The idea, Serengeti says, was to be normal. The legendary avant-garde rapper from Chicago had been urged by MC Paul Barman to approach producers Messiah Muzik and Steel Tipped Dove about making a record together, and when Geti did so, the intention was maximum legibility. “I was going to just try to do an album with some hooks in it, a regular sort of record with hooks and raps, real clean,” he says. What came out instead was KENNYV, the latest in a series of albums and EPs Geti has made from the perspective of Kenny Dennis, a late-middle aged former white rapper from greater Chicago who’s obsessed with sports, top heavy from a preposterous mustache, and, in recent installments, using streetwear drops and livestreaming as a palliative for his fractured psychological state.
But KENNYV is a departure from other KD installments in many ways, including its process: Geti built most of the songs from their cadences outward, a technique he witnessed during his brief foray into the sync-music world. When he went in to flesh out the lyrics—and realized that Kenny was ranting about old White Sox utilities players in his subconscious—he did so with typically disorienting detail. Trying to bone up on his foreign-film knowledge to impress another character in the universe Geti’s created, Kenny speculates that a staircase on screen might represent fear. “I’m getting cerebral this year,” he says, proudly.
KENNYV comes just weeks after symphony of psalms, a full-length collaboration with Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, and in the wake of brilliant, barely-promoted albums like last year’s universe. We spoke by phone about his new music, his unorthodox approach to recording, and the world of professional arm wrestling.
The Mystery of the Creative Process
When discussing his prolific output, Serengeti admits that his release strategy is unconventional. “I just like to make stuff. I’ll catch a little buzz of an idea and I can do it pretty quickly. And then I’m like, well, what am I waiting for? Sit on it? I’ll just put it up,” he explains. He notes that he prefers to avoid the traditional, costly press campaigns that often yield little return, opting instead to let the music speak for itself.
His recording process is equally spontaneous. For projects like Ajai, he would drag beats into his DAW without previewing them, treating the session as a surprise. “That’s the way I have fun doing music, to not preview the beats, it’s like a surprise,” he says. “You might get 20 things done and then shut it down, don’t listen to it, and then record again the next day.”
Adapting to New Techniques
While he has historically written lyrics independently of the music, KENNYV saw him experimenting with topline cadences. “I had been with some people doing that while doing that sync world stuff, but I had never done that over my shit,” he notes. His experience in the sync-music industry—writing for commercial briefs—actually provided a new perspective on his craft. “The indie world can be sort of snobby,” he reflects. “And then you get out there, you work with these people, and you’re so humbled. It really humbled me. I was like, ‘Wow, there’s no difference between music people.’”
Ultimately, the process of creating KENNYV was one of discovery. What began as a technical exercise in flow and cadence eventually morphed into the latest chapter of the Kenny Dennis saga. “I had no intentions of doing this record, but I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what it is.’”