Homeboy Sandman
In It for Love
By Xgau Feb 28, 2012 6:53AM
Homeboy Sandman: The Good Sun (High Water Music '10)
He's a believer‑-once withdrew from a freestyling contest rather than rhyme to a gunshot beat. He's a vegan who forswears cursewords and caffeine although not reefer, brags about how poor he is, and is avowedly "not pop." But he's no ascetic. His songs come equipped with brief melodic hooks, his rapid rhymes brim with delight, and from gravelly to singsong his flow is always ready for whatever comes next. Sandman has heard the insult knuckleheads aim at every rapper who makes them feel guilty: "Maybe you think I'm whinin' like BeBe and CeCe." But he knows he rhymes for love and for the fun of it, and so will you. A MINUS
Homeboy Sandman: Subject: Matter (Stones Throw download)
He says this EP's subjects matter because no other hip-hopper has touched them, and except for the opener about his creative process, he's got a right, as in the one about his material possessions that includes his sock drawer. His beats stick, and even when he's merely rhyming there's a musicality there: "Carpe diem/As a.m. turn to the p.m./The zone I be in/Muy bien." From the grounded erotic obsession of "Unforgettable" to the down-in-the-flood nightmares of "Soap," he's got a vision. And nowhere is his subject matter more materialistic‑-philosophically, and maybe even dialectically‑-than in "Canned Goods": "Other food spoils much quicker/The spoils go to the victors." A MINUS
166Comments
Mar 28, 2012 9:50AM
Mar 2, 2012 1:08AM
same name as the Bobby Xgau put on his 1970s Meltdown list.
Hey yeah -- I'm well familiar with that name from riding up 75 (also Rocky & Bullwinkle). It remains a mythical place to me. If I'm not mistaken, I think Eisenhower was born around there...
(Say, anybody know of a decent place for black and white singles? I solve that issue I solve my life)
Mar 2, 2012 12:33AM
Ryzybones -
I'll respond to Merritt 100 Round 2 on Friday's column due to fatigue but quickly: "please leave a window open 'til this matter is resolved." That might be an option one day. I seem to recall you mentioning you live in the city featuring Dealey Plaza. I live an hour north of there in a sexless suburb with the same name as the Bobby Xgau put on his 1970s Meltdown list.
I'll respond to Merritt 100 Round 2 on Friday's column due to fatigue but quickly: "please leave a window open 'til this matter is resolved." That might be an option one day. I seem to recall you mentioning you live in the city featuring Dealey Plaza. I live an hour north of there in a sexless suburb with the same name as the Bobby Xgau put on his 1970s Meltdown list.
Mar 1, 2012 11:05PM
Mar 1, 2012 10:44PM
Geez, Tatum, you're a mean ol' cuss. "Has clearly mastered embalming, now should try his hand at cremation." Accurate! But mean. Poor delicate Caretaker. And then there's the aside to Norah Jones. Ha ha ha ha ha!
I also liked the "forty-five minute swooping contest" a lot. And The Weeknd punchline. And the Randy Newman line. Etc.
http://goo.gl/Fc0Qw (new Downloader's Diary)
Mar 1, 2012 10:22PM
Mar 1, 2012 10:04PM
I dunno what kind of budget people are going to be on, but Carola and I had a great meal last night at a place we hadn't been to in a while, a fabulous but not expensive ramen restaurant called Minka at 536 East 5th Street between A and B toward B. Tiny, simple, no reservations, cash only. A great bowl of noodles with pork will run you 8 or 9 bucks, we recommend the basic broth, and we also recommend the radish salad if you're with someone (it's pretty big). Almost next door at 540 is Black Iron Burger, another crowded but fluid no reservation joint that's almost as good although the fries aren't superb. Cake Shop is effectively between A and First Avenue, which are Essex and Allen below Houston, about seven blocks south.
There are also numerous fast food options on Houston proper, especially the south side. Katz's Deli is classic but not all that cheap an a fairly incredible zoo on Saturday night.
There are also numerous fast food options on Houston proper, especially the south side. Katz's Deli is classic but not all that cheap an a fairly incredible zoo on Saturday night.
Mar 1, 2012 9:50PM
Mar 1, 2012 9:48PM
Mar 1, 2012 9:48PM
Ben:
But truly again, thanks for the knowledge. And if/when Wussy sings "Yellow Cotton Dress" Saturday night, let's hear a big "It becomes a mother****er" from the Witnesses at the appropriate time!
I often feel out of my depth
I'm sure that goes for almost all of us, maybe even more often than not. Not that it deters some of us from saying they didn't understand everybody else's favorite song from 2011 (okay, that would be me). At least the resulting explanation required references to famous artists so that I don't feel like a complete **** for asking even though I had to look up at least one of the references so that I could understand that point too, I will oh so humbly admit. So to all of you who took a minute to explain your take on "American Wedding", I thank you immensely. I guess I just take the song "Hotel California" as a totally cynical attempt to turn the justification of a history of bad behavior by El Lay musicians into cash monie, no matter how fine the guitar coda is, and pretty much reject it out of hand as some kind of classic. Now if Ocean had picked the more obscure but so much more humane "Desperadoes Under The Eaves". . . that would have been something.But truly again, thanks for the knowledge. And if/when Wussy sings "Yellow Cotton Dress" Saturday night, let's hear a big "It becomes a mother****er" from the Witnesses at the appropriate time!
