New RJD2 Album To Feature Kenna

Kenna's an artist I've been closely following since the 2003 emergence of his slightly off-centered pop album, New Sacred Cow.  Always a critical success, the Ethiopian-born singer has never enjoyed the break-out commercial success he richly deserves. 

 (Read more on Kenna's career as it builds up to his upcoming collaboration with RJD2 after the jump):

This strange phenomena is so commonly noted that Kenna even found himself the subject of an entire chapter of (Outliers and The Tipping Point author) Malcolm Gladwell's 2005 book Blink in which Kenna serves guinea pig to Gladwell's theory of how an artist might fall through the cracks of distribution and radio play. A career teetering on the wrong-side of being the next-big-thing has been Kenna's meager reward for taking risks and defying expectations.



Listen as Kenna empties every last ounce of his soul into 'Hell Bent':



Yet, Kenna continued to create soulful music, boiling with emotion that explores the boundaries of pop. After a slew of delays, Kenna finally dropped Make Sure They See My Face in 2007, in collaboration with former classmate Chad Hugo of The Neptunes.  New effort. Same results. And the music was as sharp and innovative as ever.


Check out Kenna's outcast anthem, 'Baptized in Blacklight':



On January 19th, RJD2 release his album The Colossus, and with it comes another chance for Kenna to platform his success on the track 'Games You Can Win' which is already streaming and available for free download over at the Philadelphia-based DJ's website .  


Check out RJD2's 'Games You can Win (feat. Kenna)':