Rapper Homeboy Sandman is never at a loss for inspiration, with rhymes and instrumentals flooding his cranium on a daily basis. At a recent show in Tampa, FL, he announced to the assembled that his music would go on forever. “I let it be known,” said the Sandman, “that I’m gonna drop new music every month for the rest of my life. Somebody was like ‘what if you live to be 99?’ I was thinking to myself, I could probably do it. I might not even have to write any new stuff, you know what I’m saying?”
NYC-based Homeboy Sandman has been cranking out the tunes since 2007, when he dropped his first EP (Nourishment). He’s been a nonstop music-making machine since, with help from beatmakers like Mono en Stereo. The man is so prolific that he recently released I Can’t Sell These and I Can’t Sell These Either, mixtapes of songs that included uncleared samples that couldn’t be released officially. His cadence flows like an instrumentalist taking a solo, which figures when you consider his composing method. “I always write to instrumentals,” he says. “I’m just trying to come out with a style that sounds fly with the music from an audio standpoint. I want to always put a high premium on the bars and the writing, but I also put a high premium on the sound. This is music.”
Sandman gets his kicks from taking long walks around New York City, especially in the summertime. While he admits he hasn’t conceived entire front-to-back albums this way, they’ve been the genesis for several rhymes over the years. “I love taking walks…I let it come as it comes. I get a lot of productivity done while I move around. I make sure to have my phone charged up before I walk, if I know it’s gonna be a long walk, and I’ll make sure to bring a charger with me. When I’m walking, I’m looking at that as creative time, so I’m bringing an instrumental with me.” The process doesn’t end there. “I think the mind and the body are connected. There’ll even be times when I’m trying to be creative and I’m not really churning anything out. I’ll do some cardio or go do some exercise – that’ll get things moving. I love the sun, and I don’t like going underground in the summertime. I’ll drive sometimes, but whenever I can walk or take my bike, or even take the ferryboat, I like to be out.”
Sandman will be appearing at Robert’s Westside on May 3 with E-Turn, Bob Rok and Greenlights Music. By his own reckoning, Sandman hasn’t played the Chicago area in a hot minute. As he says, “there aren’t any other musicians like me just like there aren’t any other humans like me. I got a special transmission, im grateful 2 God.” As far as what the Robert’s audience can expect, compared to other shows “the frequency aint the same, the energy aint the same…you’re not gonna find it anyplace else. I encourage people to come out and see what I’m talking about.”
