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Hip hop and R'n'B sweep ARIA awards

Tony MagnussonAAP
Hip-hop artist Genesis Owusu has won four ARIAs at the Australian music industry awards.
Camera IconHip-hop artist Genesis Owusu has won four ARIAs at the Australian music industry awards. Credit: AAP

Genesis Owusu has emerged as the breakout ARIA Awards winner, claiming four music industry gongs.

The Ghanaian-born Australian singer and rapper with the gold grillz and elaborate wardrobe collected trophies for Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Release and Best Independent Release for his debut album Smiling With No Teeth. And, with Bailey Howard, he also received the ARIA for Best Cover Art.

Wednesday evening's awards also favoured rapper The Kid Laroi, who was named Best Artist. The 18-year-old Indigenous Australian from Sydney also scored Best Pop Release for his three-time-platinum single, Stay, recorded with Justin Bieber.

"It's incredible I'm getting this much love," he told the livestreamed award ceremony.

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"It's all I ever wanted to do - bring up the culture and show the world how good Australian music was."

Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper Tkay Maidza took out Best Soul/R&B Release for her EP Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3.

Grammy-nominated dance music trio Rufus Du Sol won in both their nominated categories, Best Dance Release and Best Group, for single Alive.

Song of the Year was given to Booster Seat by Perth four-piece Spacey Jane.

Best Video went to Vance Joy's Missing Piece, directed by Annelise Hickey.

Aboriginal singer-songwriter Budjerah was named Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist for his eponymous debut EP, with Ed Sheeran announcing the award by video and paying tribute to the late Gudinski, founder of Mushroom Records.

Presented by Brooke Boney, among others, the event featured performances by Owusu, Amy Shark, Rufus Du Sol, Gretta Ray and Budjerah.

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