A prolific hip-hop producer has decided it’s time to grow up, ditching the moniker he adopted as a teenager.
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Kenny Beats is no more. In his place is noted serious adult Kenneth Blume.
The producer behind albums for hip-hop artists like Denzel Curry and Rico Nasty is starting fresh by returning to his birth name.
“I named myself Kenny Beats at 15 years old for MySpace — because my name was Kenny and I made beats — and it kind of just stuck,” Blume recently told Variety.
According to Variety, the hip-hop producer’s given name is also how he’s listed in the credits for the upcoming psychological drama Lurkers. Blume contributed as the composer and music curator for Alex Russell’s debut film. The movie follows Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a shy retail worker trying to join the inner circle of rising artist Oliver (Archie Madekwe). A hit at Sundance and Berlin Film Festival, the film features a score and original songs by Blume, with contributions from Dijon and Rex Orange County.
“To be honest, Lurker has been a big part of me deciding to use my real name,” Blume told the outlet. “Being at Sundance and seeing my government come up on the screen was a very different feeling.”
Hip-Hop Producer Opens up About Ditching His Longtime Stage Name
“I’ve been Kenny Beats for 20 years, and I’m starting to not feel like it; I’m starting to feel like Kenneth Instrumentals or something now,” the 34-year-old added. “So just being my real name feels safe from here on forward, you know? It’s time. I hope I didn’t make everyone feel like they have to call me Kenneth, though. I still want people to call me Kenny, but I think if I’m going to use my real name, I have to use the whole thing.”
Meanwhile, Russell makes his feature debut as a writer and director with Lurker, following his Emmy win as part of the Beef creative team and his work on The Bear, including writing the standout Season 2 episode “Forks.”
Russell says creating the original music for the film was the easiest part of making the movie, since he had Blume on board. He recently told Consequence that the hip-hop producer “can just make a song of any genre very quickly.”
Russell also explained that he wanted music that combines bedroom pop with light rock influences. “It was just kind of like, how can we make this feel like an artist that doesn’t exist, but could exist among those artists, you know? I kind of just let Kenny run with it.”