Born in Hong Kong, China, June 16th, 1982. Hip Hop music played almost no part of Kenny Cheng’s early childhood years. In fact, music played a very little role in those particular years. It wasn’t until Kenny moved to the States when he caught his first glimpse of this so called “musicâ€. The endless possibilities and many different types of genres intrigued and sparked something inside Kenny, but still, never thought of it as a career.The Chinese tradition is simple and strict, go to college, then make a sure income by working hard. For example, a Lawyer, Doctor, Business owner, and of course, own a restaurant. Those are the types of typical careers you might see a Chinese would do.Kenny moved into the States in 1990, where he started out in Jersey City, NJ, arguably the worst part of New Jersey. Then moved to Pennsylvania and making Chinatown in New York his second home. It was 1999 when Kenny moved to Missouri, where the story begins.It was when Kenny met three of his closest friends, Lance Locc, Ra-Hill, and Wally (a.k.a. Gator Macc) introduced him to freestyle rap. The first time Ra-Hill asked Kenny to freestyle a rhyme, he spitted the first verse from Wu-Tang’s “Triumphâ€. He had no idea what “freestyle†meant, and until Ra-Hill explained to him what it meant, Kenny had no intentions of becoming a rapper. That was the life changing moment that made Kenny Cheng who he is today.Music? Give me a break!!! Kenny’s parents and relatives opposed it as if it were murder. They wanted Kenny to live a normal life. Go to college, get a good paying job, then get married and start a family of his own. But there is more to life Kenny was looking for, he wanted to experience it and see how far it would take him. He had three choices: College then own a business working 9-5, go to the Army, or work at the family owned restaurant, hence that the choice of chasing a dream never existed.Another life changing event occurred. One day looking through a Source magazine, an ad read “ We take your dreams seriouslyâ€. It was a school called “Fullsail Real World Educationâ€. Long story short, Kenny graduate with an Associate’s degree in Recording Arts. Along the way he met his closest people that he calls his family. Andre Hurtado De Mendoza, Glenn Cobb, and Henry Chillous Jr. Which became Blackenese Production. With the southern flavor (Andre) from Miami, unique and unorthodox chords (Glenn) from D.C., The church favoring melodies (Henry) from Alabama, and everything wrapped into one (Kenny) from St. Louis.Kenny has everybody to thank for his musical skills and talents, especially his Blackenese crew, who taught him everything he knows and to run with.Blackenese has worked with Artists such as Drama City (Verse and Gator), Get Rite Records (Q-Dogg, Chino, Lita Jay), D-Cell, Swade (album coming 2008), Gunna, Gena, Calvin Miller, Angel Demone (album coming mid 2008), Sierra, Hillside Ent., East Block, The Church Factory, Sino, Thelma, and many other up-coming group/artists.
Blackenese has done engineering work for Jon Jon Traxx (Beyonce- De-javu), Drama City, Get Rite Records, BloccStop ent., Hillside ent., Angel Demone, Swade, Calvin Miller, Gena, D-Cell, The Church Factory, Vizio, Kelly Price (co-writer of de-javu), Tracy (American Idol), 2EZ ent., Jeff V, King Kong and Ms Fyre, Thelma, and many more and more to come.
