Rob Kenner

Rob Kenner is an American author, journalist, editor, documentary filmmaker, and DJ specializing in hip hop, reggae, and dancehall music and culture. His bestselling 2021 book, The Marathon Don't Stop, is the first biography of hip hop artist, activist, and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle.
A founding editor of the groundbreaking hip hop monthly VIBE,[https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/vibe-magazine-oral-history-8477004/
] Kenner's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Wired, Billboard, Complex, Mass Appeal, Pigeons & Planes, Ego Trip, and Poetry.
Kenner has held senior editorial positions at major digital media companies such as BET, Complex, and Mass Appeal. He has produced and directed docuementary shorts on a range of influential hip hop and reggae artists. He is also the founder of Boomshots Media.
Kenner served on the board of the nonprofit Buckminster Fuller Institute, working to promote the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, a yearly prize which awarded $100,000 grants for solutions to the most pressing problems facing humanity.
Kenner resides in New York City
==Early life and education==
Kenner was born in California where he attended Montessori School before moving to Baltimore where he completed his high school education. His father was the distinguished Canadian literary critic Hugh Kenner, who traveled extensively as a lecturer and visiting professor, often bringing his family with him. Kenner earned his bachelor's degree at The University of Chicago in 1987, with a concentration in English Language & Literature.
==Editing career==
In 1987, Kenner joined the staff of Art & Antiques magazine as an Editorial Assistant. By 1990 he had risen to Senior Editor. That same year Art & Antiques won a National Magazine Award for the feature "What's Not Hot," which Kenner co-edited. In 1992 he became Editor in Chief of the magazine.
In 1993 Kenner resigned from his Editor in Chief position to join the start-up team of Quincy-Jones's culture-shifting monthly magazine VIBE. He worked at VIBE for 17 years, writing numerous feature and cover stories and producing covers on cultural figures ranging from Tupac Shakur to Barack Obama. VIBE won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2001. Kenner is the only founding editor of VIBE to remain on staff at the magazine until it folded in 2009.
During his years at VIBE, Kenner edited such books as VIBE Hip Hop Divas, Mercedes Ladies by Sheri Sher, Death Around the Corner by C-Murder, and Unbelievable, a biography of The Notorious B.I.G. by Cheo Hodari Coker, which was optioned by the producers of the hit film Notorious.
Kenner has produced and edited cover stories on the likes of Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Sean Combs, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Drake, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, and A$AP Rocky.
==Author and journalist==
Kenner's 2021 book The Marathon Don't Stop is the first biography of the hip hop artist, activist, and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle. Published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster,
the book was endorsed by the likes of Quincy Jones, Questlove, and Greg Tate, hitting The New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction, hardcover two weeks after publication. The Marathon Don't Stop was excerpted in Los Angeles magazine and Essence magazine, and was chosen as one of Spin magazine's Best Music Books of 2022. 
Kenner and his book have been featured on Good Morning America, National Public Radio, KDAY FM, and Sway's Universe on Shade 45. Kenner has also spoken about the book at SXSW as well as NYU, Stanford University, Howard University, Florida Memorial University, the Toronto Public Library, the Commonwealth Club of San Franciso, and the Nashville Museum of African-American Music.
Kenner is the co-author (with George Pitts) of VX: 10 Years of VIBE Photography and contributed to the bestselling Tupac Shakur as well as The VIBE History of Hip Hop. 
Kenner has written cover stories on the likes of Nas, Sean Paul, Alicia Keys, Jhene Aiko, Bobby Brown, Rita Ora, Bob Marley, and Buju Banton.
==Documentary filmmaker==
In 2016, Kenner directed De La Soul Is Not Dead, a half-hour documentary on the seminal hip hop trio De La Soul. Kenner was also the last journalist to interview all three members of the group before the passing of Dave Jolicoeur aka Trugoy the Dove.. 
Kenner has also produced documentary shorts on artists ranging from Post Malone, Nas, and Curren$y[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMTSZ9MXKM to Hood Celebrityy and Skip Marley.
Kenner collaborated with Donald Glover on his 2014 short film "Chicken and Futility." 
==Reggae expert==
Kenner began working at the East Village reggae record shop Irie Ites in the late 1980s, and went on to DJ in clubs around NYC, backing recording artists like Rayvon, Jamal-Ski, and KRS-ONE. He co-founded the BBC Hi-Fi sound system along with selector Seeborn and Willi One Blood.
Kenner compiled and wrote liner notes for greatest hits collections celebrating such legendary reggae and dancehall artists as Beres Hammond, Shabba Ranks, and Ninjaman.. Kenner also produced and hosted the Strictly Boomshots show, which has aired on Radio Lilly and on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, featuring interviews with top reggae and dancehall stars. 
A former member of the Recording Academy, Kenner served on the Grammy committee for the Best Reggae Album award. His article "Hate Me Now: What It's Like to Be A Grammy Voter" exposed some of the flaws within the awards voting system, leading to a falling out between Kenner and the Recording Academy. Some of the issues pointed out in Kenner's article have since been corrected.
In 2008, Kenner founded Boomshots Media, a digital platform and production company focusing on reggae, dancehall, and the influence of Jamaican sound system culture on worldwide popular culture. Boomshots Media has collaborated with Red Bull, Supreme,, the Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise, and VIBE magazine. Boomshots also produced the documentary, Skip Marley: Let's Take It Higher.
Category:People from California
Category:American people
Category:University of Chicago alumni
Category:Author
Category:Journalists
Category:Editors
Category:Documentary filmmakers