04/25/12: Serengeti - Dennehy (Lights, Camera, Action) (2008)

04/25/12: Serengeti - Dennehy (Lights, Camera, Action) (2008)

1. I Don't Know
2. Dennehy
3. Teenager
4. Go Paint
5. Under the Underground
6. Weber Grill
7. Caucs
8. Juelie and Me
9. Don't Talk to Jueles
10. Love You But
11. IPOD
12. Ozzie Guillen
13. Lights Camera Action
14. Lehas
15. New Dodge
16. Newer Dodge

     When Serengeti released Dennehy in 2006, it was not released anywhere near as he intended it. There isn't a ton of info on this version, but he rereleased the album again in 2008 as a digital download. The story told in this album is based off of a screenplay that he wrote. The Main Characters are Kenny Dennis and Emo Kid. This version of the album is incredibly different than the original. This version has the tracks in the originally intended order with 7 new tracks that weren't on the first version. The original had the wrong track order and included a bunch of tracks that weren't even a part of the album. This has the 7 new tracks, and most of the songs that are on both versions are pretty drastically different on this version. Sometimes there will be a small change in the production but in most cases here there are a bunch of additional skits and interludes to help the album to flow and actually tell the story. I highly recommend listening to both versions because there is a ton of variation and hidden bits of gold within each version. Serengeti is doing some quite interesting shit in hip-hop right now. I wish I got on his train much earlier.(116)

04/24/12: Serengeti - Dennehy (2006)

04/24/12: Serengeti - Dennehy (2006)

1. Critters
2. In's and Out's
3. Feeding
4. I Don't Know
5. Dennehy
6. iPod
7. Lineage
8. Meth
9. Love You But
10. Don't Talk To Jueles
11. Derek
12. Go Paint
13. New Dodge
14. Derek In Paris
15. The Neeg
16. Ozzie Guillen
17. New Dodge (Remix)

     I listened to a good amount of Serengeti now, and this seemed to be an important release in his career due to the fact that he debuted his character Kenny Dennis on this album. Kenny Dennis is the middle aged Chicago Rapper that I mentioned earlier. This album is really rad and tells a rough story of multiple characters including Dennis, Derek, and the Emo Kid. The beats are nothing oiut of the ordinary and very entertaining. What sets this album apart from a normal hip hop record is the fact that his characters are incredibly strange, nowhere near as good of rappers as Serengeti himself and they rap about incredibly off key topics like Brats, being emo, missing iPods, and Meth sales. Good album that is completely worth a listen, but not what Serengeti intended this album to be. I will cover that in the next entry with the "rerelease" of Dennehy. (115)

04/12/12: Serengeti - Kenny Dennis E.P. (2012)

04/12/12: Serengeti - Kenny Dennis E.P. (2012)

1. Rib Tips
2. Don't Blame Steve
3. Shazam
4. Top That
5. Kenny Dennis
6. Flat Pop

     I'm going to be working backwards a bit, but this is the most recent release by Serengeti and his most recent release under his Kenny Dennis Alter Ego. I just don't think I want to take a ton of time explaining this. Kenny Dennis is a middle aged white dude from chicago with a thick Chicagoan accent that loves everything Chicago. The Blackhawks, the Bulls, the Cubs, Sausages, Brian Dennehy etc. Serengeti has released 3 full lengths as Kenny Dennis and has created a ridiculous and deep back story including beefs with KMFDM and Shaq. I haven't listened to the full lengths yet but I know I will because I get easily obsessed with this type of ridiculousness. The story with this album is that it is a prequel of sorts and has a more old school feel. Rib Tips is about food...He defends Steve Bartman, and he addresses his beef with Shaq in Shazam. What the fuck is happening. It's even more confusing that he is dedicated to a character that isn't as good at rapping as his real self is. Of course I like this and will be listening to more. The production is done by Jel and Odd Nosdam from anticon, so needless to say, I'm into it. They create a much more old school feel on some of the "older" songs and they blend a lot of disparate genres. Definitely gonna dig deeper on this one. I don't know whom to recommend this to but I'm in for now. Maybe I'll learn more on the full-lengths. (103)

04/10/12: Serengeti - Family & Friends (2011)

04/10/12: Serengeti - Family & Friends (2011)

1. Tracks (feat. Yoni Wolf)
2. PMDD (feat. Owen Ashworth)
3. Long Ears (feat. Yoni Wolf & Becky Wolf)
4. Ha-Ha (feat. Hazel Brown & Martha Brown)
5. A.R.P.
6. Godammit (feat. Yoni Wolf)
7. Flutes
8. California
9. The Whip
10. Family & Friends (feat. Yoni Wolf)
11. Dwight

     I mentioned in my Son Lux review that I would also be listening to some Serengeti soon as a result of s/s/s, an Anticon Super Group with Sufjan Stevens, Son Lux and Serengeti. I soon realized that there were a lot of reasons for me to check out Serengeti. He is a rapper who has worked with many different producers. This album, "Family & Friends" fully demonstrates that concept. The production duties are split between Yoni Wolf of Why? fame and Advance Base, a new moniker of Owen Ashworth from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (another band I planned to check out in the course of this project).
     I also read that Serengeti tends to embody various personalities and characters throughout his releases. The main character is Kenny Dennis and is kind of strange. I will be covering a couple Kenny Dennis releases over the next couple weeks, so I'll get into that later. Due to these goofy alter egos, he also has been compared to Buck 65 and that of course caught my eye. I also found that he is from Chicago. I bought a couple of his albums after finding out all of these facts.
     I started with "Family & Friends" because I wanted to start out on one of his more normal releases where he isn't playing a charcter. I was also a huge fan of the fact that Yoni Wolf Produced and Guest starred on half of the albums tracks. Both producers made really unique and cool beats. I can't say I preferred Yoni wolf or Advance Base. They both did an awesome job. The album is cohesive despite the alternating production. Serengeti has a cool voice, a good flow and interesting lyrics. It is a quality hip-hop album while being barely hip-hop. Serengeti takes influences from all over the map and he grouped with the right people to not make traditional music. This album was really great and a good intro to Serengeti.There is not a bad track on it. It lives up to its title seeing that he had so much assistance from his friends and some family members of said friends. (101)