Detroit is in a heatwave as crowds of people queue outside the iconic 1920s  Fillmore theatre. The building’s façade reads: The Kid LAROI. The Australian musician and global superstar is here as part of his The First Time Tour. Backstage, the crowd’s deafening screams echo r through the historical halls. It feels electric.

The stage is set for The Kid LAROI in more ways than one: he released his debut studio album The First Time last year, featuring appearances from Justin Bieber, Jungkook and Central Cee, followed by a deeply personal documentary, Kids Are Growing Up: A Story About A Kid Named LAROI, that traces the musician’s experiences and emotions, through I tragedy and stardom. now, after the US leg of the tour, LAROI is back home in his adopted LA, catching up with cult Californian artist Cali DeWitt, who has become family – a figure of collaboration and calibration.

Cali DeWitt: Hey, baby.
The Kid Laroi: Wassup?

CDW: Good morning, my boy. I just got off my bike.
TKL: How many miles?

CDW: Twenty miles.
TKL: That’s a lot, bro.

CDW: Welcome home, it was a good tour.
TKL: Yeah it was good, I’m exhausted now though. I was supposed to go to the gym this morning but I woke up and my body literally couldn’t move. When you’re in the middle of a tour doing something every single day, it becomes normal and you don’t think about it. But then when you get a chance to just chill afterwards, you realise just how tired you are.

CDW: That’s normal human stuff. And you’re getting old now as well. [both laugh] Aren’t you almost 21?
TKL: Yeah, next month.

CDW: How does that feel?
TKL: I don’t know. It’s kind of cool that I’ll be able to go to the bar and they’ll be like, “Where’s your ID?” and I’ll be like, “It’s right here.” That’ll feel really good. I still can’t drive though, I really want to learn.

CDW: We were going to teach you to drive like two years ago. I could teach you in three hours.
TKL: I know but it’s not even necessarily about the driving, it’s about the test, looking at the rules and stuff.

CDW: Look at some of the people who drive, man. You’re going to be fine.
TKL: That’s true. What’re you up to at the moment?

CDW: As you know my main thing is taking care of my baby, who is going to be two in a couple of weeks. He’s less of a baby and more of a boy now. That’s probably my highest passion. I’ve got him into going to the studio and he rides his bike in circles because it’s really big, and there’s a microphone at the turntable so he likes to sing.
TKL: What does he like to sing?

CDW: Well today he wanted to sing The Jam That’s Entertainment. It came on and he was humming it at the right time – it’s crazy. He’ll bring you his guitar and be like, “Song! Song! Song!” You’ll see, it’s really funny. Let’s talk about how we met – how old were you, seventeen?
TKL: Yeah, I was seventeen. You had an art show and I came with Billy Walsh.

CDW: And he thought we should meet.
TKL: He was like, “You guys will probably vibe. You’re both young creatives…” [both laugh]

CDW: You at seventeen, and me at almost 50 – vibers.
TKL: Billy was hyping you up saying you’re the coolest guy of all time.

CDW: Yeah, he said I’d love you. I was like, “A seventeen-year-old popstar, what’s that got to do with me?” But we were fast friends.
TKL: It’s true. I feel like you have a pretty inviting energy, it’s hard to be uncomfortable around you. You make things not awkward.

CDW: Right, unless I don’t like you.
TKL: [laughs] I feel like I’m pretty awkward in a lot of first interactions, I don’t know where to guide something. You cancel that out, which is pretty cool. It makes it easier to open up around you.

CDW: Then we did a thing where we decided to work together, officially. We did that for a while and it’s not that it didn’t work between you and me, but you know… It’s hard to work with professional record labels and management. It’s a real challenge for me. I’m not as inviting to those people because I don’t believe a word they say. That time was a gift because of our time together, and you and I are still hanging out…
TKL: Which is cool.

CDW: So Laroi, when did you first discover your love of music?
TKL: [pauses]

CDW: I bet we have the same answer, but you go.
TKL: I’ve loved music ever since I can remember, my mum playing music around the house.

CDW: What was she playing?
TKL: All different types of stuff. What stood out to me when I was a kid was Tupac, Erykah Badu, Fugees, Lil Wayne. Erykah Badu’s interesting because when I was a kid I didn’t understand her music as much, which is funny because I’ve grown to really appreciate it and love her stuff so much.

CDW: Your taste matured.
TKL: A pivotal point was seeing two music videos, Dear Mama by Tupac, I remember watching that as a kid and being like, “Wow, this is crazy,” and randomly, Superman by Eminem.

