No doubt about it: Kenna got a raw deal. With support from such unlikely bedfellows as Fred Durst and fellow Virginia Beach high school friend Chad Hugo of the Neptunes, the Ethiopian-born former Kenna Zemedkun crafted a catchy and unquestionably commercial debut in 2003's New Sacred Cow, an in-retrospect prescient fusion of rock, new wave, and pop. Yet despite the buzz surrounding the spooky single "Hell Bent" and its creepy video (fashioned from Mark Osborne's animated short "More"), the album got bumped and bumped and bumped until its release was practically an afterthought, a stillborn flop and instant pop culture casualty/artifact. You can read all about it in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, which dedicates a chapter to Kenna illustrating how impulse decisions can raze expectations. The second-guessing of one higher up basically kneecapped the singer, pulling the plug on his well-paved ascent just like that.
Four years later, Kenna's on a new major label, but his second album Make Sure They See My Face hasn't fared much better. Originally scheduled for release over the summer, the album was delayed, leaving Kenna hanging when he opened for Nelly Furtado on her tour, supporting an album that, as far as anyone knew, didn't exist. Then, as if to twist the knife, the album got bumped again. And a couple of more times, too.
What's so amazing is that, once again, Kenna's music seems perfectly suited to the current music environment. It's catchy enough to get played on the radio, moody enough to charm brooding wallflowers, and arty enough to click with the cognoscenti. He's got some street cred, thanks to his relationship with the Neptunes, but he's also got nerd appeal. And getting shout-outs in the notes is a notable cross-section of supporters: Mike Shinoda, Bono, Dave Gahan, Justin Timberlake, ?uestlove, Michael Stipe, Nas, and more.
So will Make Sure They See My Face get Kenna thanked in some future stream of shout-outs alongside such famous peers? Doubtful; so far Kenna's been more about setbacks than breakthroughs. Those potential breakthroughs are here, though. The thick Neptunes synths and clipped beats of "Out of Control (State of Emotion)" pair well with Kenna's latter day Cure-like melody and a huge chorus. "Loose Wires/Blink Radio" and "Say Goodbye to Love", two songs co-credited to Pharrell Williams, are bottom heavy cyber-funk, striking the usual Neptunes balance between high-end and homebrew.
Most of the other tracks pair Kenna with Chad Hugo, and it's interesting to isolate what the quiet Neptune brings to the proceedings. Hugo's technique is strikingly in sync with Kenna's aesthetic on "Baptized in Blacklight" or "Wide Awake", goth-tinged new wave that emphasizes how much both acts like Linkin Park and a bevy of r&b acts (like Rihanna) owe to early 1980s synth-rock.
It's on the rock end of the spectrum where Kenna hedges his bets a bit too much. While clearly synthetic, much of Make Sure They See My Face bends over backwards to sound in-your-face organic, with big, live-sounding drums and guitars that vie with the synths for room at the fore of the mix. Frankly, it all gets to be a bit much, especially since songs like "Baptized in Blacklight" and "Static" show what Kenna can do with a little more space in his music.
Admittedly, subtlety probably wasn't first on Kenna's agenda, considering how much time he's spent on the sidelines, against his will. The dude wants to be heard, to be sure, and he's got something to prove, too. But sometimes a little bit of silence makes the bigger noise. Make Sure They See My Face is overdressed to impress when easing up may have been the best way to ease back into the public consciousness.
