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.
Watchu Want from Me?
Homeboy Sandman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was only went down your blouse cause you was into it
Don't go thinking now I'm your spouse cause I'm a gentleman
All I gave you was a smile, not a child that's illegitimate
I ain't even saying our hanging was insignificant
But I ain't sign any documents, forms or certificates
We ain't even kick it but for a couple incidents
I was trying to chill, it was y'all that was impetus
Who was saying this nation's indivisible?
I don't care what they say or if they paid, cats is miserable
Chillin while them chilln in jails to take a visit to
They was put there by cops who can't pass a physical
Ain't no beg your pardon, barging in your living room
Run up on your fam while your baby drinking enfamil
Any day around the way these things are typical
Everything we say is in vain the days are biblical
Yo watchu want from me!?
Watchu want!?
Don't get mad when I answer do I vote or not
I don't mess wit none of these bastards, frickin autobots
I don't care if a candidates ass is black and puerto rock
Ain't no different from puffy in ads tryna pour ciroc
All them politicians are frauds and just an awful lot
Coughing up they mouthful but they never do an awful lot
If it was up to me I'd throw all them suckas off the docks
I don't give a damn if my opinion is unorthodox
Yo watchu' want from me?
I ain't never been scared to keep it real with you
'fore I signed to stones I wasn't tryna get a deal with you
Similar to Shaka Zulu, I won't kneel for you
Then again there's also chaka khan because I feel for you
You was writing bars part time now I don't hear from you
Don't be mad at me cause I was down to skip a meal or two
Now you throwing salt cause I'm exalted on a pedestal
I am not to blame if all this garbage is identical
Yo watchu want from me!?
Watchu want!?
I am not antisocial
Music about killing black people makes me emotional
Everybody act like the sh*t is unnoticeable
I ain't tryna post up where I might go postal
But I am not hopeless, I stay hopeful
There's a big diff between the princess and toadstool
I'm not the cat talking take it back to the old school
I'm the cat talking take it forward where we supposed to
Yo watchu' want from me?
Yeah I know I ain't curse a couple albums ago
My life is all about just tryna figure out what's logical
Couple times I thought that I had found the pot of gold
May have took time to have found it but if I doubt it then it's time to go
Switch my mental plane, hop out and yell Geronimo
Maybe I'm like pee wee looking for the basement in the Alamo
All I know is it's in fashion treating my fam like animals
And that ain't gonna stop regardless of who's dating amber rose
Yo watchu' want from me?
In the song "Watchu Want from Me," Homeboy Sandman is expressing his frustration with people who have unrealistic expectations of him. He starts by addressing a woman he had casual relations with, emphasizing that they never made any commitments to each other and he does not owe her anything. He then moves on to discuss his perspective on politics, criticizing the corrupt nature of politicians and the tendency for people to blindly follow them. He tells listeners that he doesn't conform to societal norms and that his morals guide his actions. Through his lyrics, he urges people to be mindful of their actions and the consequences they may have.
The song’s lyrics challenge popular societal norms and beliefs, presenting a powerful critique of modern American society. Homeboy Sandman’s clever wordplay and use of rhyme schemes help him construct a clear message to listeners, urging them to think critically about their actions and the world around them. The use of rhetorical questions in the chorus - “Yo watchu want from me?” - adds to the confrontational nature of the song, further emphasizing the message of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
We ain't trade no vows 'fore we was intimate
We didn't make any promises before being intimate
I was only went down your blouse cause you was into it
I only did it because you wanted me to
Don't go thinking now I'm your spouse cause I'm a gentleman
Just because I'm a gentleman doesn't mean we're married
All I gave you was a smile, not a child that's illegitimate
I only gave you a smile, not a child that would be born out of wedlock
I ain't even saying our hanging was insignificant
I'm not saying our time together was insignificant
But I ain't sign any documents, forms or certificates
But I didn't sign any legal documents or certificates
We ain't even kick it but for a couple incidents
We only hung out a few times
I was trying to chill, it was y'all that was impetus
I was trying to relax, it was your idea to hang out
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
Who was saying this nation's indivisible?
Who is claiming this nation is indivisible?