Mar 1, 2012 9:44PM
Mar 1, 2012 9:36PM
I expect to arrive at Grand Central Station some time before 2 or 3 pm. That's about three miles from the Cake Shop, so I'll walk and dick around in the area until the show. I don't want to waste cash on transit, and plus--why shouldn't I check stuff out a bit? So I'll grab food and drinks with anyone and everyone in the hours before things start. Hoped to wait outside or get inside by 6:00 or 6:30. Not gonna gamble. If a lot of us meet up beforehand, decisions will make themselves. I'm always available via text at 724 309 4217.
Mar 1, 2012 9:28PM
Everyone who is meeting up for the Wussy show on Saturday:
I'm feeling that a good time to get in line is at 6pm. I'm not sure if this is too early or not, but it may be better to be safe than sorry. If anyone would like to meet up sooner for a meal/snack/streetmeat/drink maybe we should pick a place near The Cake shop where we could all collect say around 4? or 5? I am usually waaaay too early to these things, but anyone's input is valuable.
Mar 1, 2012 7:16PM
Hi Ben! Don't be shy! Milo, rocker rocker and I are usually the only ones around here that bite particularly hard. Sometimes Xgau dishes out a b!tchslap but he's allowed. I make up for it with sugar, and rocker rocker is gone for now. I guess that leaves just one with no mitigating caveat.... :) :)
I didn't follow the misogyny-labor-leftist-college rap semi-argument closely but I remember Christgau saying something a few pages of comments ago. His remark was something to the tune of "leftists have always made it their business to tell other people how to live" without having the information about the populations they're bossing to know what's appropriate. I think the contextual point was that it's a bad move to judge hip-hop artists' value on the basis of their political/lifestyle choices. ANYWAY it amused me to have that comment echoing in my head as I listened to The Good Sun today. It seems apt.
I liked the album plenty--thought it was clever, catchy and ebullient--despite all of Homeboy's admonitions. I suppose in essence rap is (usually/historically/whatever-qualifier-fits) a debate to establish the emcee's superiority, so if a rapper's not touting his bitch-accrual skills, he's gotta get high and mighty about his veganism. Puts me in a little tizzy of cognitive dissonance because my knee-jerk reaction includes a touch of thinking it's some new age pu$$y-a$$ ****. Oops. Must be cuz in my reptile brain, dissing McNuggets is incongruent with a spitting, authoritative black male voice...and I've grown inured to the masculine obsession with guns/liquor/drugs/cars/butts!!! Do I need more college rap in me?
I peppered this post with a few woman-hating phrases. FEMALE PRIVILEGE. Hafta show you beezies how it's done. :) :) :) :) :)
*Smileys meant to indicate some degree of jocularity. Loosely quantitative.
Oh and I listened to Born to Die again. Still good.
Mar 1, 2012 6:34PM
kj star --
1) Musique d'ameublement. Well that's as salient a point as any, so I suppose what happened is that I misunderstood you. But what I did not misunderstand was whatever source I read that suggested the Ars Nova was the only one, so at the very least I assume recorded versions are few, or perhaps hidden within Satie anthologies Google is not so keen on pointing out for my particular purpose.
Do we have a clear list of what this piece actually entails? Because my sources on that are conflicting as well. The '80 recording is three tracks, running time just under twelve minutes: "Tenture de cabinet préfectoral", "Tapisserie en fer forgél", and "Carrelage phonique". Tell me this is accurate, or else I'll prob'ly have to pilfer that Yukato Sado from someplace (possibly one of your drawers; please leave a window open 'til this matter is resolved).
2) Four Last Songs. I like the Flagstad as well as any other version, of which I've heard exactly zero. As I indicated before, I went for purity and whatever smelled like pedigree, so "world premiere" sounded like it'd be pretty close to what the piece meant to people originally. For a few of these, I wish I would've had this option -- an original 1927 recording of Show Boat's full score (can you imagine?), or the actual Eddie Cantor version of "Yes, We Have No Bananas", which was ostensibly never recorded so I dunno what Merritt was thinking (I included Cantor's "I've Got the 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' Blues" on my list as a bonus track). My classical inclinations-if-not-appreciations having more or less evaporated the day my 9-year-old **** discovered Billy Joel (which may or may not have been a logical segue), I've actually heard no other Strauss than this, unless you count Johann.
