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SERENGETI & POLYPHONIC
Two artists with diverse series of output, neither a stranger to experimentation or collaboration, have come together and yielded a long-overdue effort nothing short of synchronous. Genre defying rapper Serengeti hooked up with avant producer Polyphonic the Verbose to create a glitchy, electro futuristic rap album. Bursting with emotional vulnerability, Dont Give Up inhabits a space beyond the boundaries of traditional rap music - Polyphonic's cut-up synths, beautiful cello melodies and rabid Atari rhythms perfectly complement Serengeti's off-kilter verses. The lyrics are seeped in introspection and nostalgia of past relationships, both romantic and familial. They also examine heavy political and social undertones. “Part raw confessional a la Rollins, part Kool Keith abstraction... with a touch of madness. Viva la weird,” is how XLR8R described Serengeti. The vocals are wrapped in Polyphonic's sonically jagged, turbulent production that PopMatters labeled “a dreamscape of noise, where warehouse glitch and hip-hop bounce exist peacefully.” Unique in a field saturated with golden-era traditionalists and hipster booty rap, Don’t Give Up charts a course to an alternative future for hip-hop. Specialty Press - June-September 2007! Specialty Radio - September 2007! Praise for Don't Give Up "Don’t Give Up is a solid release that deserves a listen from anyone who questions the boundaries between hip-hop and experimental music." -Tiny Mixtapes "Don’t Give Up is a work of art, actually, that stacks up best as an album—a real album and not simply a collection of songs." -PopMatters "...Serengeti & Polyphonic try to find all of the usuals of rap music on >i>Don't Give Up, and purposefully go against them in varying degrees, from many different angles, turning more rap into music, and more music into rap." -Treblezine "Don't Give Up is another 'monster' record from the prolific Serengeti, and is already one of my favorite discs of the year." -Okayplayer "With nods to microhouse, drum & bass, dub, and ambient sounds, Polyphonic's beats have an entirely unique, otherworldly feel to them." -XLR8R "...all brands of hip-hop fans can get behind this record, which seeks to appeal not to music critics but to anyone who’s ever hurt someone they loved, fucked up their own future, or stared their own mortality in the face." -Washington City Paper "Glitched out, electro-hop madness for the adventurous." -Erasoul "...the production of Don’t Give Up is a mash-up of glitchy, modern sounds." -Alarm "Polyphonic’s beats manage to stay beautifully melodic and sound consistent despite bouncing all over between hip hop, glitchy electronica, and drum & bass. Serengeti grew a beard and is on some sad rap shit and it’s awesome." -Underground Sound Magazine "...easily one of the best Hip-Hop albums of 2007." -Imageyenation "...those who like their music to come straight from leftfield will adore this piece of nostalgic existentialism." -PlugIn Music "...the album’s naked truth and transparency [makes] it immediately noticeable in today’s rap world. Musically ahead of its time while lyrically speaking in real time..." -Impose Magazine "...this is like watching Star Wars - you find new things every time you go back to it. Probably the most anti-commercial rap album since Fear Of A Black Planet. It’s about time." -Tangible Sounds "It is this balance between delicate, organic instrumentation like strings, acoustic guitars and hand claps, combined with more synthetic and forceful sounds that brings a distinct aesthetic to the collaboration between Serengeti and Polyphonic. The partnership yields an atypical and glorious collage of influences and sounds." -The Acorn (NJ) Don't Give Up was also reviewed by: The Celebrity Cafe Paper Thin Walls Kronic (IT) Two Way Monologues (Track Review) Sentireascoltare (IT)
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