Though there is not much by way of biographical background available for New York singer CHCKLK, he has laid himself bare with his first single "Young Boy." A looming R&B track, it finds him parsing his bumpy upbringing through dark melodies. This is the story of a young boy who grew into a young man/ who grew into his own skin, didn't choose the game but it chose him, he sings.
In the video, he reimagines those years as a long, pained stumble through a dark suburb. His shirt is bloodied, and the streets are empty—until the end, at which point he comes face-to-face with a young boy.
"Young Boy," CHCKLK explained in an email to The FADER, "is like a portal into understanding my outlook on life, which is always double-sided. It's the fork in the road that I always find myself revisiting. Do I want to continue to chase success, which could inevitably mean the erosion of my values and everything I stand for? Or do I skip on any chance of living comfortably, and fight for the beliefs of myself and others. It's like the old proverb: there are two wolves inside us all. Which one wins? The one you feed."