Friday Night

A collaboration between two MCs, Serengeti (David Cohn) and Hi-Fidel (Umar Rashid) -- both Chicago natives -- Friday Night initially formed as a way for the two friends to make music that allowed them to loosely explore the theme of excess found in party rap and LA nightlife. Hi-Fidel, one of the co-founders of F5 Records, a St. Louis-based indie hip-hop label on which Serengeti had released a couple of records, had moved to L.A. in 2000 to pursue his music, as well as his painting (for which he uses the name "Frohawk Two-Feathers"). The intensity, and irony, of the nightlife there left an impression on him, so he invited Serengeti to make a concept album about it, a kind of tongue-in-cheek look at the sex-drugs-n-rock-n-roll attitude of both party rap (circa 1985) and Los Angeles. With production from the L.A.-based Breakfast (Grilla and Ish), Friday Night tells the story of two fictional co-workers, Dave and Umar, who end up out on the town together and run into a series of interesting situations. The album was issued in December 2008 as the first release from Breakfast Records. ~ Marisa Brown