Family and Friends

Sure the tone is often depressive or satirical. But it's also often kind, pained, silly, unhinged, and other things.

The result is a deeply humane album, it makes poetry out of the disappointments of daily existence and narrative out of the mistakes that people make.

This hybrid, mixing tracks that would be at home on a Sufjan Stevens or Dirty Projectors album with strong hip hop beats, creates a unique sound, showing that Serengeti is carving himself a niche in this overcrowded hip hop market. But it's his brilliant lyrical stylings that will pull you in and make you want more.

Placing aside what amounts to unfortunate filler (the friends portions aren't as evocative), Family & Friends portrays the inevitability of growing up and keeping up with outside expectations with a deft touch.

Not quite stylistic opposites but still distinctly different, the two producers almost always make sure to stay on the same page, taking skeletal percussive tracks and shocking them with little flecks of light. But as with much of Family and Friends, that light seems to be just out of reach.