Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Homeboy Sandman
__________________________
TRASH MUTANT: You’re a busy man, Homeboy Sandman. You released 2 EPs (“Subject: Matter” & “Chimera”) this year, as well as your 4th full-length “First of a Living Breed”. Ever since you dropped in 2007 you’ve been working hard and really making a name for yourself in hip-hop, bringing back many of the things that people used to enjoy about it in the first place, and doing it all with a fresh and original style. What keeps you going strong? What motivates you? HOMEBOY SANDMAN: Creating is what makes me happy. And empowers me to change things about society that I don't like. Not so long ago you signed with Stones Throw Records, which is definitely one of the most interesting music labels in the last ten years or more, putting out all kinds of great artists from many different genres. It sounds like a really good match, and you hinted in interviews at being up for working with some of your new label mates on future releases. That obviously piqued the interest of plenty of people, myself included. Can you expand on that a little bit? Is there anything already in the works? Who would you like to collaborate with? I've been talking with Madlib recently about working together so I’m pretty excited about that. Myself and I Am Many are working on an ep produced entirely by Vex Ruffin. Jonwayne and I are always working. I have a song produced by Large Professor with Steve Arrington on the hook. I also have a song produced by M Slago with MED on the hook. I would love to work with DOOM. I'm looking forward to working with Stepkids more too. Of course I’d love for Peanut Butter Wolf to come out of retirement and make something for me too. I just recorded over some Karriem Riggins production for the first time and am looking forward to working with him more. And I’ve got a joint with Jonti that's not out too. Would I also love to work with Dam-Funk and Mayer Hawthorne? Yes. Myron & E are remixing something of mine. And that reminds me I gotta get some acapellas to Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow. As far as subject matter goes, you rhyme about everything from important social issues, to the small, everyday things in life like changing a tire or seeing people senselessly mean mugging each other on the streets. Whatever it is, you can make it into a song and make it work. And you release music pretty damn often. That’s no mean feat, but do you ever start writing on a topic and then think “Nah, this concept isn’t really working out after all”? Is there a vault of self-rejected Homeboy Sandman songs somewhere? Not really a vault. There's one song about all of the stupid words that are prevalent in hip hop, like thug and pimp, that I’ve tried writing twice already without nailing it. Perhaps three will be a charm. I think that's the only one. Homeboy Sandman is the name, but emcees often go through some other rap names before they settle on the one they become famous under. Was it always Homeboy Sandman? If not, what was before that and why did it end at this one? Cious Benson was my code when I was in high school. Teddy English/ Teddy Ingles was my code in college. Both of those were cool but Homeboy Sandman was the end all be all. One thing that’s really noticeable when listening to your music, is that you got a real good ear for beats. You work with a lot of different producers, but the beats are always quality and there’s a cohesive sound to the albums. How closely do you work with them, and how do you go about selecting what you rap on, to make the records sound the way you want them to? Thank you. I pretty much let producers do whatever it is they do. I don't really tinker with production very much beyond some formatting requests here and there. I made a beat with DJ Spinna once that turned out crazy. And another one with JJ Brown. Neither one of those songs are out yet. I just want beats that are so ill that I want to listen to them even before they have words on them. And I like beats that already have emotion in them. You probably filled it up by now, but you write your rhymes in a TMNT notebook. So here it comes: who's your favorite Turtle and why? I probably filled the one you heard about up but I have a bunch of them, I get them from the $.99 cents store and that TMNT has my favorite size and line spacing. Leonardo, because he was the leader. He made smart decisions. He bailed the others out when they got themselves in hot water. What are the 5 last albums you bought (any genre, any format)? Sene - "Brooklyknight" Brother Ali - "Mourning in America. Dreaming in Color" The Reminders - "Born Champions" Oddisee - "People Hear What They See" DangerDoom - "The Mouse and the Mask" I read your article in Huffington Post about originality in hip-hop, and how the diversity of styles and topics has pretty much become non-existent, with all the rappers adopting the same damn image, talking about the same few things. Not being themselves, just sticking to what’s been made popular, what’s mainstream. In the comments to this article there was some of the usual talk about how there’s still diversity and plenty of talented original artists, you just have to search for it in the underground and all that. That’s true and all, but it still stands that in the past you had these different emcees