Jerreley Zanian John Slijger (born June 18, 1986), known by his stage name Kempi, is a Dutch rapper of Curaçaoan descent. From 2006 to 2012, Kempi was signed at Dutch label TopNotch. He released two studio albums, four EP's and seven mixtapes to date. In 2008, Kempi was named "Best Hip-Hop Artist" in the Netherlands at the prestigious State Awards. Beside his artistic activities, Kempi is also notorious for his extensive criminal record. Early life Kempi was born in Helmond and grew up in Woensel-West, a deprived neighborhood in Eindhoven, as the fourth of seven children. As a teenager he went to a school for children with behavioral problems and started to participate in criminal activities, such as dealing in cocaine and heroin. He built a very extensive criminal record, including various prison sentences. Musical career Influenced by Tupac Shakur, Lil Wayne, and Dutch rapper Duvel, Kempi began to write down his street-life experiences, but wasn't seriously into hip-hop yet. However, after performing in a hip-hop group named Drama, Kempi got encouraged to make his own music, and subsequently recorded his own mixtape Tsss Kempi in 2006 which was downloaded at least forty thousand times from the internet. Kempi began to gain national prominence and was noticed by record label owner Kees de Koning, who offered him a contract on his label TopNotch which Kempi signed in jail. When Kempi signed the contract (September 2006) he was under suspicion of complicity in a stabbing; he was later found guilty. Kempi came out of custody after his second mixtape Rap 'N Borie (English: Rap 'N Crack) and third mixtape Mixtape 3.1 were released. On July 17, 2007 Kempi met his father for the first time and his girlfriend gave birth to a son, motivating him to try to be a businessman and a father. On September 19, 2008, Kempi's second son was born. Shortly thereafter he was arrested for pointing a gun at Hungarian rapper who provoked him at one of Kempi's concerts; he was arrested and sentenced to a year of imprisonment. While in prison, his debut album Du Zoon (English: Tha Son) was released by TopNotch. Du Zoon was produced by the Amsterdam production trio SoundG8 (Roel Donk, Dennis Letnom and Jihad Rahmouni). The album entered the Album Top 100 in the seventh place, though Kempi later stated that prison guards would not let Kempi listen to his own