Homeboy Sandman is a minimalist in his personal life, and he’s purposefully engineered it that way.

The same way Italian super car makers gut out a perfectly fine and fast luxury vehicle and reconstruct it without out the frills of A/C,  booming stereo equipment, or navigation. Leaving only a body with the fastest super engine fitted inside capable of producing power so intense it could only be created via the freest thinking of imaginations. Similarly absent from Homeboy Sandman are the material trappings, ideas of grandeur, egomania and vanity that are acceptable  de riguer for today’s emcee. No matter how tempting a case they present to achieve success, Homeboy only deals in the raw un-cut down to his food, to ensure only the most unpolluted rhymes reach your ears.

That philosophy of scribing the freshest quality raps constructable made him a prime candidate

for MTV Iggy’s/Subway Sandwiches “Fresh Buzz” campaign where he lent his good for you rhyme style persona to their $5 “Eat Fresh’ commercials. Even though he’s candid about not eating Subway’s because he’s a raw organic vegan he does say, “I appreciate the alternative that Subway represents in the hood where there’s a bunch of terrible food to eat.” That in a nutshell surmises Homeboy’s character. He’ll get involved for a good cause even if he’s not affected by it directly and he’s down to contribute his biggest asset. Rhymes powered by the cleanest energy source in the universe, the sun. GET UP ON MAGIC!

24kMilkcrate is a Bay Area birthed site and in the Bay Area we have a very strong D.I.Y work ethic. Personally we first found out about you through someone who discovered you through your guerrilla New York City subway train promotions campaign. What inspired you to attack the game that way?

Homeboy Sandman: For me I always knew it was much less a question of meeting the right people or wearing the right whatever, as it was for me to just get people to hear the music. If I could get people to hear the music I knew I’d be straight. The whole thing about the campaign was to get people to my website, HOMEBOYSANDMAN.COM which was one of the first things I bought when I started to emcee. And then we bombed every single line in New York at least once. A city as big as New York you can still take over, it just takes some out of the box thinking.

When I saw you in your MTV Iggy X Subway (Sandwiches) commercial spots, something Pharrell said in an interview at Midem really struck me as relatable to you. In it he described how an artist these days should approach marketing in hip hop. First through establishing their website to keep in contact with fans and then through collaborating with advertisers and brands way before they even approach record labels. Talk about that a bit and how the MTV/Subway  deal came about for you.

Homeboy Sandman: Big shout to the brother Jamie from MTV Iggy who found me for that. I didn’t see that Pharrell interview but it seems like what he was saying is you have to do things for yourself before anyone does them for you. The Subway sandwich thing was fantastic. I actually don’t even eat Subway sandwiches but I appreciate the alternative that Subway sandwiches is in the hood where there’s such a bunch of terrible food to eat. The reason I did get with Subway is because they have fresh vegetable ingredients.

You gave the homie Keelay & Zaire a shout out in the beginning of the Subway commercial. What was their involvement in the commercial?

Homeboy Sandman: Oh he’s the man! If you see the (Subway) feature I rhyme to his beat. That beat was slammin’. I love soulful production and Keelay is consistently making slammin’ cuts that’s why I shouted him out.

On the food topic. Are you a vegetarian or a vegan?

Homeboy Sandman: I’m actually a raw organic vegan.

That’s hard core. Eating a vegetarian Subway sandwich doesn’t really do anything for you!

Homeboy Sandman: (laughs) What is it? They put all the condiments on there right?

Yea jalapenos, onions and stuff but it’s mostly lettuce which is mostly water.

Homeboy Sandman: Lettuce actually gets a bad rap! Lettuce is water. And people act like it ain’t got nuthin’ in it but lettuce grows from the earth. So there’s energy and power there. It ain’t dead it’s alive. There’s mysticism going on there I’m big into that.

You started answering this, but has changing your diet to raw vegan changed your rhymes or outlook on life?