3) Compilation methods. My current medium of preference is the mp3, not because I prefer or like it (I do have some self-respect) but because I'm terrible with money and have a bad habit of selling everything I buy. But as with G. Marcus' Stranded discography, the nicest and most unified this thingy could possibly look in the post-CD, everything-out-of-print age is on a nice white iTunes playlist with the year column activated. So most of my study has and will continue to take place piecemeal by way of my iShuff. Maybe next time I'm planning a 44 hour road trip -- alone or with somebody heroically tolerant -- I'll do some format conversions and squeeze it onto a handful of mp3 CDs, which I will write on as prettily as possible. Though I'm not exactly sure how many mp3 CDs 3.65 GB would require.
Do we have a clear list of what this piece actually entails? Because my sources on that are conflicting as well. The '80 recording is three tracks, running time just under twelve minutes: "Tenture de cabinet préfectoral", "Tapisserie en fer forgél", and "Carrelage phonique". Tell me this is accurate, or else I'll prob'ly have to pilfer that Yukato Sado from someplace (possibly one of your drawers; please leave a window open 'til this matter is resolved).
2) Four Last Songs. I like the Flagstad as well as any other version, of which I've heard exactly zero. As I indicated before, I went for purity and whatever smelled like pedigree, so "world premiere" sounded like it'd be pretty close to what the piece meant to people originally. For a few of these, I wish I would've had this option -- an original 1927 recording of Show Boat's full score (can you imagine?), or the actual Eddie Cantor version of "Yes, We Have No Bananas", which was ostensibly never recorded so I dunno what Merritt was thinking (I included Cantor's "I've Got the 'Yes, We Have No Bananas' Blues" on my list as a bonus track). My classical inclinations-if-not-appreciations having more or less evaporated the day my 9-year-old **** discovered Billy Joel (which may or may not have been a logical segue), I've actually heard no other Strauss than this, unless you count Johann.
3) Compilation methods. My current medium of preference is the mp3, not because I prefer or like it (I do have some self-respect) but because I'm terrible with money and have a bad habit of selling everything I buy. But as with G. Marcus' Stranded discography, the nicest and most unified this thingy could possibly look in the post-CD, everything-out-of-print age is on a nice white iTunes playlist with the year column activated. So most of my study has and will continue to take place piecemeal by way of my iShuff. Maybe next time I'm planning a 44 hour road trip -- alone or with somebody heroically tolerant -- I'll do some format conversions and squeeze it onto a handful of mp3 CDs, which I will write on as prettily as possible. Though I'm not exactly sure how many mp3 CDs 3.65 GB would require.
Cheers,
Rybones
Mar 1, 2012 6:00PM
Dearest Ryan -
Your Merritt 100 discography is amaaaaazing. We should trade versions some time. Some comments/questions:
"the somewhat shady-seeming Victor Herbert society"
To Nick: See? The very nature of recording (hell, the very nature of sound waves) deems control a pipe dream. I'm sure Victor Herbert wouldn't want to be associated with a shady society and yet...
"Musique d'ameublement -- I'm still not clear on the actual contents of the piece, but the sole extant recording according to a source I can't quite recall is by Ars Nova Ensemble, from 1980."
Well, it can't be the sole extant recording since I have another version. Or did I misunderstand you?
"Four Last Songs -- the Kirsten Flagstad (the "world premiere")."
Do you like this version?
So how exactly did you compile all this? I threw whatever I had onto an mp3 CD.
Your Merritt 100 discography is amaaaaazing. We should trade versions some time. Some comments/questions:
"the somewhat shady-seeming Victor Herbert society"
To Nick: See? The very nature of recording (hell, the very nature of sound waves) deems control a pipe dream. I'm sure Victor Herbert wouldn't want to be associated with a shady society and yet...
"Musique d'ameublement -- I'm still not clear on the actual contents of the piece, but the sole extant recording according to a source I can't quite recall is by Ars Nova Ensemble, from 1980."
Well, it can't be the sole extant recording since I have another version. Or did I misunderstand you?
"Four Last Songs -- the Kirsten Flagstad (the "world premiere")."
Do you like this version?
So how exactly did you compile all this? I threw whatever I had onto an mp3 CD.
Mar 1, 2012 5:48PM
Mar 1, 2012 5:43PM
Mar 1, 2012 5:39PM
Greg, sorry for delay getting back, but you're more than welcome and suggestions, from you or anyone else, are always welcome too.
To keep up the EW link, in a couple of weeks I'm going to do a show on the Foat ballots, trying to pick tracks from some of the more unusual singlets (to the extent that I have them), and dedicating the show to David Schweitzer (will have a look at his list too, I think Nick put it up on the last thread). I didn't know the man but he's already missed by everyone around here, including me (thanks to Jason for the comment compilation) so I hope it doesn't seem presumptuous of me to do that.
To keep up the EW link, in a couple of weeks I'm going to do a show on the Foat ballots, trying to pick tracks from some of the more unusual singlets (to the extent that I have them), and dedicating the show to David Schweitzer (will have a look at his list too, I think Nick put it up on the last thread). I didn't know the man but he's already missed by everyone around here, including me (thanks to Jason for the comment compilation) so I hope it doesn't seem presumptuous of me to do that.
Mar 1, 2012 5:14PM
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about the blogger
Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.
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