June 27, 2006 — Burbank, CA — As fans of his MTV reality show already know, Jamie Kennedy is trying to 'blow up' and make it big in the rap world. Now the Philly-bred actor-comedian has signed an exclusive deal to bring JKss Records — the label he formed with best friend Stu Stone — to Reprise Records, which will release Kennedy and Stone's debut album, Blowin' Up, on July 11th.
Indeed Kennedy, who is best known for his hit prank show on the WB The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, has already blown up in the online community. He is the Number One artist on My Space, the hugely popular social networking site, where previously posted tracks, including "Circle Circle Dot Dot" and "Rollin W Saget" received more than 2 million plays. In addition, the new video for "Rollin W Saget" — featuring former Full House dad Bob — hit the Top Ten on YouTube the day of its release and is now nearing half a million views.
In addition, Kennedy and Stone have created unique content for the Internet, including weekly podcasts about the music and video, audio ringtones, and voice ringers and ringbacks. They also collaborated on a ringtone with rapper/actor Ice T, who appears in Episode 2. The ringtones can be purchased by texting JKss to 73804. Fans can also hear them on Kennedy and Stone's website, jkssrecords.com. MTV and Kennedy created messaging after each episode of Blowin' Up aired, which drove fans to iTunes to buy that evening's episode and featured song.
Blowin' Up, produced by Toronto native Stone, is a lighthearted rap album with comedic undertones and poppy beats that spotlights Kennedy and Stone's hilarious partnership. It features cameos by several guest stars who have appeared in the series, including Houston rapper/jeweler Paul Wall on "Mattress Mack," Bay Area hip-hop legend E-40 on "F*ck Jamie Kennedy," and Toronto rapper Kardinal Offishall on "Rush the Club." Ice-T and Limp Bizkit turntablist DJ Lethal also make cameos.
The series premiered on MTV on May 16th and soon became one of the most popular attractions on the music network's broadband video channel Overdrive, where Kennedy and Stone will host every show on the channel the week their album is released. Blowin' Up, the series, chronicles the duo's attempts to become rap stars. Along the way, Kennedy and Stone star in a local mattress commercial in Houston, perform at a Beverly Hills Bat Mitzvah, and solicit advice on how to break into the business from Def Jam founder Russell Simmons, rapper Bow Wow, and comedian Tracy Morgan, who tells them: "First, you gotta get a chick pregnant. Step two: You gotta get a grill. Then you gotta get shot."
Expect more outrageousness when Kennedy and Stone release Blowin' Up, the album, coming at you July 11th. |
