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February 09 | 15:06 PM
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Homeboy Sandman
Most of us are born with a name and that’s that, but with so few rappers ever going by their government names, picking a nickname is not only extremely important to a burgeoning emcee but extremely personal as well since they actually have a choice. Homeboy Sandman’s name might be a bit unusual, but it came in a flash of inspiration after a long list or losers and he wouldn’t change it for the world, even if there’s already another Sandman out there with a mic in his hand.
“I always had a bunch of different names,” explains the 28-year-old unsigned hype. “It started around the time of Wu-Tang where they came out and had all these different nicknames: Johnny Blaze and Lucky Hands and Golden Arms and all that. It wasn’t even a rapping thing. I would just come up with things and tell ‘em to people. I was Teddy English, then I was Teddy Ingles, I was A-th Wonder, Skinny Terry, Buck Batista, Lenny the Brown Thumb… all these different ridiculous names.”
Despite graduating from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania and ever going on to a couple of years of law-school, Homeboy Sandman puts rhyming first. As an avid fan of music of all kinds, rapping was a natural extension of his personality; a way to communicate just the same as talking or writing. He didn’t necessarily grow up wanting to be a rapper, but at a certain point, his flows were simply too prominent in his mind to consider doing anything else.
“Rhyming is all I do,” he explains matter-of-factly. “This is what I’m here to do. I wake up in the morning and that’s what I am. I’m not concerned with none of that other shit. I’m not concerned with who’s running for office, I’m not concerned with the bailout, I wanna make my rhymes. I’m crazy nice. I don’t have to worry about anything but being crazy nice. Everything else will work itself out.”
Name: Homeboy Sandman aka Boy De La Croix.
From: Elmhurst, Queens.
Latest Release: Actual Factual Pterodactyl.
Time Rapping Professionally: "I would say, what is it now, October? About a year and 10 months. Ever since Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff came out with He’s The DJ I’m The Rapper, I was writing my little rhymes out just for fun. The first time I ever sat down and said, 'let me be a rapper,' was a little bit under two years ago."
On Admiring The Fresh Prince Growing Up: "The first rap tape I ever had was He’s The DJ I’m The Rapper. I will say now on the record, in his day, Fresh Prince was hanging with any other rapper out there. He used to rap about fun shit and all that and people would be like, 'He’s not in the streets,' but I’m a lyrics cat. A cat could be rapping about cutting the grass as long as he’s nice. I always thought even since I was a kid that Fresh Prince wasn’t getting a fair shake."
What Sparked The Transition: "What it was really, the fact that I used to smoke weed everyday. I always used to write my raps [when I was high] and people would be like, 'Your shit is dope,' but for me, I always felt like I was very dependent on the weed for writing and for spitting. I quit smoking in December of '06 and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to rhyme anymore, but I was like, 'Whatever, at least I’ll be able to be my own person and not dependent on weed.' The first time I was able to write sober that was dope, my life changed right then and there. I always knew that it I could do this sober, nobody could stop me; I’d take over the world right then and there."
What Made Him Quit Weed: "Everyone’s got different things that work for them, but for me, I was becoming addicted to weed. People say you can’t get addicted to weed but I was addicted to weed. I was dependent on it. I wasn’t keeping it real; I was a fake, fraudulent person. I was ashamed of being somebody who needed something to bring my art out, to bring my talent out. That shame is what made me stop."
The Meaning of His Name: "People get confused about it because they think of the Sandman as the dude who puts you to sleep, but the Sandman is actually the cat who brings you your dreams. It’s more about dream-weavery, the imagery. You could be day dreaming wide awake and that’s the Sandman. For the 'Homeboy,' it’s just like 'I’m your homeboy.' Like, if the Sandman was your homeboy lived in your building, came by your place to borrow mayonnaise and shit, he would be 'Homeboy Sandman.'"
On The Sandman (Formerly of the Re-Up Gang): "A couple people have bought that up to me but nah, I would never change [my name], it’s who I am. I guess he came up with 'Sandman' from somewhere, but to me, it’s like having two guys named 'John' that are still completely different people. One is 'John Jones' and the other in 'John Robinson.' I don’t feel like there’s any type of friction with that."
On Being Labeled A Conscious Rapper: "Well, I think when people say 'conscious' they’re not talking about a style so much as they’re talking about a subject matter. They’re talking about something different from all the negativity that’s out there. I’m really just having fun but I stand for people using their minds. I’m definitely not for all that anti-black music, and by that I mean music about killing black people, selling drugs to black people. People don’t look at it that way because it’s made by black people, but it’s anti-black. I’m not with any of that shit. I talk about the fun, girls and whatever; it’s not Bible-Belt rap but it’s definitely not that corny 'I’m gonna go shoot somebody' rap."
