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- June 23, 2020
This past Friday, Starlito dropped a music video for the intro song on his new album (Paternity Leave) ahead of its official release two days afterward. The track was produced by Bandplay, while Starlito credits himself and Nigel Callisto as directors for the visuals.
The pre-release of the Paternity Leave intro was a nice sneak peek for fans into what was to come. As a promotion, it was successful in building anticipation for the album. As soon as the video dropped, fans took to social media to celebrate and rejoice at the release of some new content from the Nashville artist. What was initially speculation about a new project was later confirmed by Lito himself and other members of the Grind Hard team.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBoDXlLhAHA/
Starlito has been known by his fans to bring thought-provoking viewpoints to the conversation when it comes to some issues in society. This is reinforced upon analysis of the Paternity Leave intro. In terms of creative content, there is a lot to talk about embedded within both the lyrics and the video. There are a lot of powerful lines that have to do with contemporary discussion topics. In the first verse, he says,
“Learned about Dr. King, but then I saw Rodney King. Why can’t we just get along? All we got is a dream.”
This is a reflection upon the racial tensions that still plague our society despite ongoing attempted action. Later on he says,
“Skeptical of the protest when corporations promote it.”
Here he is questioning the authenticity of moves by companies to support a social movement. In many cases, they voice their support without taking any real action. I think this is what Lito is getting at in the next line –
“Had some hope but they stole it. Our reparation’s condolence.”
To accompany his words on the track, Starlito has various graphics in the music video that go hand-in-hand. For example, when mentioning Dr. King, ‘1963’ is displayed – a reference to the year he marched Washington and gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. On the other hand, ‘1991’ is displayed upon reference of Rodney King. This is the year that his suffering of police brutality sparked outrage in America, particularly Los Angeles.
Similar visual aids are employed throughout the video not only in the editing but in the form of signs that appear in the hands of Starlito. I perceived the signs used in the video to be symbols of the signs used by protesters. Finally, the presence of a face mask worn by the artist is an acknowledge of the coronavirus pandemic that is still affecting people worldwide.
This song, along with the rest of the new Paternity Leave album, is a breath of fresh air for Starlito fans and rap fans in general. If you haven’t seen it yet, go catch the music video on YouTube.
The Paternity Leave album can be streamed on all major platforms.
Written by Caleb Putman
