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Kenna

Kenna Zemedkun, known professionally as simply Kenna, is a Grammy Award nominated American musician, philanthropist and curator. Kenna is the eldest son of an Ethiopian family that immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio when he was three years-old. He was later raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, attending school with friends and eventual career-long collaborators Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. Breaking into the music scene at a young age and at an interesting time in pop history, Kenna met some of music's biggest names including Whitney Houston, Babyface, Blackstreet, Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson. He went on to create his own sound that has yet to be categorized and filed under any mainstream genre. With the release of his first single "Hell Bent" in 2001, Kenna gained popularity and an underground following of fans that eagerly awaited the release of his debut album New Sacred Cow. The album, which was co-produced by Chad Hugo, contained elements of electronica, synth pop, post rock, and house music. Two singles, "Sunday After You" and "Freetime" followed the release of the album; the music video of the latter, along with "Hell Bent," appeared in heavy rotation on MTV and MTV2. "Freetime" reached #19 on the U.S. Dance charts, and garnered Kenna two MTV VMA nominations. Kenna's second album, entitled Make Sure They See My Face, was also co-produced by Hugo, the title inspired by a conversation with Pharrell Williams who asked Kenna, "Are you going to make sure they see your face?" The album reached #1 on the Billboard Top 20 Heatseekers Chart.In pop-author Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, which is about the way people judge and make decisions in their lives, one chapter entitled "Kenna's Dilemma" focuses on the stops, starts and difficulties that Kenna experienced in getting his music accepted by the general public, despite the tremendous reception and enthusiasm that music aficionados, musicians and loyal fans had when they heard his music. Some would say that Kenna intended to stay hidden because he knew his sound was ahead of its time and yet to be accepted by society.Then Kenna learned about the global water crisis that was devastating even his home village in Ethiopia, leading him to create the SUMMIT ON THE SUMMIT project. The event banded together Kenna's friends and luminaries Lupe Fiasco, Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch and others as they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2010 to bring awareness to the cause.SOTS was the first ever social media climb of a mountain, having built a 19,340 ft website for fans and followers to participate virtually with the climbers. The project was the first of its kind, a true transmedia event. In tandem with the efforts of partner agencies and NGOs, the result was a return of 300 million in foreign aid for clean water efforts, and a 100 million dollar increase in funding for the cause, totaling 400 million toward the endeavor. The documentary of the climb aired on MTV on March 14, 2010, and was hosted by Justin Timberlake.Kenna's strategic development company Translator serves as the umbrella for all of Kenna's endeavors, including his music , technology and philanthropic efforts. In March of 2012, Translator in partnership with Myspace produced a successful outdoor concert featuring Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons at the annual South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. The event saw more than 12,000 attendees and 1.3 million livestream views on Myspace. Kenna continues to curate and consult on many projects in tandem with his own music works.