Homeboy Sandman: Nothing can take me out of my flow. If my arms and legs fell off I’d still rhyme. But there’s so many distractions these days. I was talking to my brother from Africa, he’s 55 years old. And he said to me, “I don’t know how you raise kids in America. All these distractions on the T.V, phone, Twitter, everything is a distraction.” People don’t get the opportunity to get involved with the essence. I try to be as close to the essence as I can. So eating the way that I do, it’s easier to be in a great mood and write stuff that’s slammin’ everyday. When you know that there’s no chance you won’t write something slammin’ because you didn’t eat something right, or watched T.V that put something bad in your head. As a spiritual person I believe that we’re rewarded for doing good. If I cut out everything that may be bad, my rhyme flows like a free flowing river.

If Picasso were to ask you, “Homeboy, artist to artist what new vision and style do you bring to your art form?” What would you say to him?

Homeboy Sandman: I’d say, “Picasso, maybe you’re the only brother in the world that can paint your way. Then you can understand how I’m the only cat in the world that can rhyme the way I do. Any artist worth his soul is never going to try to do something that’s already been done. You know the saying, ‘No idea is original?’ Well I believe that there are (original ideas) but they’re like prime numbers. The further up you go the more spread apart they become. And that’s what I have to bring. Original melodies, original concepts, nothing derivative.” I’d like to preface that by saying I know that I’m building on the shoulders of great musicians. But you have to take what’s there and go someplace that hasn’t been gone before.

Top 5 non-hip hop artists that you dig that everyone should be up on?

Homeboy Sandman: When it comes to lyricism

#1: Stevie Wonder

#2: Billy Joel who is so slept on.

#3: Al Jerreau

#4: The Beatles

#5: All the old Motown Stuff, Commodores etc…

When it comes to singers as opposed to emcees it’s really hard to tell if they write their own stuff.

If there was one thing you could change about your life right now what would it be?

Homeboy Sandman: I’m happy with my life. But the one thing I’m working on changing if I had to pick one is this. There are times in my life where God is everywhere and it’s so obvious and I want to remember that fact without the obvious things happening. One time I was getting evicted from my apartment, because I owed $5,000 in back rent. I went to court that morning and I was going to get evicted and I had given up. I had already been to court a couple of times . But for some reason the court clerk pulls me aside and is like, “Yo, look you have a one bedroom apartment right next to the train. You’ll figure something out. Just don’t give up.” What is a court clerk going to pull me aside and tell me that for? I go home and check the email and there’s a $5,000 Tag Records Competition in Harlem later on that day. I knew the minute I saw that email I was going to go win that! And stuff like that happens all the time. So I don’t want to ever be down. Why should I be down when God controls everything? So the only thing I’d change is to remember that everything is always good. Even when you can’t tell why it is.

There are many sayings that are thrown around that are easier said that done. One of them is “Carpe Diem”, or sezing the day. As someone who seems to live by that, how do you implement that philosophy in your own life?

Homeboy Sandman: It has to do discipline and looking to make every moment of your day productive. Sometimes you can lay in your bed and be productive if you’re thinking about something. Not falling into routine that has nothing to show for itself. You don’t need to have a plaque you don’t need to have a billion dollars. But (you need) growth, constant growth and progress.

Last thing. You have an album coming out called  ”The Good Sun”  don’t you?

Homeboy Sandman: Yes I do. It’s called, “The Good Sun” and its coming out on May 4th. The sun rises and signifies the new day, it illuminates, and is the source of all energy. I’ve got production by M Slago, Psycho L.E.S, Ski Beats, Dj Spinna. I feel good because there is a good mixture of people who are decorated on there as well as producers that are up and coming. The production is solid.

Fin

Check out Homeboy Sandman on HERE on his site: HomeboySandman.Com

Does Ohio have an export to New York City policy for it’s best and brightest hip hop talent? Sure, everyone

knows that Cleveland kid name Cudi. But how about the jazzy emcee from small and gritty Massillon, Ohio with the charcoal filtered voice named Stalley? Let’s talk about him for a spell.

Stalley’s voice creeps over beats with a crisp and understated rhythm. His lyrics though are brazen, tuned

and confident like when he spits, ”My melo my man/ my ace my friend/ you are now rockin’ with/ a non complacent man/ so I guess we’re not settlin’ then/ this beats so comfortable/ with out peddlin’/ G5 or fixed gear/ no ride is better than/ the one you on right now” He’s at ease with his sound and it’s one that you can knock full blast. But it sounds better beating in headphones or as a side dish to play along with good company.

