Homeboy Sandman

I met Luis J. Rodriguez over the weekend. He’s the poet laureate of Los Angeles, author, and Chicano activist. In addition to calling for expansive politics of community, I listened to him speak about redemption, about coming back from monstrous acts, to find his true self, his peace, his path, his contributions to making his family and his city better. I reflected on my own path. I recommitted to my own journey from filling holes with liquor and smoke and random girls to my career as an educator and advocate for the most innocent among us, to my role as a father and role model, to my responsibility as an artist with a voice to affect change. 

Homeboy Sandman’s newest record, Kindness for Weakness, might find the mid-30s rapper on a similar path. With the exception of “Talking (Bleep)” and the rap burner “Real New York” feat. I Am Many, Kindness for Weakness, out on Stones Throw Records, finds everybody’s favorite NPR rapper hella introspective: “Just promise me you’ll keep an open mind, I open mine, openly I hope to put in overtime and watch my tone and learn to toe the line.” 

Homeboy Sandman, known for his wit and wordplay, uses a scaled-back flow. It’s akin to having a conversation. Or a fireside chat. While we all roast marshmallows, Homeboy Sandman delivers the news. Only instead of taking aim at politics, or record label execs, Sir Sandman seems more interested in professing about life itself, “Go at my own pace / have patience / ladies and hombres”. It’s as if after running around the planet at a hectic nonstop pace taking rappers’ places as favorite in the catalogs of smart muhfuckas backpack by backpack, Homeboy Sandman, real name, Angel Del Villar II, decided to simply chill the fuck out! 

And at our age, I can NOT fault the god. 

There is a time and a place for rap acrobatics, jaw gymnastics, being a bastion of breath control, an overlord of obscure oratory. We’ve all watched spittle fly, cheeks jiggled, tongues wag, eyes bulge as the last gasps of oxygen leave a rappers lungs, squeezing out just one more multisyllabic measure. This is NOT that record. Adding to his already impressive ability to style the fuck out, Kindness for Weakness, is another card in an already considerable deck. 

This record must have been written post weekend meditation retreat, song titles emerging from the ether in a mist of yoga sweat, or sitting in his car reflecting after spending a quiet afternoon with Grandma. Maybe Sandman’s kindness, a theme throughout, got him all these dope producers. The record, a brevitous 36 minutes, enlists producers Paul White (Open Mike Eagle, Golden Rules, Homeboy Sandman’s Stones Throw release, White Sands), west coast legend Jon Wayne, Large fucking Professor, Edan, and an RJD2 instrumental right smack dap in the middle just because he’s nice like that. None of the beats are overt, with Homeboy Sandman opting for minimal. 

As we all learn to navigate a world where collaboration, and mutual respect edge out stomping on the heads of your enemies, Homeboy Sandman reminds us what it means to be nice. I’ve realized that my own kindness, or more accurately my decision to rely on it, doesn’t need to be defended against with rage or coped with through destructive means. I’m not being naive here, but rather choosing the wisdom of calm. Believe me, it AIN’T easy! Allowing yourself to be sensitive and loving in a world so eager to stomp that shit the fuck out is a true testament of strength. Maybe Homeboy Sandman is learning too. Maybe he’s choosing to be whole. Maybe he always has and is finally comfortable professing such. However it has manifested, Kindness for Weakness, is a welcome message.