Goosebumps
Every single track on this cd is rich, intelligent, and danceable! I can't get these songs out of my head.
Face the music
I asked my brother, "Who's Kenna?" to which he replied, "That's their point. I'm not sure if VIBE Magazine still does this because I stopped reading it except for 20 Questions (although THAT sucks now too; why do you think it's on the last page?), but at the end of 2004 they listed something called the 2004 Not Ready for Primetime VIBE Awards, and the honor of the Cody ChestnuTT Criticial Darling Award ("big in the media; wood in the hood") went to Kenna. "
To that end, it's probably no surprise that Kenna was dropped from Interscope before his first album New Sacred Cow was released, but fortunately Columbia picked him up. But it IS surprising that his latest album Make Sure They See My Face IS on Interscope -- but then again, maybe it has to do with the fact that the Neptunes are major contributors, and they're on Interscope (where have they been, anyway?).
Don't be fooled by VIBE, however; even though Kenna is a man of color and he was featured in that magazine, I don't know if you can really call this an R&B album. He and his band kind of remind me of a black version of Modest Mouse. Thus, this album might not be the most accessible; in fact, the only songs I can really do without are the first two: "Daylight" and the aptly titled "Out of Control".
Fortunately, there are much better songs than that. As I stated earlier, the Neptunes are all over this album; there are only two songs they had nothing to do with ("Be Still" and "Static", which are both quality -- but Chad and Pharrell don't actually produce any songs together; what's going on behind the scenes?). Anyway, other notables include "Wide Awake" and the catchy "Baptized in Blacklight". And "Phantom Always" has N*E*R*D written all over it.
Kenna isn't for the average listener (and whoever compared him to Stevie Wonder is getting a little too ahead of themselves), but Make Sure They See My Face is dope enough for you to want to indeed see more of him. Pick it up.
Anthony Rupert.
Say Goodbye to Love
But I was so glad I it wasn't the only track I fell in love with. is the reason I bought this CD. Kenna's sound strangely enough reminds me of U2.
Awesome!
This cd does not disapoint. Saw them in concert and had to get the cd. I have a feeling it will be really big in 2008.
Melodic dissonance
Time to listen to it again. I may not want you to understand this review, but then maybe I don't know how.
You can see a complete list of all Kenna discography, or go back to the Kenna tabs
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