thomas ohashi / blog / Kenny Dennis Beginner's Guide

Kenny Dennis beginner's guide

Who is Kenny Dennis?

Serengeti one of my favorite rappers, in no small part due to the epic body of work he has created around his alter ego Kenny Dennis.

Kenny (formerly known as KDz) is a rapper from Chicago who was part of an upcoming group in the early 90s called Tha Grimm Teachaz. An unfortunate altercation with Shaquille O'Neal resulted in the group being dropped from their label and blacklisted, dooming Kenny to obscurity.

What begins as a goofy comedy rap concept gradually becomes something more profound. Things don't always go well for Serengeti's characters and while their actions may be absurd their struggles feel tragic and real.

For a more in depth overview there's a great breakdown on Bandcamp but it only covers through Dennis 6e, which at the time was intended to be the final album. Since then Serengti has both created albums for a new character in the same universe and released more Kenny Dennis albums.

Where should I start?

Well, somewhat counterintuitively, unless you're already sold on the idea I would recommend skipping ahead and starting with Ajai. The concept is more straightforward and Serengeti's writing at this point is near peak. Ajai is a hopeless hypebeast married to a doctor and his clothing addiction is negatively impacting their relationship. Kenny is featured throughout the album but his history isn't particularly important to Ajai's story.

If you find yourself enjoying that then I think it'd be worth going back and at least skipping through some of the early Kenny stuff before getting started with Kenny Dennis III.

Prehistory

0. Tha Grimm Teachaz - There’s a Situation on the Homefront

Tha Grimm Teachaz - There's a Situation on the Homefront album cover

This album, fictionally released in 1993, is a prequel to the Kenny Dennis anthology and features him rapping as KDz in the group Tha Grimm Teachaz. I think it's a pretty amazing parody of that era of hip-hop and all of KDz's verses are great but it's not the most narratively important album.

Origin

1. Dennehy

The first chronological appearance of Kenny Dennis. There's not really a story yet and only a few of the tracks on this album feature Kenny. Dennehy is probably the only "essential" song on here but Don't talk to Jueles, New Dodge, and Ozzie Guillen all expand on his character.

2. Kenny Dennis EP/Kenny Dennis and Perculators

The first full Kenny Dennis EP. Like Dennehy, there's more character building than narrative but it starts to flesh out his history, including his beef with Shaq through the amazing diss track Shazam. There is also a very silly riff on Top That from Teen Witch.

Chicago Era

3. Kenny Dennis LP

Serengeti - Kenny Dennis III album cover

The story really kicks into gear here with the introduction of Ders, Kenny's longtime friend, occasional collaborator, and our documentary style narrator. Directions is one of my all time favorite KD songs but from this point on it's worth listening to everything.

For some reason this album isn't on Bandcamp, but it is on streaming.