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Artist: Kenn Starr Album: Starr Status Label: Halftooth Records Rating: 3.5/5 |
Boasting a clever and cynical namesake,
Kenn Starr brings his Starr Status. Maybe he hasn’t gone platinum
yet, but as he says, “it’s only a matter of time ‘fore I shine”;
I suppose that’s his status, dig? He’s the “rap version of Keanu
Reeves in a trench coat.” Coherent and intelligible spitting is
heard slathering this record. Rhythmic flows are stuffed up his sleeves,
knawmean? Like, he’s got syllables till Tuesday, right? You get the
point. This cat is competent and he’s got Hip Hop luminary Talib Kweli
backing him up on Starr Status to say so.
Starr
brings slice-of-life struggle rhymes to the record. The content is composed
of Golden Age day-in-the-life fibers like Stakes is High or maybe
CL Smooth. Soul-inflected tracks like “Back at it Again,”
“Another Day” bring that soul-survivor element. Darker joints
“Know Too Much (To Go Back)” and “Middle Fingaz”
(a manifest on gun-slinging materialists) allow space to blow off steam
and boast production reminiscent of Hi-Tek’s work on Train of Thought;
perhaps this is why Kweli drops by on “If.”
Another
notable production credit goes to Kev Brown for his work on “Relentless.”
The track stutters, ebbs and flows, and features a nice melodic bass
line. But the joint that I really feel is “The Same Pt.2.”
It feels like a 9th Wonder tune, but flips spacey disco portions
to keep you on your toes. Also standing out is the low-bit rate key
loops and crunchy snare drums on “U Will.”
Now
as I mentioned Kweli, stops by at the end of this record, he drops a
brief but poignant verse, then it fades on the hook and the record ends.
Well, Kweli deserves a lot of things – accolades, cash flow – but he
doesn’t deserve the last word on Kenn Starr’s Starr Status. So
since Starr doesn’t end it that way, I’ll proceed with the favor. To
better give you an understanding of Starr’s lyrical prowess, I’ll let
Starr conclude this piece with a quatrain from “Middle Fingaz”:
I don’t care where you’re
from, where you’re goin, where you been at,
Your manager, your DJ,
the club that you spin at,
The fact that you blame
everything on the white man,
Your friend that can’t
rap – you made your hype man.
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