LONDON HIP-HOP MUSIC VIDEO

NEW GUARDZ
SWARMER

FIVE MCS · FIVE VISUAL REFERENCES · ONE FILM

A performance-led music video built as a visual salute to the classic hip-hop films that shaped New Guardz, moving through distinct looks while keeping one collective identity.

Format: Music video
Location: London
Production: Full-day shoot
Crew: One videographer

WATCH SWARMER

THE CONCEPT

A TRIBUTE WITHOUT BECOMING A COPY

“Swarmer” was the fifth music video released from New Guardz’s 2022 album TRIBE. The track brings Tommy Biz, Ray Vendetta, Flowtecs, Mas Law and K Zorro together over a Lewi B-produced boom-bap instrumental.

The creative brief was to reference five classic hip-hop videos that had influenced the group. Rather than label each source or reproduce it shot for shot, the film translated that history into a sequence of visual chapters: recognisable staging ideas, lens choices, costumes and performance setups reframed around New Guardz.

That gave every verse a change of texture while the recurring group performance kept the video feeling like one collective statement.

New Guardz performer framed by anonymous masked figures in the Swarmer music video

THE VISUAL SYSTEM

FIVE REFERENCES.
ONE LANGUAGE.

Verse-led chapters

Each MC received a defined visual setup, helping the audience follow the hand-offs across a five-artist cypher.

Legacy details

Wardrobe, formation, lens distortion and camera position carried the sense of hip-hop history without explanatory captions.

London texture

Concrete walkways, residential towers, river views and roadside sequences grounded the references in the group’s own city.

Unified finish

Cool colour, grain, chromatic separation and rhythmic cutting connected locations that were deliberately very different.

New Guardz members performing Swarmer beneath a London residential block

PERFORMANCE DIRECTION

KEEPING FIVE VOICES INSIDE ONE VIDEO

A multi-MC track needs more than coverage of whoever is delivering the current verse. The camera also has to preserve the sense of a crew: reactions behind the lead performer, changing formations and moments where members enter one another’s frames.

Wide-angle and close-focus compositions made the delivery feel direct, while the architecture behind the group added scale. The performers could move towards the lens, overlap and trade positions without the images becoming visually polite.

The result reflects the track’s cypher structure. Individual personalities remain clear, but momentum comes from seeing New Guardz operate as a unit.

THE SHOOT

MULTIPLE LOOKS WITH ONE VIDEOGRAPHER

The production was covered by one videographer across a full shooting day. That meant every visual chapter needed a repeatable core: establish the location, capture a reliable full performance, then build more expressive angles and details around it.

Some sequences depended on group staging and locked compositions. Others used a camera positioned at car-window level, low angles or close wide-lens movement. Working lightly made it possible to change setup quickly without sanding away the roughness that suited the track.

In post-production, the edit followed the beat and verse changes rather than cutting purely for speed. Glitch, chromatic edges and degraded texture were used as connective tissue, helping the classic-video references feel intentional rather than disconnected.