>>718370215
>with no explanation, build-up, or logical tie-in\
Cranky hints at K. Rool from the very start of the game, and throughout. The basic enemies you fight have Kremling skeletons underneath them. There's fossils of Kremling army members. K. Rool wants bananas, so he goes to the source of all banandium. He gets hoisted by his own petard, and is trapped at the center of the planet for all the years he's been absent in the DKC games.
I don't know if it's "genius", or whatever, but it's all there if you pay attention.