Speaking further volumes about Stalley is his close affiliation and upcoming projects with online video

content producers Creative Control and their connected organizations. All of which have the involvement or fall under the umbrella of hip hop’s hypest entrepreneur Dame Dash. Dame who is now back into the indi hip hop game full force sees something in Stalley and for that fact alone Stalley is someone to keep a search light upon. Between his schedule of video shoots in Jamaica, collaborative projects with niche hip hop artists and working on a remix-tape to his last project “Mad Stalley” he’s punching in double shifts daily. This ex-basketball champ is off to a break out start in hip hop and he’s not giving up an inch. Not bad for a guy straight up out the Milq. So sit back and take a few minutes as 24KMilkCrate.Com helps you to GET UP ON MAGIC!

So you just came back from a vacation in Jamaica?

• Stalley: It wasn’t a vacation. There was a Jazz Festival. But I went out there to work with all my partners like Dame Dash, Curren$y, and Creative Control. We were recording. Shooting some music videos. It’s going through editing. But there’s some ILL stuff about to be released from this trip here.

People always bring up your beard in interviews.

• Stalley: Yeah it is it’s own character. (laughs)

Does the beard have a specific significance for you?

• Stalley: Well the beard has a lot of significance. I started to grow it as I started to grow and develop as a person. I let it grow with me. Also it’s part of my religion. I’m a Sunni Muslim so that plays a significant part in it too. To everybody else, it looks good on me so. I kept it.

Is there any other prominent celebrity beards that you have respect for? Because it’s tough to grow out a good beard.

• Stalley: Not to sound any type of way but I don’t think any body else got a beard like me. Rick Ross got a baby beard. Freeway has one too. But they ain’t really messin’ with mine.

Baron Davis was rockin’ a pretty good one for a minute.

• Stalley: Oh yeah, B Diddy had a good one. Drew Gooden used to have a nice one too. I respect both of their beards. (laughs) But mine is just (different). No disrespect to nobody.

Yeah they’re just beirdos.

• (laughs)

Being in the music business what’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned.

• Stalley: To be real to yourself. Don’t worry about the things around you because those things will hamper your life. Have the courage to say anything and don’t be afraid to be yourself.

I read that you’ve got a show coming up that will be produced by Creative Control called “The Milq” can you talk about that a little bit?

• Stalley: The show with Creative Control is coming soon. The Milq is actually a nick name for where I’m from, Massillon Ohio. And it’s a small blue collar, steel city where people work hard. So it’s like we’re milking the cow or people for what we can get. And the show is going to reflect that. We’re Showing you where I come from the best way I can. Going back home and getting some visuals, because a lot of people haven’t seen a place like I grew up in. And a lot of people from my area haven’t made it to where I’m at. I don’t think I’ve made it. But to them it is like I made it because that’s how real it is out there. So it’s going to be shot there and here in New York.

Recently the video for “We Can Do It Big” with the Cool Kids came out and it has a movie theater inspired theme  to it. What movie out there can you watch a 1,000 times and never get tired of it?

• Stalley: That’s a good question…can I name a few?

Sure

• Stalley: I would have to say Snatch. City of God, Do The Right Thing, and Troy.

“Mad Stalley: The Auto-biography” Your last project is doing well. What do you have planned next?

• Stalley: I’m all over the place. The next project coming I think is “24Hour Karate School” I’m all over that joint. I’m working on a project with Sa-Ra also. We’re about 5 songs in to that. And I’m also working on a project with Ski-Beats just me and him. Both the Ski Beats and the Sa-Ra projects will be about 10 tracks. And you’re the first person to know this now but I’m working on a remix project for “Mad Stalley” because I feel it hasen’t reached a lot of people it should of. So instead of re-releasing it, we’re doing a remix joint. I’ve got Shafiq of Sa-Ra, Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5…I’m still reaching out but those are some of the producers that have already started working on it.

Download: Stalley’s mixtape “Mad Stalley: The Autobiography”

Ok last question and it’s a survival question. What are the first 3 things you do if you were snow boarding and you found out you we’re lost completely in the woods.

• Stalley: #1 I’d disconnect myself from the snowboard so I could start walking.
• #2 Make sure I’m warm because it’s going to be awhile.
• #3 Try and re-trace my steps. See if I could recognize a hill I went down or a turn. Probably try to find tracks left by my snowboard.

