Lloyd Welkens, better known as Kiev, was born in 1985 in Suriname. Kiev started making music in the 4th grade. At school parties he was the first to be asked to perform. This is where rap battles came about, in which Kiev won several times. The Surinamese rapper gets his inspiration from the events in his life. He only sees himself as competition which makes him very driven. At the age of 25, Kiev started making professional, but not commercial, recordings. His first official song was recorded in Eli F’s studio and released in 2015 under the name “Studio Session”. Kiev made his breakthrough with Tjin Torie and Seryusu (1.2 million views).