Just a thread to show love to a underrated artist who put out one of the greatest debut of this decade "New Sacred Cow" back in 2003, and the follower, "Make Sure They See My Face" (2007) was as good!! Kenna is an ethiopian-born singer who choose the synth new wave pop electronica route... he's a very good singer, affiliated to the Neptunes...
Any fan??

Yep fan right here! Both albums are great.

Unfortunately he seems to be the classic case of a black artist falling through the cracks because they can't be easily categorized and therefore don't fit into radio playlisting.

I thought the Neptunes connection would help him suceed, I mean when 'New Sacred Cow' came out in '03 the Neptunes were just about as commerically hot as it's possible to be! Perhaps it was to do with Chad Hugo taking charge of the production on his own rather than in colaboration with the more visable Pharrell Williams?

Strongly recommended to anyone who likes NERD, K-OS or Gnarls Barkley!

Yeah, that's so true about the "uncategorized black singer" thing... I know it may sound cliché, but when l first heard about this guy back in 2003, l saw a black dude related to the Neptunes, so l expected an R&B singer with a "soulful", "church-like" voice or something like that... But to my great surprise, he sounded more like a white pop singer from the 80s (DMode David Gahan comes to mind) tah your avergade soul/R&B singer, and it was quite surprising, but in a good way!!
... And his music... l can say he is one of those (rare) artists to have his own style, his own music, a mix of drum n bass/pop/rock/electronica/hip hop/trip hop...
Just check his 2 albums, "New Sacred Cow" (2003) and "Make SureThey See My Face" (2007)... U may not get into it at first, but it'll grow in you, and U'll find urself loving it!



... His breakthrough song... Just watch the entire video... Beautiful!!



... This one got a nomination for the 2009 Grammy awards ceremony... Produced by Pharrell

I love Kenna!!! New Sacred Cow is definitely in my top ten albums of the decade. I love him live, too.

Strange. I had no idea who the guy is, but I spotted this link this morning posted to a vintage synth forum (it's a new track):

http://fairtilizer.com/track/rjd2/games

So yeah, there's a strong 80s synthpop influence apparently.

Kenna is so underrated


He's an example of good music that's still out there

bboy87 said:

... Indeed. I've just read the "Istoday's music really that bad?" thread, and Kenna is a proof that there are still some good artists out there... Though some may say it's a synth-programmed-technological music and they won't even pay attention to his music... Indeed, he's so underrated.

Kenna is awesome!! Coincidentally, I just re-bought his second album yesterday because a friend of mine liked it so much she never gave it back

thekidsgirl said:

We need to make a thread on artists who have made good music the last 5 years


my list would be filled with people the org doesn't know about

bboy87 said:

Do it!

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Go head, bwoy!!
Especially for Vainandy, let's bring the proof there is still some funk out there

FrenchGuy said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/326964