Homeboy Sandman recorded and released his first EP, Nourishment, in March 2007. His debut album, entitled Nourishment (Second Helpings), was released in August 2007. In early 2008, Homeboy Sandman's work began to be featured on underground radio programs the Squeeze Radio Show on WKCR 89.9 FM and the Halftime Radio Program on WNYU 89.1 FM in New York. In June 2008, he was featured in Source Magazine's "Unsigned Hype" column.
His second album, Actual Factual Pterodactyl was acclaimed upon its release in August 2008. The album received an entry in XXL's Chairman's Choice column, which praised Homeboy Sandman's "sharp lyrics and irresistibly melodic flow, which, together, form an elastic instrument few MCs can match." Actual Factual Pterodactyl received critical acclaim in a multitude of other print and online publications, including Blender Magazine, Beyond Race Magazine, Okayplayer.com and MSN.com. At the end of 2008, Homeboy Sandman was named "Best Hip Hop Act in NYC 2008" by New York Press. Recently his music has received rotation on NYC's Power 105.1 FM and Hot 97.1 FM, the city's #1 Hip Hop and R&B radio station, as well as airplay on Spitkicker Radio (Channel 65 on XM Satellite Radio), DJ Premier's "Live From HeadQCourterz" (Sirius Satellite Radio's #1 ranked Hip Hop show) and BBC 1Xtra's Hip Hop M1X (Hosted by DJ Sarah Love).
In addition to his studio releases, Homeboy Sandman has garnered attention for his live performances. From January 2008 to August 2009, Homeboy Sandman served as the host of “ALL THAT! Hip Hop, Poetry and Jazz” at the Nuyorican Poets Café, New York City's longest running open mic session (originally hosted by Hip Hop icon Bobbito García). He has performed at the biggest hip hop shows around the country, including the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival in Brooklyn, New York, the Rock the Bells hip hop festival in Long Island, New York, the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta, Georgia and New York City's CMJ Music Marathon. Homeboy Sandman has recorded video interviews with other performers at his live shows, which are captured in his YouTube video series "Homeboy Sandman presents Live From...".
In addition to his own releases, Homeboy Sandman has appeared on records by other artists, frequently with members of the AOK Collective, with whom he is affiliated. He recently appeared on Fresh Daily's 2009 album The Gorgeous Killer: In Crimes of Passion and the 2008 album For Your Consideration released by P.SO (formerly P. Casso). Homeboy Sandman collaborated with both Fresh Daily and P.SO for the song "Get On Down," which is featured on Sonic Smash, the album released in 2009 by music producer DJ Spinna.[8] Homeboy Sandman has also laid down tracks for a series of features with RIDES Magazine. The track that Homeboy Sandman created for the Loud.com challenge, "Gun Control," was cited as one of the Top 25 Songs of 2009 by Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg.
On June 1, 2010, Homeboy Sandman released his third album, The Good Sun, which features production from 2 Hungry Bros, Ski Beats, Thievin' Stephen, DJ Spinna, Psycho Les (The Beatnuts) and Core Rhythm, among others. The first single from The Good Sun was "Angels with Dirty Faces," produced by J57. In September 2010, Homeboy Sandman released his first official video for The Good Sun for the track, "The Essence".
In late 2010, Homeboy Sandman was featured as the coach in an episode of MTV's Made, which premiered in October 2010.
In August 2011, Homeboy Sandman signed with Stones Throw Records and released his debut project, Subject: Matter EP, with the California-based record label on January 24, 2012. Homeboy Sandman released his second EP with Stones Throw Records, titled Chimera in April 2012 and on September 18, 2012, released his debut full-length LP with Stones Throw entitled First of a Living Breed. The album featured production from Oddisee, J57, 6th Sense, RTNC and long-time production partners 2 Hungry Bros., along with label mates Jonwayne and Oh No, amongst others.
In 2014, Homeboy Sandman released the EP, White Sands, which was produced by Paul White. Nate Patrin of Pitchfork commented that the producer and rapper had "a mutually beneficial set of styles" in a positive review. In that year, Homeboy Sandman released the album, Hallways.
In the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal, Homeboy Sandman wrote for Gawker an op-ed called "Black People are Cowards," which attracted more than 1.3 million views in the first seven days of its publication.
In 2015, Homeboy Sandman released a collaborative EP with Aesop Rock, titled Lice. In 2016, he released the album, Kindness for Weakness, which included Edan-produced "Talking (Bleep)". In that year, he released a collaborative EP with Aesop Rock, titled Lice Two: Still Buggin'.