I don't care what they say or if they paid, cats is miserable
I don't care what they say or if they're paid, people are unhappy
Chillin while them chilln in jails to take a visit to
While we're relaxing, others are in jail and their loved ones have to visit them
They was put there by cops who can't pass a physical
They were arrested by cops who aren't physically fit
Ain't no beg your pardon, barging in your living room
No need to apologize for barging into your living room
Run up on your fam while your baby drinking enfamil
Confront your family while your baby is drinking enfamil
Any day around the way these things are typical
These things happen often in this area
Everything we say is in vain the days are biblical
Our words are meaningless, the time we live in is significant
Don't get mad when I answer do I vote or not
Don't be upset with my answer if I vote or not
I don't mess wit none of these bastards, frickin autobots
I don't deal with any of these scum, they're like robots
I don't care if a candidates ass is black and puerto rock
I don't care if a candidate is black or Hispanic
Ain't no different from puffy in ads tryna pour ciroc
It's no different from Puffy advertising for Ciroc
All them politicians are frauds and just an awful lot
All politicians are fakes and there are a lot of them
Coughing up they mouthful but they never do an awful lot
Talking big but never actually doing anything
If it was up to me I'd throw all them suckas off the docks
If I had my way, I'd throw all those losers off a pier
I don't give a damn if my opinion is unorthodox
I don't care if my opinion isn't popular
I ain't never been scared to keep it real with you
I've never been afraid to be honest with you
'fore I signed to stones I wasn't tryna get a deal with you
Before I signed with a record label, I wasn't trying to work with you
Similar to Shaka Zulu, I won't kneel for you
Like Shaka Zulu, I won't submit to you
Then again there's also chaka khan because I feel for you
On the other hand, I empathize with you like Chaka Khan
You was writing bars part time now I don't hear from you
You used to write raps part-time, now I don't hear from you
Don't be mad at me cause I was down to skip a meal or two
Don't be upset with me because I was willing to go without a meal or two
Now you throwing salt cause I'm exalted on a pedestal
Now you're being negative towards me because I'm successful
I am not to blame if all this garbage is identical
I'm not responsible if all this music sounds the same
I am not antisocial
I'm not unfriendly
Music about killing black people makes me emotional
Music that portrays the killing of Black people makes me upset
Everybody act like the sh*t is unnoticeable
Everyone acts like they don't notice it
I ain't tryna post up where I might go postal
I don't want to go somewhere and lose control
But I am not hopeless, I stay hopeful
But I'm not without hope, I remain hopeful
There's a big diff between the princess and toadstool
There's a big difference between a princess and a toadstool
I'm not the cat talking take it back to the old school
I'm not the person saying let's go back to the old days
I'm the cat talking take it forward where we supposed to
I'm the person saying let's move forward to where we're supposed to be
Yeah I know I ain't curse a couple albums ago
I know I didn't use profanity on past albums
My life is all about just tryna figure out what's logical
My life is focused on figuring out what makes sense
Couple times I thought that I had found the pot of gold
A few times I thought I found a great opportunity
May have took time to have found it but if I doubt it then it's time to go
It may have taken a while to find, but if I doubt it, then it's time to move on
Switch my mental plane, hop out and yell Geronimo
Change my mindset, jump out and yell Geronimo
Maybe I'm like pee wee looking for the basement in the Alamo
Maybe I'm like Pee Wee Herman searching for something that doesn't exist
All I know is it's in fashion treating my fam like animals
It's popular to treat my family like animals
And that ain't gonna stop regardless of who's dating amber rose
And that won't stop no matter who's dating Amber Rose
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
Watchu want!?
What do you want?
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Wesley B.
Holy shit this dude is dope. Haven't heard a bad song from him
JT James
No doubt... Sick MC
str8edge_milk
Saw Homeboy last night, he fucking owned it!!! High energy show and I can't stop recommending everyone see him live.
Adam Smith
Still one of the best tracks to come out of the Stones Throw labs.
JT James
Love this track... Great beat by Oddisee and that flow is the bizzzzness.
LifeOrbPlusle
I love the melodic flow he has goin, its so good.
I AM # 4
Much love to Stones Throw for keeping true HipHop alive!!!Homeboy is in good company!
jezuik
One of the best rappers around right now, keep up the good work man
allstar2bein2023
Dope song and dope video. First Of A Living Breed is one of the best albums of the year.
Ramzi Badwi
I love the legends like Dilla, madlib, and mf doom. I'm starting to really like this dude too! He's got that fresh, melodic hip hop thing going