rap’, trap and R&B.

But many fans of the Sydney-born rap sensation, 17, are still struggling to put a label on his unique speaking accent.  

Laroi, whose real name is Charlton Howard, has augmented his natural Australian accent over the past few years, and now speaks with a Chicago twang.  

Discussing his accent with YouTube channel Zach Sang Show on Tuesday, Laroi explained that he’d been forced to adopt American vocal inflections and terminology while living in the US, as no one could understand what he was saying.    

‘I’ve heard [my accent] is like a mix of all these different things, because I’m from Australia, and obviously you can probably hear that in a lot of words…  but I’ve been out in America for a long time,’ he said. 

The musician, whose real name is Charlton Howard, explained: ‘A lot of my friends are from Chicago, so I [use] a lot of Chicago slang… because that’s how I communicate with them.’    

‘Because I say a lot of stuff, that, when I first came out here, they just didn’t understand… so I realised very quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to teach them, in their own country, how I speak and how to communicate with me,’ he added.  

Laroi’s YouTube appearance also presented a prime opportunity for fans to gaze upon his new, sparkling white veneers. 

Earlier this month, Laroi proudly told Instagram fans that he was happy to say goodbye to his crooked, gappy smile.

‘Teeth fixed, Ima be smiling for no damn reason [sic],’ he wrote next to a photo of himself showing off his mega-watt chompers.   

Born in Waterloo, Sydney, Laroi grew up in relative poverty, spending his formative years in a housing commission block and couch surfing with his mother.

He began rapping at the age of 13, predominantly as an outlet to process his family struggles and the death of his uncle two years earlier.

He achieved modest success as a finalist in Australian radio station Triple J’s Unearthed High competition, but his real breakthrough came when he was signed as international rap sensation Juice Wrld’s labelmate at Grade A Productions in 2019.

The duo quickly became close, with Laroi even referring to Juice as his ‘big brother’ after being selected to support him on the Sydney and Melbourne legs of his Australian tour in November 2019. 

Fate took a cruel turn and just weeks later on December 8, Juice Wrld died at the age of 21, after suffering a reported seizure at Chicago Midway International Airport. 

Prior to his death, Juice recorded a verse for GO, the lead single on Laroi’s debut mixtape, knowing full well it would rocket the teen to fame overnight.

It did just that upon its release in June 2020, and in the blink of an eye the talented underdog from Waterloo had a single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 – topping megastar Justin Bieber that he’s been compared to – a feat many artists can only ever dream of achieving.  

He went on to become the youngest Australian to have a number one album on the ARIA charts with the release of F*ck Love (Savage) in July 2020. 

The record settled at number three in the U.S. 

The next month, Laroi secured a record deal with Sony Music and relocated from Sydney to Los Angeles with his family.

The Kid Laroi is now the 77th most popular artist in the world on Spotify, with 27 million listeners, and many of his songs have become viral hits on TikTok.