In 2019, Homeboy Sandman announced he had signed a new deal with Mello Music Group and released the new single "West Coast" produced by Aesop Rock to celebrate the new label signing.
Homeboy Sandman's first album on Mello Music Group, “Dusty,” was released on October 18, 2019. Production was handled entirely by Mono En Stereo. Dusty garnered positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic writer Paul Simpson praised Mono En Stereo's soundscape of "laid-back, ambling jazz and funk grooves" for complimenting Sandman's "conversational, matter-of-fact rhymes" throughout the album, concluding that "Dusty is another winning set of pointed observations from Sandman, who effortlessly unloads his thoughts without seeming like a burden on the listener."
Homeboy Sandman followed up “Dusty” with his 2020 album “Don’t Feed The Monster” produced by Quelle Chris. “Don’t Feed The Monster” was listed in NPR's top 50 albums of 2020. Homeboy Sandman would later receive a pair of awards for music videos that accompanied the album. He received a UK Music Video award for “Monument” (directed by Pavel Buryak) in 2021 and later won Best Foreign Documentary at Rome Film Awards 2022 for Don’t Look Down Video (directed by Robert Mayer aka Photo Rob).
At the beginning of 2021, Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman released their single “Ask Anyone,” which was featured on FIFA 21 soundtrack. Following the release Homeboy Sandman announced his EP Anjelitu which was produced entirely by Aesop Rock. Released in August 2021, Anjelitu marked Homeboy Sandman's third studio project on Mello Music Group. Okayplayer highlighted Anjelitu as one of the best Hip-Hop projects of 2021. Pete Rock would later give praise to “Go Hard” from Anjelitu. At the end of 2021, Homeboy Sandman garnered unexpected attention after Doja Cat saluted the emcee as “One of my favorite rappers” on Instagram live.
Homeboy Sandman's tenth studio album, There in Spirit, was released on February 25, 2022. That same year, he released the mixtape I Can't Sell These for free on Bandcamp, due in part to an inability to clear the various samples used in the music. Music critic Robert Christgau soon hailed it as "the finest album of one of hip-hop's most prolific careers", giving it an "A" grade.
Homeboy Sandman revitalized his acclaimed Anjelitu EP, by releasing the Anjelitu Deluxe which included two new tracks as well as Aesop Rock's instrumentals from the project. In 2022, Rhymesayers released all three of Homeboy Sandman and Aesop Rock's Lice albums on digital streaming platforms. Homeboy Sandman's Deca-produced eleventh studio album “Still Champion” was released on November 11, 2022, following the pair's 19-stop co-headlining tour. “Still Champion” reached #24 on the iTunes Hip-Hop charts and Riff Magazine included the project in their top 20 Hip-Hop albums of 2022.
Homeboy Sandman collaborated with Oakland-based nonprofit organization Oakstop Alliance on the album “Royalty Summit,” released on December 23, 2022. Royalty Summit is the debut release from Oakstop Alliance’s Oakland Resident music initiative. Homeboy Sandman was planning the west coast run for his There In Spirit Tour when longtime friend and Oakstop Alliance Executive Director Damon Johnson pitched him with the concept. The 12-track album was recorded over 3 days in Oakland as a residency collaboration between Homeboy Sandman, and over 20 Oakland musical artists and professionals. On Christmas Day in 2022, Homeboy Sandman announced the debut full-length release for his label Dirty Looks, titled “12 Days of Christmas & Dia De Los Reyes.” Homeboy Sandman rolled out one song from the project each day until the full album’s release on January 6, 2023.
In August 2023, Homeboy Sandman connected with New York beatmaker Mono En Stereo–whom the emcee collaborated with on past albums Kool Herc: Fertile Crescent and Dusty–for his studio album “Rich” released via Dirty Looks. The album garnered critical attention from Pitchfork, Vibe Magazine, HipHopDX, and more. Homeboy Sandman later released "I Can't Sell These Either" in November 2023, continuing the "I Can't Sell These" mixtape series started in 2022.
