Kenn Starr & Black Milk’s Collaboration Says A Lasting Goodbye (Video Premiere)

Every so often, an MC completely captures the love of the art, with the jaded response of those who receive the music (fans and otherwise). Records like Main Flow & Talib Kweli’s “Hip-Hop Worth Dying For,” Little Brother’s “The Listening,” Torae & Marco Polo’s “Crashing Down,” catches the zeitgeist of the intersection of love and commerce.

After a lengthy hiatus, the DMV’s Kenn Starr made a great return with “Say Goodbye,” the lead single and first video from Square One. The video premieres today (February 10) on Ambrosia For Heads. On a pulsating Black Milk beat, the Low Budget Crew alum (Oddisee, Kev Brown, Peter Rosenberg, Sean Born, etc.) explains the myths versus the realities he has come to accept regarding a career in Hip-Hop. Starr highlights Heads who skip ahead on important verses to simply see if the beat is dope, and those who disregard an MC who took nearly a decade off between albums, with few appearances in between. One of those appearances, as mentioned in the lyrics (many of which appear in the vid) included “Wonder Why” alongside Wale and Big Sean from a handful of years ago.

However, “Say Goodbye” is no bitter man’s essay. Instead, as the video suggests, Kenn Starr looks right into the lens of the camera and opens up and just bares his soul. The Mello Music Group video, shot by Jay Brown, finds Kenn in the magic hour of a Washington D.C. evening, taking audit of his career, and how things could change in one move, but for the time being, it’s just this—and this is great.

Photo by Antoine Lyers.

Follow Kenn Starr on Twitter.

Related: Kenn Starr’s Comeback LP Features Some Scorching Black Milk & Kev Brown Sounds (Album Stream)