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.
In A Daze
Homeboy Sandman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My nephew asked me if I had a juicebox
My nephew asked me if I had a juicebox
Uh, no
Any DJ playing the jukebox got to go
Who wanna handle special ops?
Republica Dominica, Santiago
I'm not sure why they nicknamed cops 5 - 0
Perhaps that′s number's something about cutting short survival
I still be rocking tube socks
Nah, I don't
Knock em out the box Sand
Knock em out
C′mon
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
Last man in the gym
Type to utilize a gas mask taking a whiff
Catscan on a whim
Either hand holding the whisk
Boy sand for the win
On a limb
Man and the myth
Just beneath your middrift miss
All in your mix
Animalistic
E.g. glad to exist
Genie grant him a wish
She rather convinced
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
Homeboy Sand barechested in hot sun
No gracias to your gossip if you got some
Made it to the top bunk over the top rung
And intolerant of toxins as the top gun
Why gal tryna get knocked up
When I′m in your quarter all type bottle water get stocked up
Lamping on the cusp reading the Franz Kafka
Ain't no getting into character
Cream of the crop ′cause
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
IN A GROOVE
The song "In A Daze" by Homeboy Sandman starts off with a conversation with his nephew asking him if he has a juicebox. He then dismisses the idea of a DJ playing the jukebox and instead proposes to handle special operations. Sandman talks about his experience in the Dominican Republic, specifically in Santiago where cops are nicknamed "5 - 0." He mulls over the significance of this number which could possibly reflect the likelihood of someone surviving in the area. He then rejects the idea of wearing tube socks, asserting that he can knock out anyone who tries to mess with him.
The chorus repeats thrice, where the artist talks about being in a groove, going out in a blaze, and wandering off in a daze. The second verse talks about Homeboy Sandman being the last man in the gym, wearing a gas mask to filter out toxins, and holding a whisk in either hand. He refers to himself as "Boy sand for the win" and claims that he is both a man and a myth just beneath women's midriffs. He emphasizes the animalistic and glad-to-exist nature of humans while also wishing for something through a genies' magic.
In the final verse, Sandman is bare-chested in the hot sun and uninterested in hearing gossip. He mentions scaling to the top bunk over the top rung and abstaining from toxic substances like a top gun. He questions why women try to conceive when he is around, and instead stocks up on bottled water. He concludes by stating that he reads Franz Kafka's works and cannot get into any character because he is already the cream of the crop.
Line by Line Meaning
My nephew asked me if I had a juicebox
My nephew asked me if I had a juicebox, to which I said no.
Uh, no
I replied negative to my nephew's juicebox inquiry.
Any DJ playing the jukebox got to go
I am not fond of any DJ playing jukebox music and believe they should leave.
Who wanna handle special ops?
I am prepared to take on any special operations task upon request.
I′ll go
I am willing to take on any task that I am asked to do.
Republica Dominica, Santiago
I am referencing to a specific location in the Dominican Republic called Santiago.
I'm not sure why they nicknamed cops 5 - 0
I am unsure of the origin of the nickname for police officers as 5 - 0.
Perhaps that′s number's something about cutting short survival
The nickname for police officers as 5 - 0 may reference to the idea that the police shorten survival through their actions.
I still be rocking tube socks
I still wear tube socks.
Nah, I don't
I no longer wear tube socks.
Knock em out the box Sand
I aim to knock others out of the competition or game, hence the name 'Sand' as in 'sanding' something down.
Knock em out
I am determined to take out the competition and win.
IN A GROOVE
I am in a good rhythm or flow.
TO OUT IN A BLAZE
I am working hard and fast, giving it my all.
I′M OFF IN A DAZE
I am feeling confused or disoriented.
I'M OFF IN A DAZE
I am feeling confused or disoriented.
Last man in the gym
I am the last person in the gym.
Type to utilize a gas mask taking a whiff
I am the type of person who would wear a gas mask to sniff something.
Catscan on a whim
I would get a CT scan on a whim or without much thought.
Either hand holding the whisk
I am ambidextrous and can hold a whisk in either hand.
Boy sand for the win
I am determined to win and will do whatever it takes to come out on top.
On a limb
I am taking a risk or going out on a limb to achieve my goals.
Man and the myth
I am both a real person and a mythological figure in terms of my skills and talents.
Just beneath your middrift miss
I am close to you and have an intimate understanding of your body.
All in your mix
I am a part of your life and everything you do.
Animalistic
I am driven by animal instincts and desires.
E.g. glad to exist
I am happy to be alive and grateful for my existence.
Genie grant him a wish
I am asking a genie to grant me a wish or desire.
She rather convinced
Someone is convinced of something, likely by a woman.
Homeboy Sand barechested in hot sun
I am barechested and feeling the heat of the sun.
No gracias to your gossip if you got some
I do not appreciate or want to hear any gossip that someone may have.
Made it to the top bunk over the top rung
I have achieved success and reached the top of my field or profession.
And intolerant of toxins as the top gun
I am intolerant of any harmful or negative behavior and will quickly put a stop to it.
Why gal tryna get knocked up
I am curious as to why a woman would want to get pregnant.
When I′m in your quarter all type bottle water get stocked up
When I am in someone's vicinity, I ensure that they have enough bottled water available to them.
Lamping on the cusp reading the Franz Kafka
I am relaxed and reading Franz Kafka's work, possibly 'Metamorphosis'.
Ain't no getting into character
It is impossible to get into character or be someone I am not.
Cream of the crop ′cause
I am the best of the best, the cream of the crop, and unmatched in my skills and abilities.
Writer(s): Angel Del Villar, Christopher Jones
Contributed by Charlotte N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.