You don’t want to mess with Kenny Dennis. Even at the age of 50, the bratwurst downing, Brian Dennehy-worshipping rapper can run a mile in 4:14. The KDz remains the most feared slugger on the softball diamond. And he can still take Nitro from American Gladiators on in a game of Powerball. That’s just Kenny.
This is the Kenny Dennis LP, the sequel to last year’s self-titled EP. Released on Anticon, it furthers Serengeti’s hilarious, absurdist, and subtly humane saga of a Chicago-born man with a Mike Ditka mustache, whose lovable delusions and diehard loyalty fall somewhere between Homer Simpson and a Bill Swerski Superfan.
“Kenny’s just telling current stories,” Serengeti says about his alter ego. “He wants to give people a heads up and offer some life advice. ‘Hey listen up to me, I’m wise.’ He’s getting more confident, even though he always was confident.”
If you’re just tuning into the chronicles of Kenny, there are a few things you need to know. First off: Kenny Dennis was once in Tha Grimm Teachaz during the Golden Age of the early 90s. Signed to Jive, the Teachaz learned record industry rule #4,080 and were dropped from the label, but not before Kenny feuded with Shaquille O’ Neal, who was performing with the Fu-Schnickens during the 1993 Jive Records Showcase in Philadelphia. Shaq mocked Kenny’s stache. This was a grave error.
Kenny returned with a vengeance on 2006’s cult classic Dennehy,. Since then, the character created by David Cohn has re-appeared on Conversations with Kenny and the “original never-released” Grimm Teachaz Record, There’s a Situation on the Homefront. But the KDz really hit his stride as an MC on last year’s eponymous EP, which Pitchfork raved as being “half Prince Paul, half-Waiting for Guffman.“