Raised in the South Holland suburb of Chicago, Kembe X found inspiration for his music from his childhood friend and Chicago rapper Alex Wiley and legends like Nas, MF DOOM, and Kanye West. Growing up, Kembe's mother ran a deeply religious home steeped in Christian music, so it wasn't until his teenage years that Kembe got his first introduction to hip-hop through Kanye's Jesus Walks single. His older brother introduced him to other hip-hop sounds from Lupe to Soulja Boy and everything in between, at around the same time his home life took a turn for the worse. In a home where his father (who had lost his job) became violently angry lead Kembe to drop out of high school at 15-years-old, where he found a kindred spirit in fellow dropout Alex Wiley. The two first started making music as a joke before it gradually dawned on them that they might have a real talent beyond shit-talking cyp