1994–2013: Early life and career beginnings Scholten was born on 15 October 1994 in the
Nieuwmarkt district of Amsterdam, Netherlands. At the age of one, he was diagnosed with
leukemia in his back that required surgery. He spent the first seven years of his life in
De Wallen, moving to
Amsterdam-Oost with his father after his parents divorced. Scholten was signed with talent agencies at an early age and made his acting debut in the 2005 film
Diep. After befriending rapper
Lange Frans, Scholten began performing with Lange Frans' band
D-Men on-stage. In 2012, Scholten adopted the stage name "Lil' Kleine" and released his first EP:
Tuig van de Richel. The following year, the song:
Zo Verdomd Alleen, which he recorded with
Danny de Munk, reached the
Single Top 100.
2013–present: Drank & Drugs, Wop!, Alleen and other endeavours After signing with hip-hop label
TopNotch in 2013, Scholten collaborated with fellow rapper
Ronnie Flex to produce the single
Drank & Drugs, a song about alcohol, drugs and sex, which reached number one on the Single Top 100 and was
certified double platinum. In February 2016, Scholten released his debut album
Wop!.
Wop! also became the most-streamed new album on
Spotify in Dutch history, being streamed over 1.5 million times during the 24 hours after its release, beating the previous record holder,
Justin Bieber's
Purpose. Also in its first week, all of the album’s tracks ranked within Spotify's Netherlands Top 50, with singles "Niet Omdat Het Moet" and "1, 2, 3" (both featuring Ronnie Flex) at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. Scholten released his third album,
Jongen van de Straat, in 2020. His fourth album,
Ibiza Stories, released in 2022, is about the love and hate he feels towards his fiancée, and his alleged abuse on their 2021 holiday in
Ibiza. In 2017, Scholten was one of fifteen celebrities who competed on the
nineteenth season of
Expeditie Robinson. He was the first contestant to leave the competition, having been voted off at his own request after three days. Scholten was a coach on the
ninth and
tenth seasons of
The Voice of Holland. ==Personal life and legal issues==