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.
Whatchu 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?
The lyrics to Homeboy Sandman's "Whatchu Want From Me" express the rapper's frustration with people expecting more from him than he is willing or able to give. He acknowledges that while he and others may have engaged in intimate moments, it does not mean that they are in a committed relationship. He also speaks on political issues, stating that he doesn't trust any politicians and believes that they are all frauds. Sandman urges the listener to look past the surface and dig deeper to find the truth.
The first verse of the song is about not wanting to be tied down in a relationship, despite engaging in intimate moments. Sandman is making it clear that he is not interested in anything long-term or serious. Moving on to the second verse, he critiques politicians who he believes are dishonest and only looking out for their personal agendas. He expresses anger towards law enforcement for arresting and imprisoning innocent people, mentioning the unjust treatment of people of color. The chorus asks the question, "watchu want from me?" implying that people are expecting too much from him.
The third verse discusses Sandman's desire to stay true to himself and his beliefs, even if they are unpopular. He speaks on his emotional response to music that promotes violence towards black people and his desire to distance himself from such negativity. The final part of the verse and the song as a whole conveys that Sandman is trying to navigate life as best he can, and he does not always have all the answers, but he will continue to seek the truth.
Line by Line Meaning
We ain't trade no vows 'fore we was intimate
We didn't make any promises before we had sex
I was only went down your blouse cause you was into it
I only touched your breasts because you wanted me to
Don't go thinking now I'm your spouse cause I'm a gentleman
Don't assume I'm your partner just because I was respectful to you
All I gave you was a smile, not a child that's illegitimate
I only gave you a positive emotion, not an unwanted baby
I ain't even saying our hanging was insignificant
I'm not saying our time together wasn't important
But I ain't sign any documents, forms or certificates
But I didn't make any official commitment to you
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, but it was you who initiated things
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
Who was saying this nation's indivisible?
Who was claiming that this country is united?
I don't care what they say or if they paid, cats is miserable
I don't care about their opinions or bribes, people are still unhappy
Chillin while them chilln in jails to take a visit to
We are relaxing while others are confined to visit their loved ones in jail
They was put there by cops who can't pass a physical
They were arrested by cops who weren't even physically capable
Ain't no beg your pardon, barging in your living room
I'm not asking your permission, I'm entering your living room as I please
Run up on your fam while your baby drinking enfamil
I might approach your family while your infant is drinking formula
Any day around the way these things are typical
These things happen all the time in our neighborhood
Everything we say is in vain the days are biblical
Our words are meaningless, the times are momentous
Yo watchu want from me!?
What do you want from me?
Don't get mad when I answer do I vote or not
Don't be angry when I answer whether I vote or not
I don't mess wit none of these bastards, frickin autobots
I don't deal with any of these bad politicians, they're like robots
I don't care if a candidates ass is black and puerto rock
I'm not swayed by a candidate's race or ethnicity
Ain't no different from puffy in ads tryna pour ciroc
It's no different from Puff Daddy in commercials promoting Ciroc
All them politicians are frauds and just an awful lot
All politicians are fake and there's a lot of them
Coughing up they mouthful but they never do an awful lot
They talk a lot but never do much
If it was up to me I'd throw all them suckas off the docks
If it were my choice, I'dkick them all out
I don't give a damn if my opinion is unorthodox
I don't care if my views are unconventional
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
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 got famous, I wasn't trying to make a deal with you
Similar to Shaka Zulu, I won't kneel for you
Like Shaka Zulu, I won't show subservience to you
Then again there's also chaka khan because I feel for you
Then again, I am also a fan of Chaka Khan and I care about you
You was writing bars part time now I don't hear from you
You used to write rap verses as a hobby, but I don't hear from you anymore
Don't be mad at me cause I was down to skip a meal or two
Don't be angry at me because I was willing to miss a meal or two
Now you throwing salt cause I'm exalted on a pedestal
Now you're resentful because I'm successful and respected
I am not to blame if all this garbage is identical
It's not my fault that all this bad music sounds the same
Yo watchu want from me!?
What do you want from me?
I am not antisocial
I am not unfriendly
Music about killing black people makes me emotional
Songs about violence against black people affect me deeply
Everybody act like the sh*t is unnoticeable
Everyone pretends like this problem doesn't exist
I ain't tryna post up where I might go postal
I don't want to put myself in a situation where I might become violent
But I am not hopeless, I stay hopeful
But I'm not giving up, I still have hope
There's a big diff between the princess and toadstool
There's a big difference between someone who deserves respect and someone who doesn't
I'm not the cat talking take it back to the old school
I'm not the person who wants to go back to the past
I'm the cat talking take it forward where we supposed to
I'm the person who wants to move forward to where we should be
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
Yeah I know I ain't curse a couple albums ago
I know I didn't swear on a few of my previous albums
My life is all about just tryna figure out what's logical
I'm always trying to use logic to understand life
Couple times I thought that I had found the pot of gold
A few times, I thought I had discovered something valuable
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 it, but if I'm not sure, then it's time to move on
Switch my mental plane, hop out and yell Geronimo
I change my way of thinking and dive into something new with enthusiasm
Maybe I'm like pee wee looking for the basement in the Alamo
Maybe I'm like Pee-wee Herman, searching for something that's not there
All I know is it's in fashion treating my fam like animals
All I know is that it's common to treat my family poorly
And that ain't gonna stop regardless of who's dating amber rose
And that won't change no matter who is in a relationship with Amber Rose
Yo watchu' want from me?
What do you want from me?
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