Serengeti – No Beginner
2014 · Directed by Jeremy Liesen
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Best comments
1.“Serious question: did you renovate a bathroom like 12 years ago?”
More comments
- 2.“Is that Yoni Wolf in the red coat?”
The story
Meet Kenny Dennis. Thick mustache, O'Doul's, a Buick, a beer truck route, a deep love for actor Brian Dennehy and a grudge against Shaquille O'Neal. He's the alter ego of Chicago rapper Serengeti (David Cohn), a faded rapper he has been building since his 2006 album Dennehy, riffing on the old SNL Superfans sketch and imagining the pain under the bragging.
No Beginner opens Kenny Dennis III, released by Joyful Noise in November 2014 with beats by Odd Nosdam. This chapter finds Kenny in a midlife crisis, relapsing on bennies and forming a hip-house group called Perfecto, with his old partner Ders, played by Anders Holm of Workaholics, telling the story of their run.
The video premiered through Pitchfork and plays it like an old tape: Kenny Dennis performing at a tiny club, framed as footage from January 1988. Spin called the track tongue-in-cheek. Boston Hassle said it sells that fake VHS vibe. A rapper inventing a rapper, then faking the home video of his glory days. That's commitment.