FYI
Homeboy Sandman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I’ll tell ya, I’ll tell you right now
Whole wheat hoagie
Lowkey OG brown skin emoji
More rockin' than a hit from Bon Jovi
Hit Morocco, won a trip to Nairobi
Storm border with a gift to cause chaos
I’m the one that ate crayons
My team ain’t make it to the play-offs
Luckily my demons always make
It to the seance
Look in the mirror, what a miracle I'm 36
Especially since I've yet to
Wash a dirty dish consider the alternatives
Take a turn and tap a
Vein without a tourniquet
I play with fires, time I burn a bridge
I swear to God it doesn’t hurt a bit
Get it how ya' live
FYI iI I I I nformation
Who, what, where, when, why, NY fYI
I I I I Information come say "Hi!", come by
Safe beneath floorboards
Fingerprint doorlocks (Scoreboard)
Renaissance warlord, renegade warlock
10 years in, still dope
I ain’t never know shit, still don’t
Milquetoast in the field? Nope
Recipe for milquetoast in my field notes
Careful for attacks, you’re attack dogs
Always keep a axe or a hacksaw
Someone left your backdoor cracked
I snuck in and run a lap
What you think it got a latch for?
Down to the last straw
Spend the sabbath before the saboteurs
Stop and smell the camphor
Gather round the campfire
B Team love to see a plan backfire
FYI iI I I I nformation
Who, what, where, when, why, NY fYI
I I I I Information come say "Hi!", come by
Took a leap of faith off of the beaver
Chick done went to Weber State
Had her singing like the Lion King
A-weema-weh piece of cake
Current events: y’all makin’ sense
Is a recessive trait
It's dead it makes no sense
To try and resuscitate
JanSport of the illicit freight
Hit the dance floor and the
Do the twist of fate
It’s a bird, oh, no it’s a plane
No, it’s a snake, no wait it’s the crane
No it’s a jack of a different trade
Horse of a different shade
Rose by a different name
Hail, sleet, sun, and rain
Skin, teeth, flesh, bone, blood, and veins
It's all fun and games
FYI iI I I I nformation
Who, what, where, when, why, NY fYI
I I I I Information come say "Hi!", come by
FYI bright side to your blind eye
Nothing but the truth and the whole truth
Why lie? So you can get the scoop
Like you’re playing Jai alai
Sheriff with the kids before
Sayin’ "Night night"
Navigation of the zeitgeist from a nice guy
So that you can get your mind right
Since you might die
In the song "FYI" by Homeboy Sandman, the artist reflects on his own life and experiences while also commenting on the state of the world around him. The lyrics highlight his unique perspective and the wisdom he has gained throughout his life.
The first verse begins with lines like "Whole wheat hoagie" and "Lowkey OG brown skin emoji," which can be seen as clever wordplay and imagery to describe his identity and status. He compares himself to a rock star, declaring that he is more rockin' than a hit from Bon Jovi. This boastful line demonstrates his confidence and self-assuredness.
The lyrics then shift to his travels, mentioning Morocco and Nairobi, implying a sense of adventure and exploration. He mentions eating crayons in pre-school, perhaps symbolizing his unconventional and creative mindset. The line "Luckily my demons always make it to the seance" suggests that his darker thoughts and struggles are always present, but he uses them as a source of inspiration.
In the chorus, he emphasizes the importance of information and knowledge, posing questions about who, what, where, when, and why in relation to New York City. This could be a commentary on the need for awareness and understanding in a rapidly changing world.
The second verse continues with a mix of vivid imagery and wordplay. He mentions being safe beneath floorboards, suggesting a hidden or underprivileged position, and references fingerprint doorlocks as a form of security. The lines "Milquetoast in the field? Nope / Recipe for milquetoast in my field notes" can be interpreted as a rejection of conformity and a celebration of his own uniqueness and resilience.
He mentions having an arsenal of weapons, both physical and metaphorical, to protect himself and outsmart his enemies. There is also a theme of deception and manipulation, symbolized by the reference to a backdoor left cracked open.
The final verse includes references to pop culture, such as The Lion King and Jai alai, in a stream-of-consciousness style. He touches on the absurdity of trying to revive something that is already dead and the futility of certain actions. The line "Current events: y’all makin’ sense is a recessive trait" suggests a criticism of the lack of critical thinking and common sense in society.
Overall, "FYI" reflects on Homeboy Sandman's personal journey, his observations of the world, and his desire to share knowledge and provoke thought.
