Kempi

Eindhoven-based Dutch rapper Kempi secured his first Top Ten placement on the solo album rankings in 2008. Born Jerrel Lloyd Kemperveen on May 4, 1988, in Curaçao—a Caribbean island then part of the Netherlands Antilles—he spent his formative years in Eindhoven, located in the southern Netherlands. Following a challenging upbringing amid economic hardship and encounters with authorities, he channeled his enthusiasm for rap into a professional trajectory. His breakthrough arrived in 2006 via the mixtape Tsss Kempi, hosted by DJ One-2 from the SpinMasters production crew, which secured him a deal with Amsterdam’s Top Notch Records. Two further mixtapes appeared on that imprint in 2007—Mixtape 2: Rap 'n' Borie and Mixtape 3—with the former containing the underground favorite “Zoveel Stress.” His first proper album, Du Zoon, emerged in 2008 through Top Notch in partnership with Universal Music, landing inside the Dutch Top Ten while spotlighting the tracks “Stratiblues” and “Wakker in du Cel.” Het Testament van Zanian Adamus arrived three years later.