Chazmere is uncompromising with “No B-Sides”, not ready to release just anything, not letting himself have weaker songs just for the sake of having a b-side. The album sounds focused and lean, a progressive hip hop, but doesn’t discount older jazzy backbeats or production influences from the past. Though the album itself may fall under the hip hop umbrella, the influences and sounds Chaz presents to the listener span genres and defy strict genre definition.

The video for “No B-Sides” is just as uncompromising as the track itself. Chazmere wrote the concept for the video as his first performance art piece, entitled “Struggle and Triumph in the Urban.” He says, “I am inspired by the emotions and process of trying to actualize your ideas and live successfully in such a metropolis as NYC, where there are so many options and so much competition.”

The video, as an art piece, is rife with meaningful imagery. Chazmere collaborated with fellow Bronx native, graphic and tattoo artist @ArtbyJAR, to paint akindra symbols, which symbolize moral values, on the women featured in the video. “The women are topless to acknowledge their beauty, strength, and perceived vulnerability; their faces are not shown because their bodies represent all women. And they’re doing pull-ups as a vivid depiction of the struggle and triumph we endure on our journeys actualizing our ideas.” Plus, the woman braiding Chazmere’s hair is his mother: “Our elders braiding our hair is a form of connectivity amongst many cultures, where virtues and life lessons are passed along. This is acknowledging how we need the advice and help of our elders just as we need to help the coming generation.”

After collaborating with Talib Kweli, Das Racist, and NIKO IS, Chazmere is launching “No B-Sides” as just one of the killer tracks off Chazmere’s debut album, Chazmere, out June 10.

Watch “No B-Sides” Here