Line by Line Meaning
I I I I Information iI I I I nformation
I have important information to share with you
I’ll tell ya, I’ll tell you right now
I will immediately share this information with you
Whole wheat hoagie
I am a unique and unconventional individual
Lowkey OG brown skin emoji
I embrace my roots and represent my heritage
More rockin' than a hit from Bon Jovi
I am more exciting and lively than a popular song
Hit Morocco, won a trip to Nairobi
I have traveled to different places and experienced different cultures
Storm border with a gift to cause chaos
I challenge traditional norms and disrupt the status quo
Pre-school corner
I have always been different and unique
I’m the one that ate crayons
I have always followed my own path, even if it seemed unconventional
My team ain’t make it to the play-offs
I haven't achieved mainstream success or recognition
Luckily my demons always make
It to the seance
Fortunately, my inner struggles and challenges are always acknowledged and addressed
Look in the mirror, what a miracle I'm 36
I reflect on my life and appreciate the miracle of reaching the age of 36
Especially since I've yet to
Wash a dirty dish consider the alternatives
Considering the alternatives, it's quite remarkable that I haven't performed such a basic task
Take a turn and tap a
Vein without a tourniquet
I am willing to take risks without any safety measures or precautions
I play with fires, time I burn a bridge
I have a tendency to engage in risky behavior and sever relationships
I swear to God it doesn’t hurt a bit
I confidently assert that the consequences of my actions don't bother me
Get it how ya' live
You should pursue life in a way that suits you best
FYI iI I I I nformation
Here is some important information
Who, what, where, when, why, NY fYI
Let me address the important questions: who, what, where, when, why, and specifically related to New York
I I I I Information come say "Hi!", come by
Feel free to approach and interact with this valuable information
Safe beneath floorboards
I find comfort in hiding and staying undercover
Fingerprint doorlocks (Scoreboard)
I prioritize security and innovative technology to protect my belongings
Renaissance warlord, renegade warlock
I am a leader and rebel with unique skills and abilities
10 years in, still dope
After a decade, I am still impressive and talented
I ain’t never know shit, still don’t
Despite my experiences, I remain humble and acknowledge my limited knowledge
Milquetoast in the field? Nope
I refuse to be bland and uninspiring in my endeavors
Recipe for milquetoast in my field notes
I have observed and documented how mediocrity can be achieved
Careful for attacks, you’re attack dogs
Beware of potential threats, as some people may be aggressive and confrontational
Always keep a axe or a hacksaw
I am prepared to defend myself with tools of self-defense
Someone left your backdoor cracked
An opportunity arose due to someone's carelessness or negligence
I snuck in and run a lap
I took advantage of the situation and completed a task quickly
What you think it got a latch for?
Why would there be a locking mechanism if not to be utilized?
Down to the last straw
Pushed to the point where patience and tolerance have been exhausted
Spend the sabbath before the saboteurs
I dedicate my time to preparing for potential disruptions and attacks
Stop and smell the camphor
Take a moment to appreciate and enjoy the pleasant aromas of life
Gather round the campfire
Come together and engage in storytelling and bonding experiences
B Team love to see a plan backfire
Certain individuals take pleasure in witnessing the failure of well-thought-out plans
Took a leap of faith off of the beaver
I took a significant risk with unwavering belief and trust
Chick done went to Weber State
A woman I know attended Weber State University
Had her singing like the Lion King
A-weema-weh piece of cake
She sang joyfully and effortlessly, reminiscent of a famous song from The Lion King
Current events: y’all makin’ sense
Is a recessive trait
The way people interpret and understand current events often lacks logic and critical thinking
It's dead it makes no sense
To try and resuscitate
It's futile and pointless to revive or resurrect something that is no longer relevant or logical
JanSport of the illicit freight
I handle and transport illegal items in a discreet and efficient manner
Hit the dance floor and the
Do the twist of fate
I embrace unexpected circumstances and adapt accordingly
It’s a bird, oh, no it’s a plane
No, it’s a snake, no wait it’s the crane
Things are not always what they seem, constantly changing and surprising
No it’s a jack of a different trade
In reality, it is something or someone with diverse skills and abilities
Horse of a different shade
An unconventional or unique perspective or approach to a situation
Rose by a different name
I have various identities and personas
Hail, sleet, sun, and rain
I endure and adapt to all types of challenges and circumstances
Skin, teeth, flesh, bone, blood, and veins
These are the fundamental elements that make up the human body
It's all fun and games
Everything is enjoyable and entertaining
FYI bright side to your blind eye
I want to inform you of the positive aspects that you may be overlooking
Nothing but the truth and the whole truth
Why lie?
I value honesty and transparency, questioning the need for deception
So you can get the scoop
Like you’re playing Jai alai
To provide you with exclusive information, as if you're engaged in an intense sport
Sheriff with the kids before
Sayin’ "Night night"
I take on the role of protecting and ensuring the safety of children before they go to sleep
Navigation of the zeitgeist from a nice guy
I am well-versed in understanding and maneuvering through current cultural and social trends as a kind individual
So that you can get your mind right
To help you attain mental clarity and perspective
Since you might die
Considering the possibility of death, it's important to have a clear mind and understanding
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind