Another familiar face 'round these parts has been
that of Chicago-based emcee Dave "Serengeti" Cohen, quite possibly my
favorite Rap artist out right now. I first mentioned him last
Spring when I bigged up his Chicagoland concept LP Dennehy,
a release that proved itself one of the most creatively written
and executed Hip-Hop albums I've ever heard. Apparently the
version of Dennehy released last year was not the one 'Geti
intended to give to the public, so he and his homies at Audio8 are re-releasing the album, re-titled
Dennehy (Lights, Cameras, Action!) in early March. For the
re-release the tracklist has been radically re-arranged, with a
number of songs excised and replaced by new never-before heard
cuts that finally allow the story of a handful of unique
characters and their day-to-day struggles with family,
relationships, romance, economics, gentrification, addiction and
racism in and around Chicago to be told in full. The new
arrangement and new songs, notably "Teenager," "Under the
Underground," "Caucs," "Lights, Camera, Action" and "Lehas," make
the story that much more compelling, but the deletion or
truncation of a few tracks (particularly the stuff related to the
Derrick character) seems a bit hasty. Even still, if
Dennehy was a monumental artistic achievement before, the
added clarity of the new, corrected tracklist does nothing but
reinforce that fact.
Serengeti "Under the
Underground"
Oh, and if you're in New York catch Baje
One and the rest of the Nuk Fam alongside fellow Blogarhythms
favorites Cool Calm Pete and 100dBs
& Ryan O'Neil at Southpaw in
Brooklyn on Friday, February 22nd.
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