ABOUT THIS ITEM

Serengeti’s first solo album for Anticon finds him upbeat, on point and full of swagger. The multifaceted Chicago MC streamlines his approach for "Family & Friends", taking a breather from the knotty, introspective raps of his recent past, and making one of the most enjoyable, clear-headed records of his career.

It’s a fresh look that features a couple of debuts as well. WHY? frontman Yoni Wolf is responsible for roughly half of the beats herein, while the rest come from by Advance Base, aka Owen Ashworth, officially marking the rebirth of the bedroom pop producer formerly known as Casiotone For the Painfully Alone. Over their just-right mix of spare musicality and lo-fi propulsion, Serengeti splits the difference between humor and moodiness, maintaining loads of style throughout. "Family & Friends" kicks off with "Tracks", where Geti paints a vivid portrait of a man who’s got nothing left to lose over Yoni's picked guitar, plinked piano and sawed violin. Yoni lends his familiar croon to the hook too, making a vocal return on the instant standout "Long Ears" - a low-riding slab of indie G-funk if there ever was one. “California” features a character so hopelessly out of touch that he seems heroic. Australian sister singers Hazel and Martha Brown of Otouto guest on “Ha-Ha,” a fantasy rap about finding true love at a Chicago hardware chain. “ARP” follows with its crystalline keys, and verses about everything from DMT to Mr T. That overcoming and escapism are two of the bigger themes here is hardly a surprise. Sure, those two things appear throughout Serengeti’s oeuvre, but "Family & Friends" may embody them best. The album offers an alternate take on the hefty concerns that come with the day-to-day, but most importantly - and all too often unlike its titular subjects - it’s damn well easy to love.