So no slaying of a moose to stay alive?

• Stalley: (laughs) hopefully I don’t run into one. If I had a cellphone I’d just call someone but since I’m snowboarding I’m going to be falling all the time. So I probably wouldn’t have one. I’d probably be out there for a minute.

FIN

Words: @chasenpaper

Footage: Emmanuel Blackwell

Chace Infinite is a one of one, an individual that has no predecessors before him and none to follow.

A rare breed. Like the one off and dead stock kicks that encompass his less than modest collection which is large enough to submerge the car in his garage. As half of the Southern California duo Self Scientific with Dj Khalil, Chace carved out his cross continental underground following through out the mid 90’s and early thousands earning a rep that sits solid to this day.

Don’t be mistaken though. It’s not just rhymes, gear and limited quantity sneaks for this emcee. He’s got

an extremely observant eye for outlier information. Ask him about Obama and he’ll hit you back with the President’s support of H.A.A.R.P and the testing of tectonic weapons being the source of the recent series of massive quakes in Haiti. It’s way left field but the information is very easy to get access to if one was inclined to know things that will shatter reality and closely held world views. In Chace’s case destroying reality and rebuilding it is just another day at the office.  His esoteric knowledge and contribution to hip hop in the realms of music and street fashion at its nascency is as certified as VVS diamonds and it’s only proper that it doesn’t stop. He’s pushing into 2010 like high tide with Self Scientific’s conceptual “DESIGNER MUSIC”  Ep, the Self Scientific “Come in Peace, Prepare For War”  project, and guest appearances on albums like Bambu’s upcoming “Paper Cuts”.  Posted at Prohibit in NYC’s Lower East Side we popped through to see the man, where he was kind enough to roll up a blunt and let his thoughts fly. Get up on magic!

You’re stuck in the Amazon RainForest. What are the first three things that you do?

• Chace Infinite: What season is it?
• 
  

It’s Rainy season.

• • Chace: Ok…
  • (#1) Find a clean water source.
  • (#2) Find high ground and covering. To get a knowledge of the landscape
  • (And #3)…Can you Smoke ANY OF THESE MUTHA FUCKIN’ PLANTS!
  • (laughs) We’re in the Rain forest! I know there’s some kill in here somewhere.

You’ve had your pulse on fashion and the street wear movement for over 10 years. In your eyes,when did streetwear brand labels come to play such a big part in the music, and how folks these days perceive artists?

• • Chace: I’d say 2000/01 with the inception of Complex, then with Ebay with people re-selling gear that you couldn’t get in other parts of the country.  As the Internet became more prevalent, you could find out what was poppin’ (fashionable)  in Tokyo, L.A, or New York the same day. And Kanye came along and made it so it had to be part of your I.D or your make-up as an artist to get respect from certain people. So it was a combination of those three things happening all together. Which I think is kinda fucked up and weird.  But I guess it was always kinda like that. Except it was silk shirts and Bally’s shoes.

Download:Self Scientific Designer Music

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Did you rid yourself of your shoe collection?

• • Chace: I probably got about 300 pairs. Me and my girl went to see my parents and she was buggin’ out. You can’t even fit a car  in the garage no more, and a lot (of shoes) out of boxes. I’m not the type to get some shit and not wear it. I have some really rare kicks. The 1 of 15 low top EA Sports Air Force 2’s, beat the fuck up. All of ‘em beat the fuck up. I don’t even skateboard either.

So have you always been the ILL collecting type?

• Chace: I  started collecting when I  was in 8th grade playing basketball at Super Star Summer Camp in Santa Barbra. We’d trade for jerseys and shoes. Coaches would order out of the East Bay Catalogue and only get their team color ways. So we’d trade jerseys and Air Forces with kids from all across the nation at camp, Michigan, Jersey, everywhere. When I’d come back home and ni***s would see me in yellow and white Air Forces they’d ask, “Where did you get them at?” I traded for them.

What lasting legacy do u want to leave musically?

• Chace: Just a body of work man. Self Scientific means knowledge in self and we really write to explain shit to ourselves. The music comes from a really introspective place. I think we make really relevant thought provoking music. So people will see our growth and our contradictions, all of it is out there.  Ultimately we make hip hop for artists.

