Kenna is a man who needs no introduction. He is a one-man force. He is a
chameleon. He started his first record, New Sacred Cow, with Chad Post (of The
Neptunes) three years ago. Fred Durst signed him right away. For years he had to
wait for the record to be released. Now he is the person everyone talking
about and wondering where he came from. Kenna was born in Ethiopia and grew up in
the United States. He happened to go to the same high school as Chad Post who
was a trenchcoat wearing new waver back then.
The album is stark new wave electronic music with innovative vocals. This
year Kenna has supported Dave Gahan and Fischerspooner on their sold out tours.
He was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards recently and got to sit next to
Eminem. Now he has been hanging out with supermodels and everyone claims to
know him. I got to hang out with him at the weird setting of Disneyland. We
spoke during Fischerspooner's soundcheck. Casey Spooner said later "I fucked
Mickey Mouse and all I got was this hat." Go out an get the new album by Kenna
and be surprised. This is the new cool.
*****
AL: Do you come straight of Compton?
Kenna: I come out of the VA ghettos. I come from the Ethiopian ghettos. Straight from the shanties.
AL: Have you been back to Ethiopia?
Kenna: Yeah, I have been back a few times.
AL: I guess that is Fischerspooner in the background. When did you start doing music?
Kenna: I started when I was fifteen. I started listening to music when I was
eleven. I wasn't in any school bands. I was in the church choir. That was
traumatic. I don't like organized religion very much. I have a belief system of my
own.
AL: You have one song that talks about the belief in the self.
Kenna: The "new sacred cow" is self. That song touches upon religion because
people really look upon religion to find self sometimes. You are not going to
truly understand why churches were made for unless you understand your self
first. It's a combination of things for me. The lyrics are "Crucify yourself
for them/Does it make you feel any better?" That was an experience I had myself
going through the church. I found that they put you in a position where you
are meant to feel insecure, so they can have more control. I don't subscribe to
that mentality. That is one part of the song.
AL: A lot of religion is a breakdown of self in favor of the collective.
Kenna: I am not against that either. It's all about your brothers and sisters
at the end of the day for me. But it's not about my brothers and sisters who
think the exact same way as me. How am I going to grow if I am stuck with
people who feel and think the exact same way as I do? I want to be part of the
world. I want to be with people who exist and have different thought patterns
than my own. That is the only way that I will ever find myself.
AL: You do dedicate this record to God. Do you believe in higher intelligence?
Kenna: Absolutely. I am in a unique position. I am from Ethiopia. My
inheritance is a very spiritual background. If I was to deny my spirituality, I would
be denying myself. I'd be a fool if I did that.
AL: You are also a child of American culture: malls and fast food?
Kenna: Absolutely. All over the place.
AL: When did you start recording this album? Did you start doing demos?
Kenna: Chad Post and I started doing demos a while back, before The Neptunes
started happening. They were the Neptunes then, but they were still trying to
figure things out. I told Chad that I wanted to do something. He said "Let's
do it!" It's been about five years since I had the idea. I was working on
other things like production and other projects. I wasn't focused on it. And then
three years ago we got into it heavily. Two years ago we signed a deal.
AL: Fred Durst signed you but you didn't stay with Interscope? You went on to Columbia.
Kenna: He signed me and let me make the record. He's one of those guys. He
has a lot of demons. He is a smart guy. I don't care what anyone else says. I
have to give him respect. This record is not like anything else out there right
now. No label would let me go out there on my own and make my own record. They
would be really forceful about ideas of what things should sound like and the
marketplace. Fred let me do that. I got to make the record I wanted and it
has been heralded and now no one is going to screw with me whenever I want to
make a record.
AL: Did anyone say that you sound like David Sylvian or Depeche Mode? Then when they see you, they wonder why you are not an R&B singer?
Kenna: Fred didn't even meet me till the day I signed the deal. We had
already negotiated the deal and he already signed the contract. It wasn't about what
I looked like. I could have been a Buffalo ninja.
AL: You didn't put yourself on the cover of the album. People heard this album and they don't know whom you are or if this is a group.
Kenna: That's right. I could be an American Indian or a kid from Thailand.
That's the whole point of this record. Racism exists 75% of the time because we
acknowledge it. I choose not to. I have no reason to worry about what I look
like.
AL: Record companies and people make up labels for things and decide how they are sold.
Kenna: They do and I give them no reason to put a label on me. At the end of
the day I am human. I don't know who decided I was going to be a certain
color. I am not black but brown. Some people want to be the opposite of whatever
white is. I don't acknowledge that. My friends don't live in that world.
AL: You grew up with the same pop culture that we all grew up with?
Kenna: Yeah. I am also from a country that has never been colonized.
Ethiopians don't have a chip on their shoulders that a lot of Americans have. I see
racism as pure ignorance. At the same time I refuse to be part of any one thing
that would label me. So that's why. I am not in the video. I am not on the
cover of the CD. I am available for your judgment. Even though I am being judged
everyday. It's fine. I am going to be judged but I am going to give you the
information and you can judge that.
AL: Some artists play into the stereotypes, to make them seem more radical.
Kenna: I would be lying because I am not from Compton.
AL: You made a CD and they didn't. There are going to be people who like it and others who don't like it.
Kenna: If you like it keep it to yourself. If you hate, tell everyone. But you have to love me a little to hate me at all.
AL: You have a lot of songs about that dilemma. The song "War In Me" is all about the duality and conflicts in life. You have to deal with those things all the time.
Kenna: It's what everyone deals with. I wrote this record for people. I
didn't write a record to feed my ego or feed any cycles of self-love. I am not
looking in the mirror everyday. It's not a narcissistic mentality. I don't want
me to be happy. I want people to be happy. I want people to see themselves in
me.
