Chicago emcee Serengeti has had a long and interesting career that has seen him collaborate with artists like Open Mike Eagle, Why?, Sufjan Stevens, and Son Lux, just to name a few. He’s also had a fascinating solo career, including the long-running arc of albums about his alter ego, Kenny Dennis. In 2018, he gave us what we thought was the last Kenny Dennis album, 6e. Kenny’s not dead yet, though, as he comes back on Serengeti’s new album, AJAI.

AJAI is an interesting album for a lot of different reasons, but the first and foremost reason is the storytelling and worldbuilding that is happening. This isn’t a pure Kenny Dennis album – instead it’s set in the Kenny Dennis universe, this time moving from Chicago up to Minneapolis, and starting with a young man named Ajai, the son of Indian immigrants. Across the album, we see him navigate the streets, clash with other immigrant cultures, and interact with capitalism as he tries to make money and gets involved with the sneaker game. Serengeti takes on the voice of a narrator for the first half of the album, seemingly someone who lives in the same neighborhood and is rooting for Ajai to make good decisions, although Ajai appears to be addicted to chasing the next cool thing, that next big score. Then, there is literally an intermission on the album, before we come back to the second half where we check in on Kenny. He’s moved to Minneapolis and shaved his mustache, but he’s still practicing disgusting bachelor dietary habits, and he’s still chasing the cool. In fact, as he’s catching you up on his life, he’s name dropping so many brand names and old hip hop acts, it starts to feel inevitable that he’s going to cross paths with Ajai. Sure enough, Kenny mentions that he buys some sneakers from Ajai. Pretty soon, Kenny is chasing that same fashion capitalism high that Ajai is, trying to keep up with all of the latest drops and making deals to keep on the latest fresh gear. Now, the only thing keeping this album from being the hip hop version of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is that there is not tragic ending. Both Kenny and Ajai are still chasing these highs of brand names, always looking for the latest “it” product, to the detriment of their personal lives and relationships, but Serengeti leaves the story open ended.

It should also be noted that over the course of Serengeti’s Kenny Dennis projects, he’s worked with some top tier producers such as Odd Nosdam and Andrew Broder. AJAI is no exception, where this time Serengeti has teamed up with Los Angeles producer Kenny Segal, best known for his work with R.A.P. Feirrera and billy woods. While much of Segal’s career has been defined by his beautiful downtempo lo fi beats, there is decidedly a bit more funk and liveliness to the production on AJAI. This is helped by bringing in some live musicians to help fill out the sound of the album, with Mike Parvizi on bass, guitar, and keys, Aaron Carmack on keys and horns, and Cody Farwell on guitar. It’s fun hearing Segal do something a little different, but it also makes sense in terms of the storytelling on the album. This isn’t a meditation on economics, this is a narrative about chasing the high of capitalism, so you want something a little more upbeat to match the lyricism, and Segal does a great job of finding just the right grooves for Serengeti to build this world upon.

If Kendrick Lamar can (deservedly) win a Pulitzer for Damn, making the case for the legitimate recognition of hip hop as literature, we need to start giving some serious recognition to Serengeti’s work over the last decade or so. His albums are full of complex story telling and world building and character development, and he has few peers that are working on this level. AJAI is an excellent album, but it’s also just the continuation of what Serengeti has been laying down for years.