With artist’s such as Drake, Tyler the Creator and A$AP Rocky often snatching headlines – it can become easy to forget that there is an ‘underground’ hip hop scene the boils just below the surface.

Labels such as Rhymesayers, Strange Famous and the legendary Stones Throw have been producing consciously attentive hip hop with purpose for a duration that seems to never end. Recently Stones Throw singed the incredibly gifted artist Homeboy Sandman; with crisp production (you’d expect nothing else from Stones Throw), and a lyrical arsenal equipped to tackle any beat, things are on the up for the Sandman. So regardless of what style of hip hop pricks your ears, the towering and exceptionally talented Homeboy Sandman is an artist who should be flashing up into your grill. Queens latest import Angel Del Villar AKA Homeboy Sandman seems to be set on self-perpetuating himself into hip hop heads minds in 2012. Already this year two critically acclaimed EP’s have graced our ears. Shamefully like a lot of conscious hip hop it has failed to reach breach English ears. Failing to gain mainstream radio play and media coverage is a very common problem amongst hip hop; but Homeboy is quite clearly not one to rest on his laurels, with a full-length album set for release later this year.

As SQ enters the building we are completely ambushed by the New York rappers size, Homeboy towers over me – I’m 5’11″. Along with the rapper’s staggering height, something that simultaneously strikes us upon our arrival is the enticing personality the New Yorker posses; immediately quashing nerves and igniting conversation, Homeboy’s certainly one of hip hop’s good guys. So despite being in danger of proceeding down the predictable, often monotonous path, of asking the interviewee what their musical influences are, I have to ask the question – purely from one hip hop fan to another. Normally the artist will reply with the generic genre fountainheads; Wu Tang Clan, Big Daddy Kane, Boogie Down Productions, Dr. Dre. Yet the artist that made Homeboy a hip hoper was, Will Smith? “I was familiar with Run DMC and Big Daddy Kane – but the artist’s that ignited my interest in hip hop, and ultimately turned me onto hip hop were Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. In 1987 because I was 7 years old – Big Daddy Kane and gangster rappers weren’t relating to me. As a seven year old I wasn’t able to connect with too much to that content, and then Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince; he’s rapping about horror movies he’s seen, he’s rapping about going to school and his parents trying to buy him corny clothes. So I was able to relate to that, and that served as like a gateway into these other dudes.”

As the interview starts unravelling into a more natural conversation, it soon becomes apparent that for Homeboy Sandman, music is a matter of life or death. “I’m happy that I make a living doing my craft, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be alive. I can’t do anything else – this isn’t something I do for money, it’s just good that I get money for doing it, otherwise I wouldn’t have any, not that I have a lot now.” What’s makes the statement rather fascinating is that for a period of time Homeboy studied law at Hofstra University in America, following in his father’s footsteps.

According to the New York emcee his father immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic, arriving unable to speak a ‘lick’ of English; eventually becoming a lawyer, a story rather reminiscent of a Disney fairytale. Homeboy’s dad is certainly a special man, someone who SQ can quite clearly see Homeboy idolizes. “When my father arrived in this country all he did was box and bounce – he never knew how to be anything but tough. Undefeated, he decided he wasn’t going to get paid to beat people up. One day he said to himself, I’m going to become a lawyer – he went to Queens College for 10 years, and then went to law school. Around the same time I was going to high school, my father was graduating from law school, now my father is a lawyer. I think my father is the reason I am who I am, I never knew what I wanted to do, I was in law school, but I never wanted to be a lawyer. I taught for a couple of years, I bartended I did all kinds of jobs; but once I knew what I wanted to do – I knew I couldn’t fail.”

Ironically the location in which we are situated in is the East of London; why is this ironic? For a man who throughout the interview has expressed his distain towards conformity it makes for an interesting choice of location – considering that in 2012 the once rough area of East London is now the epicentre of the country for hipsters; a social group that’s notoriously famous for jumping on a passing bandwagons when it comes to trends. None-the-less, conformity is certainly something Homeboy dislikes within the modern industry: “If everybody was being themselves everybody would be different. When you see uniformity it’s because not everybody is trying to be themselves; it couldn’t be another way, because everyone is different – unless everyone’s the same, you’re not supposed to have everything sounding the same. So you do see a lot of uniformity that you don’t see from me, and will never see from me.” Going as far as quoting the genius Einstein;

Whenever you find yourself in a majority; it’s time to step back and reflect.”

So heartfelt stories and self-assurance aside is the music actually any good? Simple answer: yes. If you had the chance to check out Homeboy’s last two EP’s ‘Subject: Matter’ and ‘Chimera’, you will know all too well what he’s capable of. With lyrical wit and melodic flow in abundance, Sandman’s lyricism is both a pleasure to the ears and exercise for the brain. With the backing of the legendary Stones Throw label behind him, things can only be on the up for Homeboy Sandman. Look out for his new album in the coming months.

Ever since the golden era of the 80’s and 90’s, hip hop had been floundering in the doldrums. A bvast majority of mainstream hip hop artist’s in the noughties were far to content on producing the same manufactured, uninventive material for the mainstream for far too long.

In 2011 hip hop witnessed a radical music shift amongst the mainstream. Odd Future and A$ap Rocky were able to storm Ipod’s, radio play and essentially break mainstream holds on hip hop; with their competent employment of the internet and mixtapes.

Throughout this time the ‘underground’ was persistently flourishing; tirelessly plugging away, producing music that was consciously attentive, with story – meaning, along with crisp production to complete the formula. Labels such as Rhymesayers, Strange Famous, Definitive Jux and the legendary label Stones Throw – the last of the four, who earlier this year signed Homeboy Sandman to their roster.

So heartfelt stories and self-assurance aside is the music actually any good? Simple answer: yes. If you had the chance to check out Homeboy’s last two EP’s ‘Subject: Matter’ and ‘Chimera’, you will know all too well what he’s capable of. With lyrical wit and melodic flow in abundance, Sandman’s lyricism is both a pleasure to the ears and exercise for the brain. With the backing of the legendary Stones Throw label behind him, things can only be on the up for Homeboy Sandman. Look out for his new album in the coming months.

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