MP3: Homeboy Sandman – “I Do Whatever I Want”
Put aside your pre-conceived notions of Homeboy Sandman. Contrary to what his name might suggest, he isn’t trying to resurrect the artifacts of hip-hop’s past: Sandman doesn’t wear gold chains or MCM shades, and you probably won’t see him toting a boom box. In many ways, Sandman is the anti-MC. After graduating from an Ivy League university, he enrolled in Hofstra Law School before dropping out to rhyme full-time. And while others brag about their achievements, Sandman stays relatively quiet. He doesn’t have a Twitter account and his personal Facebook wall is full of YouTube clips and music links from other users. “I don’t ‘blah blah’ on ya bandwidth / I ain’t blabberin’ what I brandished,” he rhymes on his new EP, Chimera.
Still, the Queens, N.Y. native can’t totally escape comparisons to the old school. Sandman’s selection of beats trickle from your speakers, quickly capturing your attention before he spits a verse. Take “Unforgettable,” a standout from last year’s Subject:Matter EP: methodical drum taps and wistful strings set a contemplative mood for Sandman to recollect the best sex he’s ever had. At times, Sandman’s tone can be condescending and sarcastic, especially when he’s wagging the finger at overdone themes — materialism and misogyny among those on his list. Throughout Chimera, he bolsters the instrumentals with pause-worthy one-liners that wreak havoc on your rewind button, taking his time as if he’s thinking about each line before he speaks. On “I Do Whatever I Want,” for instance: “Promoters drop at least three stacks …. Heeeeey yaaaaa.” (A gold star goes to the first person to get that reference.)
Then there’s the song’s laugh out loud moment: “Had a palm reader take a look at my palm print / She told me ‘Pa Pa, don’t be so pompous’ / I said ‘Biiiiiiiiiiitch .… careful when you talk to the God send / Then she tried to pull on my drawstring.” It’s that wry humor which captivates you. Sandman is nice, and he knows it. But instead of telling you how dope he is, he lets his mic skills do the talking. That makes a song like “Look Out” an instant favorite. Against a backdrop of scant percussion and menacing synths, Sandman is more serious, his fragmented stream of consciousness taking center stage over the electro-soul melody. “Airing out the dirty laundry, dog gone goin’ for it all on 3rd & long… this is the form I was born in, broad shoulders are perfect for putting curtains on.” Elsewhere, the MC is straightforward, tackling police brutality (“Cops Get Scared Of Me”), racism (“Illuminati”), and life’s daily struggles (“Hold Your Head”).
Once you drop any pre-conceived notions about the MC, you should do the same for his new music. While Subject:Matter was more accessible, Chimera is a bit more brooding. Traditional rap rhythms give way to spacey compositions, resulting in a project a bit more sobering than last year’s EP. However, Sandman foreshadowed this profound artistic shift on his previous recording. The first four songs of Subject:Matter were upbeat and fairly straightforward. Then came “Canned Goods,” on which the MC dissected worldly topics, like false prophets and the Occupy Wall Street movement, among other things. Here, Sandman raps: “After the Earthquake in Haiti, people gave a damn for like almost a month, maybe.” Such unrest is the dominant theme of Chimera. And there aren’t many who could express it so eloquently.
