ABOUT DENNIS KELLMAN
Dennis Kellman is at a career crossroads.
The veteran wordsmith came up with rap heavyweights in East Elmhurst, NY, getting his rap fixation early. “We lived near Herby Luv Bug. Saw what he did with Salt N' Pepa and Kid N' Play. Kwame was another one in the town doing his thing big. I knew I could too. I wanted that.”
Dennis' first stabs at rap brought mixed results. His first group, The Hurst Hustlas, was a local sensation, but legal issues quickly derailed any inroads they made career-wise. Dennis states it plainly, “We dropped out of high school, sold drugs, did time, repeat. None of us could manage to stay out of jail at the same time.”
He returned from prison with a renewed spirit. Music, his therapy through a dark childhood, would create his new life path. “I took it seriously. My work caught the ear of a producer from my town named 'A Kid Called Roots' who was coming up. He asked to manage me if I left the streets and I agreed.”
The partnership bore fruit quickly. First, there was his single “15 Minutes of Fame” on seminal underground imprint Hydra Records which was released to critical and commercial success on the underground scene. They parlayed that to land on Stretch Armstrong’s “Spit” LP with “The Jump Off”. Dennis was named ”Unsigned Hype” in The Source in 2004 and he and Roots secured a demo deal on Def Jam with Lyor Cohen.
Quickly, the industry politics wore on Dennis. Compromises were requested and denied. “Labels asked me to be an artist that I wasn’t. Boom-bap rap was no longer considered popular music. I lost my passion for Hip-Hop and just stopped recording.”
Dennis took a hiatus from recording professionally and instead focused on himself. “I got married, had kids, separated, started my own logistics company, and read a lot of self-help books. I had to fix me.”
He was cozy away from the game but, as in his younger days, the beats and rhyme therapy bug bit him again. It wasn’t long before he was back in the lab creating. “It just felt like the time was right. I’m older, more experienced, and working independently. I call my own shots now.”
Dennis' debut mixtape Too Old To Be Rapping led by prescient warm weather feel-good jam “Take That Mask Off”, featuring Will Traxx, is gaining traction in the underground and starting to gain consistent play with DJ Red Alert on terrestrial radio.
Dennis is also working on a proper LP with luminaries such as Lil Fame (M.O.P.) and J. Garfield set
to drop in late 2022. He has lofty goals for this career-defining project. ”We need to elevate the boom-bap and take classic Hip-Hop music to a place it’s never reached. Nas, Biggie, and JAY-Z’s first album level is the bar every time. I want to bring that feeling back with new music.”
With his own imprint and team backing him on this next run, Dennis is poised to shake things and bring the classic feeling back. “I can release music how and when I feel. No more gatekeepers or label execs to tell me when and how. When it drops, real emcees better prepare to rewrite your verses."