Jorik Scholten, professionally known as Lil' Kleine, is a Dutch musician and actor. He collaborated with fellow rapper Ronnie Flex to produce the number one single "Drank & Drugs" and the number one albumWOP!.
Career
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 filmDiep. After befriending rapper Lange Frans, he began performing with Lange Frans' band D-Men on-stage. In 2012, he 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, he 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 certifieddouble platinum. "Drank & Drugs" won the 3FM Award for Best Single in March 2016. In February 2016, Lil' Kleine released his debut albumWOP!. In the album’s first week, all eleven of its tracks ranked within the top 35 of the Single Top 100 and the album reached number 1 on the Album Top 100 – it is the first hip hop/rap album in the Netherlands to accomplish these feats. 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" at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. "Niet Omdat Het Moet" received over half a million views on YouTube during its first few days, being the most viewed YouTube video in the Netherlands at the time. Lil' Kleine’s second album, Alleen, was released in May 2017. All eleven of its tracks reached Spotify's Netherlands Top 25, with songs "Krantenwijk" and "Alleen" at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. Collectively, Lil' Kleine’s songs were streamed by 1.84 million listeners on Spotify during the month preceding the album’s release – the first time an individual Dutch artist’s music was streamed by that many listeners in the space of a month. In 2017, Lil' Kleine 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. In 2018, Lil' Kleine became a coach on the ninth season of The Voice of Holland. In 2020, Lil' Kleine released his third album, Jongen Van De Straat.
Personal life
Lil' Kleine is engaged to Jaimie Vaes, and they have a son born in June 2019.