On Getting An Ivy League Degree And Then Pursuing Rap: "I never had money, not even for day in my life, so I don’t care about money. Everybody’s caught up with money and the mass hysteria is ridiculous to me. 'I ain’t never get dough/ so I never had dough/ I was still a man though/ so I was never mad.' I graduated from [University of Pennsylvania] I was a teacher, I taught high-school for two years, I went to law school for two years. I was trying to do law school and rhyme at the same time but the minute it became obvious that one or the other had to go, it was clear to me."
On Current Events: "There’s things that are going on in people’s lives that nobody pays attention to. People come to me about voting like 'Yo, are you gonna vote?' I walk around my block and it’s sickening; that’s what concerns me. I spend all day and all night trying to open people’s eyes to that, trying to make them more accountable for what’s going on around them. The things like the election, I feel that’s a distraction."
These Aren’t Things People Deal With On A Day-To-Day Basis: "I’m much more concerned with how you’re behaving with the people around you. Are you showing love to people or are you running around fighting people. Are you trying to keep the peace or are you trying to spread hate and war. Everyone thinks they can run around spreading hate and war and then they can take five minutes to go vote and that’s changing the world. I think that’s crazy. I don’t even know what’s going on outside, man. I don’ believe in the news, I don’t know what’s going on here and there. I don’t trust those cats, man."
Other Rapper He Does Listen To: "My favorite crew always coming up was The Roots [click to read] crew and my favorite emcee coming up was Black Thought; he’s amazing. With those three albums, Do You Want More?!!!??!, Illadelph Halflife, and Things Fall Apart, those are three flawless albums. Lyrically, musically, the whole sonics of it was crazy. [There’s also] [Big] Pun, Andre 3000 [click to read], [Wu-Tang Clan], Eminem, Redman… I could go on because there’s lot of cats that are dope, but I’ve never been the type that just ate what I was given. Even before I as rapping, I hear a rhyme and I think like, 'How difficult is it to write this, could I write this myself?' I never listen to anything that I could write myself real easily."
The Formula For His Style: "Hip Hop is music and music is for the ear. Music needs to sound pretty, that’s what it’s for. That’s why you can put on a bumpin’ track and the rapper is spitting nonsensical garbage but people get drawn into it. The reason why he can pass is because the track is bumpin’. I want my music to be as good as possible, so I need a track that‘s bumpin’ and then I need my words to be another instrument on the tack. I need my words to sound so nice that even if I wasn’t saying real words it would be pleasing to the ear. I need to have that rhythm and that melody. When I’m writing a rhyme, that’s where it comes from; the sound comes first. I very seldom write on a topic; I start off by saying, 'What’s gonna sound good on this beat?' in terms of rhythm and melody. Before I hear a word, I‘ve got a melody, then I’m plugging words into that."
“I always had a bunch of different names,” explains the 28-year-old unsigned hype. “It started around the time of Wu-Tang where they came out and had all these different nicknames: Johnny Blaze and Lucky Hands and Golden Arms and all that. It wasn’t even a rapping thing. I would just come up with things and tell ‘em to people. I was Teddy English, then I was Teddy Ingles, I was A-th Wonder, Skinny Terry, Buck Batista, Lenny the Brown Thumb… all these different ridiculous names.”
Despite graduating from the prestigious University of Pennsylvania and ever going on to a couple of years of law-school, Homeboy Sandman puts rhyming first. As an avid fan of music of all kinds, rapping was a natural extension of his personality; a way to communicate just the same as talking or writing. He didn’t necessarily grow up wanting to be a rapper, but at a certain point, his flows were simply too prominent in his mind to consider doing anything else.
“Rhyming is all I do,” he explains matter-of-factly. “This is what I’m here to do. I wake up in the morning and that’s what I am. I’m not concerned with none of that other shit. I’m not concerned with who’s running for office, I’m not concerned with the bailout, I wanna make my rhymes. I’m crazy nice. I don’t have to worry about anything but being crazy nice. Everything else will work itself out.”
Name: Homeboy Sandman aka Boy De La Croix.
From: Elmhurst, Queens.
Latest Release: Actual Factual Pterodactyl.
Time Rapping Professionally: "I would say, what is it now, October? About a year and 10 months. Ever since Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff came out with He’s The DJ I’m The Rapper, I was writing my little rhymes out just for fun. The first time I ever sat down and said, 'let me be a rapper,' was a little bit under two years ago."
On Admiring The Fresh Prince Growing Up: "The first rap tape I ever had was He’s The DJ I’m The Rapper. I will say now on the record, in his day, Fresh Prince was hanging with any other rapper out there. He used to rap about fun shit and all that and people would be like, 'He’s not in the streets,' but I’m a lyrics cat. A cat could be rapping about cutting the grass as long as he’s nice. I always thought even since I was a kid that Fresh Prince wasn’t getting a fair shake."
