Homeboy Sandman

Cypress Hill, “Hand on the Pump”

It’s kind of incredible that a song as weird as this one made as much of an impact on popular culture as it did. Not that it doesn’t smoke, it does, but everything from the odd vocal loop, to B-Real’s nasal vocal, to the squeaky noises all over, to the sing-song chorus is off-kilter. It’s fantastic stuff! Just odd.

Common, “Black America Again”

The title track from Common’s 2016 album, he used a lot of guest artists on the record, with the biggest one on this track. Stevie Wonder sounds great, as always, and Common in general turns in a fine performance across the whole album. I think it’s his best record since Be.

Spanish Love Songs, “Routine Pain”

I missed the first couple Spanish Love Songs albums when they came out, because I’m an out of touch loser. So this is the first song I ever heard from the band, and it’s simultaneously a seriously impressive tune, totally affecting, and frankly kind of hard to listen to. I think this record is amazing and also I just can’t handle listening to it very often.

Homeboy Sandman, “Name”

I first encountered Homebody Sandman through his (excellent) collaboration with Edan. I liked it enough to pick up his next record, Dusty, which I also enjoy. Lots of jazzy loops providing a great backdrop for his flows, which are a good time.

David Bowie, “Sound and Vision”

I’m not a Bowie scholar (I find myself saying a lot what kind of scholar I am not around here!). I have tried to stick to just some of his essential albums. In practice, for Bowie, that means I have five albums, Low being one of them. I’m not sure what else to say about it, other than it’s one of his essential albums.