Proficient in all types of hip-hop, Serengeti knows how to spit. Whether its over experimental beats or just good, old fashioned MCing, any project he takes on is gold. We talked to Serengeti in anticipation for his show at the Gramophone (18+ for this concert!) this weekend on Saturday, September 26th.
What’s up? How’s it going?
It’s going well man. I’m driving around right now, going to do a show in Cincinnati tomorrow. Then we’ve got a show in St. Louis on Saturday so I’m getting ready for that. Then we’re going on a West Coast tour on October 17th. So I’m getting ready for that. And in the meanwhile, I’m working on all these damn projects. So it’s been pretty busy.
Seems like it. Let’s just get right into things and talk about the new album Terradactyl, the second album you’ve done with Polyphonic. Can you tell us a little bit about the album?
Yeah. We did our first record in 2007 called Don’t Give Up and we just made it because we had been working together. He was actually just helping me out when I was doing this album called Race Trading. He was just recording it for me. And after a while it just slowly morphed into us making our own music. And that was Don’t Give Up. And we just made that, didn’t really tour it at all. And then my guy Chris Schlarb went down to some festival in the SouthEast and met up with Doseone and Jel. And he played them the album and they really liked it. And so they started talking, and that’s kind of how all this Anticon stuff came to be. And then me and Will (Polyphonic) started working on the Terradactyl album for about 5 months, then we turned it in last September. And it came out in June of this year.
It’s a nice album I guess. I have trouble listening to my own stuff. I can’t really do it. I’ve only listened to that Terradactyl album like maybe once. It’s gotten some nice press though. People have really written about it favourably. So that’s always good. But I’m really excited about our new record. We have a new one coming out in January and I’m really excited about that.
What can you tell me about the new album. Does it have a title yet?
We have an album coming out in January or February called Bells and a Floating World. And that’s 6 new songs and 6 remixes from Terradactyl. Bracken did a remix. Greetings From Tuskan from Belgium did one. Jel did one. Why? did one. Roberto Lange did one. And Son Lux did one. So it’s 6 remixes and 6 new songs. And it’s really, really good. And we have a full length coming after that and it’s called Form. So we’re working on that one too.
I know your show in St. Louis is just you, not you and Polyphonic. Does that mean we’re going to be hearing some new solo material from you soon?
Will couldn’t make this show. But yeah, I’ve got probably like 4 solo records that I’ve done or that I’m working on right now. And I’ve got another Friday Night project that I’ve done with Hi-Fidel and the Breakfast Kid. So I just like to keep it moving. I definitely have sick solo-stuff. And we were trying to get a solo-tour together for November. And the St. Louis show was gonna set it off. We were gonna do St. Louis and head West. But that sort of fell through. But there’s this movie I’m working on. So I’m gonna spend that time on this movie thing that I’ve got going on.
So lots of new stuff.
Yeah, solo and group stuff. A lot of new stuff.
That’s kind of been the course for you since you got into the industry. A lot of projects all the time.
Yeah I guess. It’s probably not the best idea. I see the way popular groups do it, where they drop one thing, and they tour it for years, then they wait a little time, and then they drop another thing. But that hasn’t been the case for me, because I have a lot of time… well, I make a lot of time for this shit. It’s sort of a problem I think. I get an idea and I must try and complete it. But the good thing is, the idea in my head is getting closer and closer to the actual project. So that’s why I’m really excited about this new series of works that I have coming out. I have like 10 albums in the past and they didn’t really capture what I was going for. But this new shit. All the group stuff and the solo work is really good. So hopefully it will work out.
Alright, well thanks for your time, and we’ll catch you on Saturday at the Gramophone.
Nah, thank you.