AL: There has to be a certain sense of egoism just to create and put a record out there.
Kenna: Everything is ego. We all have a natural sense of ego, but it's when
you get to the point of id that you get in trouble. As an artist we tend to
lean in that direction because we are being praised all the time. You read a bad
review about yourself and you are so down. I think that is hilarious. If there
is a bad review of me, I would want to see, because that person who wrote it,
just doesn't get it. That's okay.
AL: How did you write songs with Chad Post?
Kenna: It's a mish mash. I don't even know how. I'll be walking down the
street and I'll be singing a melody. The melody will be in my head for three
days. If it stays with me I know it's a good song. I'll write some lyrics in my
head while I am driving in four more days. I'll have the lyrics for an entire
songs. I'll have bridges, choruses, sections, and verses. I'll do it all in my
head. I'll have words and lyrics and melody for piano and not even have
touched an instrument. I'll plunk out the chords on a piano and take the song to
Chad. Or I will take the melody to Chad and he will work on it and program some
beats and there will be a finished song.
AL: How many songs did you record for this album?
Kenna: We did sixteen songs. We cut it down to twelve for the album. I felt
that some of the songs didn't match the world that I was in. Maybe I was trying
too hard. Maybe I was pushing the envelope even for myself that I didn't
agree with. I just dropped those songs. I co-produced the album, but Chad is the
producer.
AL: Where did you record the album?
Kenna: We rented a house in Malibu. It took us three month to record the album. We did it about this time in 2000.
AL: You waited a long time for it to come out. What did you do in the meantime?
Kenna: I wrote seventy new songs. The next album is ready to go. I am going
to work with Chad Post again. With Chad there is no Kenna. I could continue
without Chad, but why would I want to do that?
AL: Are there any bands that you like? You like New Wave and Britpop?
Kenna: Oasis? I like one song by Oasis. (Starts singing "Live Forever") That
was so great. I am not so sure that they are as great as The Beatles. I like
their attitude and their bullshit vibe. I like Verve, Blur and Radiohead.
AL: You have obviously heard Depeche Mode at some point?
Kenna: Chad is a big Depeche Mode fan. I liked Violator and Music For The
Masses. But overall I wasn't into the really Goth dreariness. It was Chad who
wore the trenchcoat and the freak hair.
AL: I think that you sound like David Sylvian of Japan.
Kenna: Really? I have never heard that. I have been compared to so many
singers. People said I have reminded them of Paul McCartney, Rick Ocasek, Sting,
Bono, Depeche Mode, Bowie, Howard Jones and Spandau Ballet. There is not an
artist that I haven't been compared to. People said I sound like Prince. It's
like wow, you are comparing me to people that we all respect. As long as it
sounds beautiful, it's fine with me.
AL: I think what ties all that together is that your voice has that tragic
and romantic sound that was found in many records in the early 1980s. People
connect with that tragic feeling of love and things not being perfect.
Kenna: They are passionate. It's true that I come from that same vibe. The
world is not perfect and I am not going to make it any more perfect in my own
life. I'll do whatever I can. I want to help kids dig for water in Africa.
AL: I was reading about you going to the MTV awards. What was up with all these models?
Kenna: My whole life is Op Art. I can't tell you how many people I am going
to put on this guest list for the show tomorrow in Hollywood. How did I get
here? My friend Daria was someone I was introduced to. I didn't know she was a
supermodel. I asked her to go because she is my friend and she is funny. I
thought it would be a laugh to go into that world. I looked at the MTV awards as a
blank canvas. I felt that I could painted anything I wanted. And I could have
not painted anything better. I knew it was comedy. I lost both the awards I
was nominated. I had my own entourage. I was sitting with the Neptunes who are
my friends. There's Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, and Coldplay. DMX is
passing Hennessey to Coldplay to give to Snoop Dogg.
AL: Did they know who you were?
Kenna: That's the best part. I am the most famous not-famous person on the
planet. I don't even register on their level. They just see some dude sitting in
a seat. They probably thought I was a seat filler. I get invited to more of
these parties all the time. I am an artist's artist.
AL: How did the tours go with Dave Gahan and how is it going so far with Fischerspooner?
Kenna: Dave was so sweet to me and my band. He was so kind and great.
Fischerspooner is great. They are funny. We go out and get trashed. Dave Gahan and
his band went through a bunch of CDs. Victor the drummer decided that I was the
act that he wanted to play with and go on the road. I have the same agent as
Fischerspooner. The stuff they do is so creative.
AL: Did you wear makeup at any of the shows?
Kenna: No, but in San Diego we came out in all white shirts and ties and
black pants. We were doing a Beatles vibe just for the hell of it. Everything
inspires and you always want to do something new for the kids. We have been
ripping into the show. We have been having a good time. We just got here from Vegas
so the party starts tomorrow night.
AL: Are you going to do a new record?
Kenna: Early next year I am going to cut a record. I am going with Dave Gahan
and do a two-month tour of Europe. I am going to play some more shows at the
end of the year. The next record is called LIT or Life's Inherent Truth. I am
going to put it down.
AL: Do you have any other goals?
Kenna: I am going to climb Mount Kilamanjaro.
AL: I noticed that you have a palm pilot and a cell phone.
Kenna: I am a gearhead. It's ridiculous. My band is like that too. We have nineteen Apple Powerbooks. I have three other guys in my band.
AL: Where do you go in New York City?
Kenna: I stay in the Soho Grand. I like that place What's Goes Around Comes
Around. I go to Lucky Strikes and Nancy's. I have some friends who live around
the corner. I have a house in Virginia.
An interview with Kenna
by Alexander Laurence
