By MATT GLAZEBROOK and JOHN MATSON

Serengeti, Race Trading (Download)
This prolific Chicago MC (pictured above) has plenty going on these days – between his just-dropped Gasoline Rainbows and a vast slew of forthcoming projects comes Race Trading, a concept album about inter-racial coupling. He also has an undeniable way with words – just check "Afro," his ode to, well, afros, where he offers tonsorial recommendations among references to former Bulls coach Doug Collins and Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach – "You can use your afro as a pillow / You can grow dirty dreads like a weeping willow." What really sets him apart, though, is his storytelling ability, unique in a field of MC's who can turn wicked phrases but can't string them together. Serengeti devotes an entire tune to catching up with former WWF wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggan, imagining him meekly puttering away as a bar owner in Birmingham, Alabama. ("He walks sort of slow / Bad knees and bad toes / His career ended abruptly when Randy Savage crushed his nose / And since then, he hasn't even seen a ring / When he sneezes, his nasal cavity really stings.") What should be a cheap joke becomes strangely touching with Serengeti's sympathetic treatment. At twenty-five tracks and sixty-four minutes, Race Trading may get a bit long, but shit… It's free, so take what you need and leave the rest. –JM