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Love & Hate: Homeboy Sandman Interview
Homeboy Sandman is kind of like dumping millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico — except, not bad for the environment. But, the vegan rapper is the kind of artist that makes PR guys around the world sit straight up in bed at night with chills and sweat covering their expensive, Egyptian-silk sheets. He’s loud, he’s opinionated and he doesn’t hold back. Homeboy Sandman has a personality all his own.
“It’s a crocodile ‘dunn’-deal,” he tells me when I call him to confirm the date of our interview. I had heard his music, but never spoken to the New York MC before today. I can already tell from our short conversation that he’s going to have some interesting opinions, and after listening to his new album, The Good Sun, I’m convinced that he might make for the best interview I’ve ever done.
Homeboy Sandman rolled onto the New York circuit in 2007 with a strange cadence and oddly-smooth flow. His first EP, Nourishment, was critically acclaimed and served as a springboard for his success. Shortly thereafter he released a second-round of his debut, Nourishment 2 (Second Helpings), which featured all of the original tracks from the first album and five additional songs (it was dubbed an LP — his first actual album). In 2008, he continued to build upon that success, releasing his only free release, There Is No Spoon, a mixtape with DJ Baby Drew and his latest, and most well-known, album, Actual Factual Pterodactyl.
Now, poised to drop his fourth release in less than four years (The Good Sun drops on June 1), he’s ready to spread his gospel even further. A complete distribution deal through Fat Beats means his music will be available all across the country. I got up with Boy Sand last week while he was in the studio and we discussed the new album, what his beef is with hip hop, and who’s behind the spread of wackness he’s been complaining about.
aboveGround Magazine: Let’s talk about the new album, what was the process like? Almost 2 years recording time?
Homeboy Sandman: Well, I wasn’t recording this album for 2 years. After Actual Factual Pterodactyl came out I was recording other stuff. The first song on this album I think I recorded at the beginning of last year. I didn’t even know it was gonna be on this album but it kind of set the album in motion, a song called “The Essence”, but I used it for my video that came out around the same time, so when that Vimby video came out is when this album really started.
Most of the writing took place in the second half of last year, because that’s when I really found the soul of the album and was able to grab hold of that and weave that spirit through all the songs and really understand what the project was about.
But the process is very much me sitting down with a slew of beats, selecting ones that have an optimistic sound – an illuminating sound – I like organic, I like grit – a phenomenal sound – and me moving around the world, different places in New York, speaking with different people and realizing different things, and taking that and letting that all come out on the paper, man.
And, my writing process – I’m actually writing a song about it right now called “The Miracle”, cause my writing process really comes to me straight from God. The album’s called The Good Sun, I’m a very spiritual person, just very much about God.
AGM: Is that on par with the way that it has worked [on your previous albums], or how has that process changed?
HS: For me, every song is different. I normally start with the beat and I listen to that and I try to say what the beat is saying on it’s own. I very seldom listen to music with lyrics on it. The beats I rap over, they have a story that they’re telling and I want to find out if I have a story to tell that corresponds with that and then tell my story over it – kind of a double whammy effect.
But, the writing was a lot more personal on this disc. I was going through a lot of things in my personal life. I’m maturing as a person. I’m changing as a person.
You know, there are a few real artists in hip-hop. You know, like artists that fans will get to watch grow, like people watched Stevie Wonder grow, people watched the Beatles change and people saw John Lennon going through what he was going through. And hip hop, because so much of it is defiled and dastardly, it’s just kind of made to be for the next five minutes. But, there are real artists in here who are taking you for a trip through [their] life by listening to their songs.
So, the process is always a little bit different.
AGM: You said you were going through some personal things – how has your life changed [throughout the course of your career]?
HS: Well, ever since I determined I was going to be an MC I haven’t done anything else. For a while, I just chopped everything else out of my life. I wouldn’t even chill with people, I wouldn’t chill with my family. I was just like “Yo, I gotta rap, I gotta write, I gotta do everything.”
I’m getting better at balance. I wasn’t really even talking about life growth issues – I wasn’t even listening to music! It wasn’t until this album that I started listening to music. I wasn’t even like a person for my first couple of albums. And people would tell me, and I understand, like “Yo, these records are slammin’ but there’s not a lot of connect-ability here.”
I always had a fear that if I didn’t spend 24 hours a day writing, that I wouldn’t be as strong the next day. You know kind of like a guy that gets in the gym and doesn’t want to take one day off because if he does he doesn’t think he’s going to be as strong.
But, I’ve realized now that that’s just not the case man. Sometimes you take a day off, let the muscles rest.
AGM: So you just kind of learned to breathe a little bit in between?
HS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little bit of space to breathe.
AGM: When it comes to making music, did you have a lot of knowledge coming into that or did you just experiment until you found something that you thought sounded good?
HS: I’ve always had a talent as far as musicality. I used to play the saxophone, I played for seven years and I excelled at that. And, I was also fortunate to be raised in a household [where] my father used to play all kinds of stuff. From hip hop to classical and jazz, whatever was out, even some country tones even some blues tones.