CDW: How old were you, like five?
TKL: Yeah, so young. Both of those are crazy videos for a five-year- old to digest, in different ways.

CDW: I have the same answer, I don’t ever remember there not being music, not being hypnotised by it.
TKL: What was your mum playing?

CDW: Well my dad was always pushing John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman, which maybe that’s my Erykah Badu. Also, why are you trying to get a four-year-old to listen to free jazz? [both laugh] But then once I did find a love of that, it was funny because I was like, “I already know a shit load about this.” My mum listened to hit songs, like 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson’s Stardust. My dad would also get me records, when I was five or six he got me the first two Ramones records, Devo, the first B-52’s record, those were foundational for me. Talk to me about performing live vs in the studio, how do you view both of those? I think you’re really good at performing live, and some people are – a few people. [Laroi laughs] What I make, I don’t really want to perform live, like other artists will perform live at their openings, they love talking to everyone about their work, talking about themselves, but that just isn’t something I care to do. I’d rather hang outside with my friends. The goal isn’t to be in public discussing what I do with people.
TKL: For me, I love performing because I can really transform into a different human being. It feels like a release because I’m up there jumping around, screaming and shit. I love feeding off the energy of the crowd.

CDW: The way you play music, I see a real good energy exchange between you and the audience, I feel a lot of joy coming from you and the audience. That’s cool, I’m into that.
TKL: This isn’t necessarily about performing live, but I love making the music, and then when it’s time for everyone to have opinions on it, that’s a scary thing for me. I definitely enjoy making the music more than putting it out, which is funny.

CDW: Putting it out is more the business of it. I think artists are also expected to be business people in some way and that’s bullshit. I’d be surprised if you were like, “I love the process of releasing the record and doing the 900 bits of press around.” I would find that really challenging, and you not liking it is normal.
TKL: It’s also just that many people having input on something you make, which is a crazy thing. I talk about it all the time, the difference between when I made music like six years ago putting it out for a couple of people to have opinions on, you aren’t really thinking about that stuff as much. I don’t think about that anymore, but there was definitely a point in time when I started to get a lot of attention and that stuff seeps into your brain, what people are thinking. You have to train yourself out of it. It’s a weird thing to think about – what does this random person think? [laughs]

CDW: Ideally you can get to a place where you don’t hear those people. You got where you are without listening to them.
TKL: Exactly.

CDW: I think it takes a certain amount of focus to get rid of that noise. Otherwise, you’re going to begin making music for strangers, and it’s gonna suck and you aren’t going to like it.
TKL: I was talking to someone the other day who also makes music, and he said, “I like to ask this person, and this person.” And I was like, “Yeah, but what do you think?” At the end of the day, nobody’s opinion is better than yours. [You have to ask yourself], “Do I love this?” Otherwise, if you put something out after listening to someone else’s opinion, you’re left with something you don’t love – and it also didn’t do well. [laughs] That’s your legacy.

CDW: And god forbid you make something you don’t love but it does really well and you have to play it for 50 years.
TKL: Fuck that. [both laugh]

CDW: Let’s talk about influences and inspirations, who we admire.
TKL: Hyaku Kubo. [laughs]

CDW: Actually that’s a good answer! My biggest influences are the people I care about.
TKL: It is true, I always stress most about if like, my mum has an opinion. I’m like, “Oh no, you think I’m doing something wrong?” Close friends, people you care about, they definitely hold the most influence.

CDW: Think about how influential Sam [Cali’s son] has been to me, and that little dude is only two years old. You know, I can throw out people I admire, Robert Mapplethorpe, I like Grace Jones, I like Jim Henson, Daido- Moriyama. What about you?
TKL: You know what, I’m going to give you one name, Lil Wayne. I’ve loved him ever since I was a kid. There are so many people I love and am inspired by.

CDW: We both love the photographer Jason Nocito.
TKL: Oh yeah, Jason Nocito. Oh my god, dude. Big inspiration. I mean, the Kubo family.

CDW: Definitely. They’re a family from Japan we’re both very inspired by.
TKL: He’ll come down here too, you’ll get to see him. [phones Hyaku] “Dude, do you want to come down and say hi to Cali? We’re talking about how you’re our number one influence.”

HYAKU KUBO: [through the phone] Shut the fuck up, bro.
TKL: Pull up.

CDW: Let me say about Hyaku, who’s about to come downstairs. One of the cutest things I’ve seen in the last few years is, I know Hyaku because his dad’s my best friend, and I was like to you, “You need to meet this kid, he’s the same age,” and they now literally live together. Like, that’s funny. [both laugh]
TKL: We went to Six Flags [Magic Mountain] the day after we met and just straight vibes. [Hyaku appears on screen]
HK: Hey! How’re you doing Cali?