with different styles right there to choose from, without even having to do all that digging. It wasn’t rare to have people doing their own thing, whether it was mainstream or underground. It’s a complex topic, but what do you think does it take for the scene to change, to break away from all this uniformity that’s been dominant in hip-hop for so long now? The people that control the media popularize music that makes people buy shit until they go to prison, and reinforces people separating themselves from others based on how they look. And people defining themselves based on how they look. The people that control the media use it as a tool to make people as weak and easy to manipulate as possible. That's why talent is being removed from the equation. Talent is empowering. When we start defining the scene for ourselves, and stop allowing others to define the scene for us, it will change. Immediately. Even when legendary crews like De La or Tribe were making it big, the “positive” rappers never really seemed to get the same amount of respect or appreciation from the hip-hop community that all the various tough guy types get. It seems like it’s always uphill for guys who just want to rap about the good stuff and have an uplifting message. Even when they get props, they don’t get mentioned as some of the greats that often. Do you get that impression? Why do you think the hip-hop listeners seem to always be a bit biased against the positive dudes? I don't agree that tough guy types got more respect or appreciation. It never appeared that way to me. Who gets mentioned as the greats? Rakim? Krs? Slick Rick? None of those dudes were stereotypical super macho assholes. I mean it's one thing not to be a pushover. Nobody likes a punk. But dudes used to be stand up dudes. Just like Phife said "See me aura's positive, I don't promote no junk/ See I’m far from a bully and I ain't a punk." What there has been since the beginning of time is insecure people who get to feel tough listening to over the top fake tough guys. These are the same dudes that can't stand it when someone is secure enough with themselves to not act tough all the time. Same people that used to try and sleep on Fresh Prince because he loved to have fun. These dudes are dweebs so who cares what they think anyway. I’m asking you all these “state of hip-hop” questions because you’re really vocal about these things, and that’s not so common any more. Hip-hop used to be this self-regulating thing, where wack rappers that made the whole scene look bad were immediately called out and some order was restored. But not many artists really call it like they see it anymore, and when they do, there’s a 100 people ready to dismiss it as “hating” and just being jealous etc. But you’re a confident guy and the negative image that hip-hop promotes now is a real concern for you. How do you keep up that level of confidence and keep pushing for some change when there’s a whole army of people who may not even remember the way the scene used to be, and are so damn defensive about keeping it how it is? Because no one in the whole world can rhyme like me. Which puts me in a very unique, and undeniable position. That and the truth shines through. Your father was a heavyweight boxer who never lost a fight, and went to change his life and become a community lawyer. You studied law before your official hip-hop debut, and now you’re a school teacher. Is it your father’s influence that made you pursue this job, give something back to your community? Absolutely. My father loves using his life in service of others. He is the most inspiring man I’ve ever known. You were recently on tour with Brother Ali, another MC who I really like. I live on the other side of the world, so unfortunately I didn't get to see a show, but it seems like you guys would be kind of kindred spirits. Like there’s some common ground you share as far as the philosophy in your music goes. What was touring with Ali like? Did you get along well? Did you know him personally before that? Touring with Ali was awesome. He's the man. I learned a lot from him. I learned stuff about prejudice and self image. I didn't know him before the tour very much at all, but dude has a lot of wisdom. There’s this really cool 3-part Stones Throw document about you called “Foundation”. Parts 1 & 2 were released in August, but it’s been months and so far no part 3. And now we don’t know how it ends! What’s up with that? Part 3's been shelved. Sorry bredren. Glad you liked the first 2 tho. You're a really prolific emcee and always seem to have something new in the works. So, even though you just released an album, what's next up for Homeboy Sandman? EP produced entirely by rthentic RTNC entitled "Kool Herc: Fertile Crescent." EP produced entirely by Paul White entitled "White Sands." Any shoutouts, plugs, or anything else you wanna say to the readers and fans? Peace and love and thanks for supporting. Together we can't lose. Thanks a lot for the interview and for all the quality music! No question, family. Thanks for help spreading the word. __________________________
Check out Homeboy Sandman's official website for all the news, updates, store, tour dates & music. "LIKE" the man on Facebook, too. And last but not least, visit Stones Throw Records for more of some of the most interesting music out right now. |
|