Video premiere: Kenan Bell, ‘Hi’

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Kenan Bell

Rapper Kenan Bell went more than five years between releases — he was apparently gettin’ busy livin’ — but beginning last summer he returned in a big way. He released a series of three EPs, “The Greater Good,” “The Greater Good 2” and “The Greater Good 3.”

Working largely with producer Billy Uomo (although longtime cohort RJD2 had his hands on a couple of tracks), the EPs built on the foundation Bell laid on his 2009 full-length “Until the Future” — clever wordplay delivered in a cherubic, staccato flow over playful beats. [See our 2018 look-back.]

Bell turns the greeting “Hi” (from “The Greater Good 2”) into one hell of a conversation, made even more fun by director Anthony Sylvester’s video for the song. Sylvester had heard the song on KCRW and contacted the rapper to work on ideas for visuals, and there were plenty of them. Eventually, Bell says, “We shot along obscure back streets and in alleyways, and in the back, back, back of the back lots of East Hollywood. Traversing traffic during rush hour and chasing the early springtime sun during the golden hour, we successful checked each shot off of our list.”

There’s a lot of Bell in the video — he’s bathrobed, he’s in drag, he’s cloned, he’s in whiteface, he’s jumping rope, he’s dribbling an exercise ball, he’s sucked into a television screen. It’s a good way to start a conversation.

||| Watch: The video for “Hi”

||| Also: Watch the video for “Above”