CDW: Good morning, motherfucker.
HK: Good morning.
CDW: Laroi, we were speaking about you being under the spotlight and how you like it when you’re performing, but other times maybe not. So let’s speak about your documentary. For a person as young as you, you have a very interesting life story – it’s a story worth telling. This is a very personal story, of your family, putting that on TV for everyone to watch is a pretty intimate thing to share.
TKL: Yeah, I ended up deciding like, yo, I don’t know if I want this to be, you know, that thing. I definitely wanted it to be more focused on the past four, five years, coming to LA and the different things I’ve had to deal with coming out here. [I wanted to] focus on taking care of your mental health and the importance of that. To direct it more in that lane as opposed to a whole personal, you know, this is the come up, this is my entire life story. I didn’t feel like I was completely ready for that. I also value having a little bit of privacy in that sense. It’s a weird thing, having a documentary that’s an hour and 30 minutes of people seeing into your life – that’s a scary thing for anybody, right? If anything, I wanted to more focus on the journey of being young and taking care of yourself through whatever is going on.

CDW: I like the way it turned out.
TKL: Same, I thought it was awesome.

CDW: The illustrations are so good.
TKL: Shout out to Devin Flynn.

CDW: It must’ve been nice to trust the team making it.
TKL: That’s the other scary thing. Ratty [Michael D. Ratner, director] is obviously awesome, and I love him. But doing something like that, once you give footage to the director, it’s up to them to tell the story they want to tell. That’s essentially what a documentary is, it’s their take on your story. Their perspective. It was awesome being able to come out of it being like, “Wow, you did a fucking great job.” Because you just never know when you go into something like that.

CDW: Well Ratty, good job, man.
TKL: Good job, Ratty. [claps]

CDW: How do you feel about collaboration?
TKL: I think the best stuff really does come out of good hangs and friendship vibes. Not to sound like a cornball [laughs], but it’s true.

CDW: It is true. I’ve done collaborative things where maybe people are pushing for them because it’s good business or whatever, but you know it ain’t going to work. Whoever the person is you’re collaborating with, you need to imagine going and eating together and hanging out. If you can’t, it’s not going to work. Collaboration is about relationships and friendships, and admiring the work that person does.
TKL: That’s a big thing, really admiring what a person does first and foremost is very important. If you don’t love something and you’re only doing it because it’s a good look maybe, it’s going to be noticed by people. People don’t take bullshit. [laughs] They can tell more than ever when something isn’t natural or is forced.

CDW: The bottom line is, I love collaborating but I want it to actually be a collaboration.
TKL: I second that. I co-sign that.

CDW: Let’s go into your process, the ways you create, write.
TKL: There are so many different ways. Sometimes I just get into the studio, have someone recording me and I’ll freestyle. I’ll make something and then boom! It’s done. Then other times, I’ll go into a session with producers, sometimes Billy [Walsh] will come in, he’s a songwriter, and we collab. I do tend to love collaboration because you can bounce off each other and there’s a lot to learn through that, but there’s also something really special about just getting in and freestyling a song off the top of your brain. When you feel really inspired to just go in, go off the top and have something done in like twenty minutes. There’s something very cool about that natural flow. It’s all about whatever the fuck’s in the air that day.

CDW: I don’t like forcing anything. I believe what I need will come. The idea will come. I see people who are like, sitting in front of their computer ready to go for days, and I’m like, “What’re you doing?” And they go, “I’m just waiting for this thing to come.” Being able to do creative work, art, music, whatever, it’s already a luxury. You’re lucky to be able to spend time doing it. If I don’t have an idea I like, I’m not going to force it, I’m not like, “I have to go and fucking make this happen!” That’s never going to work for me. If it’s a day where nothing is [working], then I have books to read, and dishes to do, and bicycle rides to take, and diapers to change, and that’s cool. [both laugh] For me, the act of creating or having ideas is part of the bigger picture of life.
TKL: Feel that.

CDW: Well Laroi, I hope that I never talk to you again. [both laugh] Hey, you’re home and I’m leaving Thursday… Do you want to come over tomorrow?
TKL: Tomorrow, let’s roll up.

CDW: Dude, what about guys my age who use current slang? [Kid laughs] It fucks me up when someone who’s 50 says “rizz” to me, or says, “That’s kind of mid.”
TKL: [laughs] Can you guys put that in the transcript, please?