What Sparked The Transition: "What it was really, the fact that I used to smoke weed everyday. I always used to write my raps [when I was high] and people would be like, 'Your shit is dope,' but for me, I always felt like I was very dependent on the weed for writing and for spitting. I quit smoking in December of '06 and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to rhyme anymore, but I was like, 'Whatever, at least I’ll be able to be my own person and not dependent on weed.' The first time I was able to write sober that was dope, my life changed right then and there. I always knew that it I could do this sober, nobody could stop me; I’d take over the world right then and there."
What Made Him Quit Weed: "Everyone’s got different things that work for them, but for me, I was becoming addicted to weed. People say you can’t get addicted to weed but I was addicted to weed. I was dependent on it. I wasn’t keeping it real; I was a fake, fraudulent person. I was ashamed of being somebody who needed something to bring my art out, to bring my talent out. That shame is what made me stop."
The Meaning of His Name: "People get confused about it because they think of the Sandman as the dude who puts you to sleep, but the Sandman is actually the cat who brings you your dreams. It’s more about dream-weavery, the imagery. You could be day dreaming wide awake and that’s the Sandman. For the 'Homeboy,' it’s just like 'I’m your homeboy.' Like, if the Sandman was your homeboy lived in your building, came by your place to borrow mayonnaise and shit, he would be 'Homeboy Sandman.'"
On The Sandman (Formerly of the Re-Up Gang): "A couple people have bought that up to me but nah, I would never change [my name], it’s who I am. I guess he came up with 'Sandman' from somewhere, but to me, it’s like having two guys named 'John' that are still completely different people. One is 'John Jones' and the other in 'John Robinson.' I don’t feel like there’s any type of friction with that."
On Being Labeled A Conscious Rapper: "Well, I think when people say 'conscious' they’re not talking about a style so much as they’re talking about a subject matter. They’re talking about something different from all the negativity that’s out there. I’m really just having fun but I stand for people using their minds. I’m definitely not for all that anti-black music, and by that I mean music about killing black people, selling drugs to black people. People don’t look at it that way because it’s made by black people, but it’s anti-black. I’m not with any of that shit. I talk about the fun, girls and whatever; it’s not Bible-Belt rap but it’s definitely not that corny 'I’m gonna go shoot somebody' rap."
On Getting An Ivy League Degree And Then Pursuing Rap: "I never had money, not even for day in my life, so I don’t care about money. Everybody’s caught up with money and the mass hysteria is ridiculous to me. 'I ain’t never get dough/ so I never had dough/ I was still a man though/ so I was never mad.' I graduated from [University of Pennsylvania] I was a teacher, I taught high-school for two years, I went to law school for two years. I was trying to do law school and rhyme at the same time but the minute it became obvious that one or the other had to go, it was clear to me."
On Current Events: "There’s things that are going on in people’s lives that nobody pays attention to. People come to me about voting like 'Yo, are you gonna vote?' I walk around my block and it’s sickening; that’s what concerns me. I spend all day and all night trying to open people’s eyes to that, trying to make them more accountable for what’s going on around them. The things like the election, I feel that’s a distraction."
These Aren’t Things People Deal With On A Day-To-Day Basis: "I’m much more concerned with how you’re behaving with the people around you. Are you showing love to people or are you running around fighting people. Are you trying to keep the peace or are you trying to spread hate and war. Everyone thinks they can run around spreading hate and war and then they can take five minutes to go vote and that’s changing the world. I think that’s crazy. I don’t even know what’s going on outside, man. I don’ believe in the news, I don’t know what’s going on here and there. I don’t trust those cats, man."
Other Rapper He Does Listen To: "My favorite crew always coming up was The Roots [click to read] crew and my favorite emcee coming up was Black Thought; he’s amazing. With those three albums, Do You Want More?!!!??!, Illadelph Halflife, and Things Fall Apart, those are three flawless albums. Lyrically, musically, the whole sonics of it was crazy. [There’s also] [Big] Pun, Andre 3000 [click to read], [Wu-Tang Clan], Eminem, Redman… I could go on because there’s lot of cats that are dope, but I’ve never been the type that just ate what I was given. Even before I as rapping, I hear a rhyme and I think like, 'How difficult is it to write this, could I write this myself?' I never listen to anything that I could write myself real easily."
The Formula For His Style: "Hip Hop is music and music is for the ear. Music needs to sound pretty, that’s what it’s for. That’s why you can put on a bumpin’ track and the rapper is spitting nonsensical garbage but people get drawn into it. The reason why he can pass is because the track is bumpin’. I want my music to be as good as possible, so I need a track that‘s bumpin’ and then I need my words to be another instrument on the tack. I need my words to sound so nice that even if I wasn’t saying real words it would be pleasing to the ear. I need to have that rhythm and that melody. When I’m writing a rhyme, that’s where it comes from; the sound comes first. I very seldom write on a topic; I start off by saying, 'What’s gonna sound good on this beat?' in terms of rhythm and melody. Before I hear a word, I‘ve got a melody, then I’m plugging words into that."
