Kenny Allen

If you are a fan of Ethiopian RnB, contemporary soul, and/or fashion and incredible leather products. You might have a pretty good idea of who we are featuring this month. This is none other than the creative pioneer Kenny Allen.

Born from two musicians, the renowned artist started playing the piano at the age of 3. Kenny Allen was originally from Washington DC and later moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where he spent most of his childhood. When kids would go out to play after school, he often spent his after-school time at the music conservatory where his mom taught. She always wanted him to learn music formally through music theory at a young age but was surprised when she found out her son could play pieces just by hearing them. Then he went into writing songs and coming up with concepts, but he did not pursue it until he got to college.

In college, Kenny majored in Biology and quickly discovered that he was not enjoying it because he had already started his music career. So he decided to switch his major to English literature.

He mentioned that going to college was a learning experience for him cause he was juggling his student life with gigs and record labels. And through discipline, he learned the art of time management (which would later help him in his career as a musician and designer). At that time, He was in an RnB music group and was well plugged in the music scene.

After graduation, he gave his full attention to his career and continued recording and playing gigs. He then met a singer named Weyna, Who was an Ethiopian diaspora singer. She asked him to open for her at a show in front of 3,000 Ethiopians, which he accepted. The crowd loved him. Before that, he had never encountered the Ethiopian culture before but always wondered what they were like and found himself embraced by them. Shortly after, the promoter asked him if he would like to come to Ethiopia for six months and perform at a new club he was launching called Harlem Jazz. Kenny loved traveling and, he had never been to Ethiopia, so he took the opportunity and moved to Ethiopia in 2005.

After his big move, he hosted radio shows, worked with several artists like Johny Raga and Ahadu. He has 9 albums out and also marked our 90's music with his songs like shifta Libu and yenie nat.

As we know, Kenny has a multi-versed talent with music and fashion so let us dive into how he got into designing his own line. He always had been into colors and laying out his clothes before he wears them. And this one time he bought a jacket that he really liked and wore it for his show. But his excitement was short-lived when he saw a person in the crowd wearing the same Jacket. And so he thought to himself he could make his own clothes and saw how underrated cultural modern clothes for men were. So he would take his designs to trailers that would make him shirts. A while after, he thought of the brand undken, which was something special to him expressing the spirit of dreamers when they experience that moment and also has a part of his name in it.

Throughout his career, he has found that one of his biggest challenges in life is expectations. Expectations create disappointments. When someone often doesn't meet your needs, either because you did not communicate clearly or you set your expectations unrealistically. And he says it’s important to learn how to speak your truth and communicate properly.

When asked what he would like for people to take away from his artwork, he said the details and the authenticity. And to people that wanna do more than one thing like him, he said, "Make sure to keep it harmonious and to dedicate your time to your talents wisely." To the youth, he says,

Kenny currently releases singles every month that are a part of a twelve-month series and works as the founder of undken. You can find his work on every social media platform and in stores and bazaars.