Let’s say you’re the head of a Record Label who are the top 5 artists you sign? You can pull anybody.

• Chace: (#1) I’m going to get Eminem first. Because he’s white and he raps better than anybody, and that’s a formula that’s going to make you alot of money.
• (#2 )I’d do a record with NAS produced all by Khalil (Producer/DJ Khalil)
• (#3) I’d do a rock project with cats that are respected but still sell. Like the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s or Kings Of Leon, T.V On The Radio. Some artsy rock shit I could take over Fader with.
• (#4) I’d sign some one like Lalah Hathaway just because I love her shit. I don’t care how much it sells.
• (#5) I’d sign Krondon. Who is an amazing artist. I just don’t think people have gotten the full spectrum of his talent yet.

Final question, one year into Obama’s presidency. What do you think?

• Same shit. As long as humans are emotion driven we’ll fall victim to to the hype. He’s a black dude, and from that perspective it’s amazing. Because regardless if Obama is part of the plot to control and kill us all. There’s kids out there that will be inspired by his story. And for indigenous people and minorities it’s a great thing to see. But in a way it’s like ni***s can never win. When it’s all said and done when people look at what his signature is on, which he really doesn’t have much control over. It will be some of the most detrimental things done in history. What he represents is the system that has been oppressing indigenous people for so long. He’s the president of United States of America Incorporated. And at the end of the day it’s like, “These ni***s can’t have anything. Give ‘em the Presidency. They bankrupt the country with their fake ass health care bill. Let the Chinese buy up everything. 151,000 people die in Haiti, and this ni***s signature in on the papers that authorized the development of HAAP to make tectonic weapons. What are they doing?”  I don’t know. But don’t think it’s that far fetched. Information is so available now, but people are just sheep. They believe it’s (the Haiti Earthquake) is an act of God because it plays into the whole end of days shit.

Speaking of the end of days. What are you going to be doing for 2012?

• Burning shit down man. (laughs)

Not spending with the family?

• Yeah chillin’ with the family, burnin’ it down. Because it’ll be the end of times as we know it. Not the end of the world. I think alot of shit will be revealed. The black man was on Saturn and Mars. They’re gonna find that shit out.

FIN.

Words: ChasenPaper

Photos: Patrick (Paddy Cake) Kawahara

Art: Wayland Chew

Take a deep breath, now say every synonym in the English language thinkable for the word swagger. Bay Area emcee J-Billion or “Billion” should be the first word from your lips as you exhale. No stranger to the hip hop scene in S.F, he’s opened up crowds for huge artists like Q-tip, Bun B, and The Clipse, and had them eating from his palm. His high pitched live voice will cut through the weakest sound system and defeat the most unschooled engineer. With a will to succeed that forces the sound waves themselves to be as determined as his heart is to be heard. Fairly unknown outside of the Bay Area, he has more gigs performed and albums stacked up than professional emcees. Which in the course of the interview led him to declare his status as the, “Illest rapper with a job you know.” J-Billion is new to the game but not in a negative way. His thoughts and movements are more mature than a young emcees, yet his spirit makes it clear that he will be forever young. Any veteran in the entertainment business will concur, the music game can be a fountain of youth or it can make a man old and weather beaten beyond his years. Trust, for J-Billion it’s the former…never the latter and luckily, he decided to gear up with 24KMilkCrate and OhDangmag.com to present you with his introduction.

(more…)

Words: ChasenPaper
Photos: Jan Ferrer
Visuals: Wayland Chew

Curt@!ns is all charm and moxie. Want evidence? Two minutes and fifty seven seconds into his song, “The Dope Supremacy” he slings the rhyme. “See me/ I’m what ya’ll coulda been/ young rebel/ I’m what Nas coulda been/” Don’t be put off. It’s not hard to tell that his impertinence for the icon stems from hunger and frustration and not from disrespect. It’s baggage he shoulders from having to deal with a major label system that shuns truly original artists like himself for followers of trends. So much so that Curt@!ns took a brief break from the industry and moved from Brooklyn out to sunny L.A to work two jobs and re-energize. Gladly he’s back and in a profound way.