So, this is something I’ve always had a natural aptitude for. But when it came time to write songs – not all my songs go with the conventional format, which is 16, 8-bar hook, 16, 8-bar hook, 16, 8-bar hook, and even – actually, I didn’t even know how to count bars at first. It was my boy YG who taught me how to count bars. But, I just had a feeling for how long, you listen to enough hip hop and you know when a 16-bar verse is coming.
I remember one of the first songs I wrote – actually, the first song I wrote, “Kain News”, from my first album, which was a news broadcast – I outlined it like a paper. I was an English major in school, with a creative writing concentration, so before I would write something I made outlines: This is what’s going to happen in the first paragraph, second paragraph, third paragraph and whatnot.
So, early on I was like this is what I’m going to write about in this rap record: The first half of the first verse will be about this, the second half will be about this, so early on I would structure something like that.
Other than that, I take a lot of pride in my hooks. I definitely understand the importance of a good hook.
AGM: You’re calling this your “first commercial release”, what does that mean?
HS: This is my first commercial release due to the fact that Fat Beats is doing the distribution. High Water Music is putting it out. This is going to be the first release that I’m not selling hand-to-hand for the most part. Pterodactyl, while it’s been selling and is selling significantly online, the majority of the sales from AFP was hand-to-hand.
So, this is going to be the first one where cats can walk into the store, which is a milestone for me.
AGM: You’ve put a lot of emphasis on live shows, in a couple of interviews I’ve read with you. What is it about your live show that you think makes it so dope?
HS: I was talking about this the other day. I LOVE music. I love it. If I didn’t do this for a living, I wouldn’t be alive. I know in hip hop there’s a whole bunch of garbage taking place – people are doing it like it’s the cool thing to do and these people wasn’t born with no gift to do it and maybe they should be doing something else – whatever.
But, this is not me. I LOVE my music. I love every single rhyme. When I get up on stage I’m in love, man. I do get a lot of positive feedback about my live show and that’s because I’m up there – imagine how much fun I’m having – I wouldn’t rather do nothing else. If you ask someone, “Yo, what do you want do with your life? You can do whatever you want.” How many people actually get to do that? I get to do that! And, I’m just so jovial; I’m in a state of bliss when I’m up there. And I really think that transfers man.
I take the time to make sure everything that I write is at a level where I can’t wait to say it. So a lot of energy comes through in my live show. You come to my show and there’s an energy transference that people aren’t used to, especially in hip hop.
I mean, my favorite crew of all time is the Roots crew. My favorite MC of all time is Black Thought. You go to a Roots show and they’re known for amazing shows. I had the honor of rocking the stage with Black Thought at the last show ever at the Knitting Factory and he was doing a solo set, he didn’t have the band with him, but he got up on stage and it’s the truth. The truth is there. Here’s a brother telling the truth, and he’s nice with it.
You don’t see that all the time in hip hop because you go to a hip hop show and there’s someone up on the stage trying to play a role. People aren’t stupid, they got an innate sixth sense that says, “that wasn’t that fresh,” even if they don’t understand why it wasn’t fresh.
I was telling someone the other day, it’s a sad thing what’s going on the manipulation of hip hop. They got people brainwashed thinking smiling is bad. If you heard my album you know I got “Mean Mug” on there. These cats think smiling is bad. They think happiness is bad. It’s ridiculous stuff going on, but if you get in front of someone and you’re happy it shows them. There’s good things going on at my live shows because there’s good things going on in my music. People relate to that. And, people don’t get to hear that very often in hip hop. But, I think you get that anytime there’s a real musician in front of you, but so many cats doing rap aren’t real musicians.
AGM: So, do you think someone like me – I’m 1,000 miles away – that never gets to see your live show, am I missing out on something that’s a crucial piece of Homeboy Sandman?
HS: You’re definitely missing out on something. You should take the opportunity as soon as you get it.
I take a lot of pride in my live show. I take a lot of pride in my recorded music. Some cats you get the record and you’re like “Yeah they’re all right,” but you see them in the live show and it’s like “Yo, this cat is slammin!” I think you can tell I’m slammin’ from either my record or my live show. But yeah, I think it’s something that’s worth your time.
AGM: You talked about this a little bit in the last question, but you’re kind of vocal about what you think is wack, or what you don’t think is made by musicians. What really bothers you about the music that’s being made out there?
May 31st, 2010 at 12:02 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alicia Bell, aboveGround Magazine. aboveGround Magazine said: FEATURE: Love & Hate: Homeboy Sandman Interview http://bit.ly/dhuFAe [...]
June 1st, 2010 at 4:40 am
It shows that positivity & determination are a strong force that can’t b shut out for long. There really is the good son
June 1st, 2010 at 10:00 am
So proud of the Boy Sand…You deserve every bit of the success thats coming to ya…
June 4th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Awesome interview, awesome human.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:24 pm
[...] If you’re still catching up where Homeboy Sandman is concerned, be sure and head over to our recent feature on the Queens lyricist – Love & Hate: Homeboy Sandman Interview. [...]
August 17th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
This summer I played the Beat*Shot Music festival and after my piece of the show I hung out to see Homeboy Sandman a bit – and, if you haven’t seen his live gig, do yourselves a favor and do it.
February 12th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
[...] shit! We heard he kills it when it comes to the live show! Catch Homeboy’s interview over at aboveGround Magazine to find out [...]