(more…)

Presents: Johnny Polygon

“Back on his Bullshit

Words: Chhavi Nanda

(more…)

Words:@Chasenpaper
Snap: HuyFoto
Graphic:Billy Teichen

Very rarely does an emcee who rhymes in free associations emerge out of the underground circuit. It’s even more rare that the said emcee is able to craft songs that are not only profound, but also addictive hook heavy sing-a-longs, while layering lyrics over laser sounding synths, twangs, and 808 knocks that transform the reflective nature of those songs into jams with an intensity of booty bass proportions. It sounds impossible but entering into this singular position is the young Duval County raised emcee Rob Roy. Jacksonville Florida was a great place for him to be born. Had he come up in any other city in the country with his same talents and skills, and not drank the same water that birthed crews like “95 South” he wouldn’t be the artist he is today. “On one end it’s frustrating but at the same time it causes you to use your imagination and to aim high,” Rob Roy explains of his home town, which is also home to the United State’s third largest naval base.

That frustration served Rob Roy well. Already a familiar face in Jacksonville’s tiny hip hop scene with no where else to expand, Rob Roy placed his life into a handkerchief, tied it to a stick flung over his shoulder and struck out across country. “For me the quest to complete the album, or the right songs for the album, became a physical trek from one coast to the other. And the journey to finish this album became the journey from adolescence to what would be considered maturity.” It was on this cross continental pilgrimage in pursuit of his “personal legend” (word to Paulo Coelho) that Rob Roy found a place and settled in Los Angeles, where he shot his smash hit video for “Fur In My Cap” backed by Dub Frequency and Alife. Along with attaining his own pair of specially designed and limited Converse kicks fashioned to promote the impending drop of his album “King Warrior Magician Lover” . Rob Roy’s music is making him famous. But what set him apart is his instinct to leap into his imagination, visions, and ambitions then jolting them to life. Partake.

(more…)

Words: Ninoy Brown
Art: Wayland Chew

With the recent release of his free download album, Soon You’ll Understand, LA rapper/business man, Diz Gibran, is making marks as more than a hyped up rapper in the “New West” movement. His calm and simple, yet introspective, rhymes paint a man more complex than a rapper capable of reciting the Periodic Table of Elements in his lyrics. Using the internet as an equalizer, he’s built a buzz from out of the ether. His YouTube clips, Vimby features, blog shout outs and his recent appearance on the late great Jay Dilla’s “Jay Stay Paid” album amounts to over 20 pages of meaningful content when you google his name. Not bad for a man who has kept a low public profile for years. In this interview with 24karat Milkcrate x Ohdangmag.com Diz unwinds and talks about his free album, net-working through the fashion industry, and another Khalil Gibran. Read on.

(more…)

Words by: @ChasenPaper

In 2009 Jake One is emerging as a Corinthian pillar of hip hop from out of the Pacific North west, but his beginnings were humble. As a young kid he was a maniac when it came to collecting baseball cards. After games he would wait by the player’s locker rooms, chasing players exiting the field for an autograph to expand his ever growing card collection and he was damn good at it too. Until one day, when he was in the 8th grade he had a light bulb moment while running to catch a signature. He thought to himself, “I’m way too old for this shit. What am I doing here?” At that realization a lot of boys conform to the old adage, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,” and they moth ball their baseball cards, or their comics and pick up more “grown” up hobbies. Not JakeOne. Soon after his epiphany he discovered that his favorite hip hop records at the time derived their signature sounds from even older records, and the “record digger,” in JakeOne was born.

It’s been 8 months since the release of JakeOne’s first official album, “White Van Music” that features some of hip hop’s loftiest and most talented emcees and he is still humble. He’s produced for hip hop’s heaviest hitters and most under rated emcees, and is currently a member of the good Dr.Dre’s personal in house beat production camp. A group that is reserved for only 4 other producers in all of hip hop. Talk about keeping good company. As a judge in Red Bull’s international “Big Tune” battle, he’s heard the best and worst that hip hop has to offer and he comes back year after year with open ears and mind. To put it in lay men’s terms. The dudes got mad stripes son! He’s made his bones. He’s a fucking Hit Man. Which makes it obligatory for any person who appreciates hip hop to listen when he speaks. Enjoy.

(more…)