When this Homeboy Sandman track dropped awhile back I listened to it 10 times in a row, and then I annotated the lyrics just to fully capture the weight. Not only does Boy Sand have something important to say here, it may be the most in-tune take on the present state of America as it stands right now. While race wars and the war on drugs and the stratification of wealth jade out view of the place we live, it is mandatory that there is a focus on the things we do right as a society. That doesn’t detract from our truly tainted history and systematic indoctrination of people up to the present, but there is always a need to point out the positives taken for granted. Among a barrage of incredible content to flood the airwaves last year, these words are the ones I feel that are most important in all of hip-hop. We have it better than most and should celebrate that. The visual treatment for this comes at the perfect time, as Sandman is poised to jump on an extended tour and hopefully take over the world.
Okay the streets aren’t paved with gold,
At least they paved though,
Weaker than the euro, stronger than the peso,
But you get what you pay for, so be grateful,
Think you the only file in the caseload?,
This is a crazed, unsafe globe, case closed,
Complaining oh so much,
Where else do people even think they’re owed so much?,
We are the 99% locally,
We are the 1% globally,
Take a trip where women fertilize their ovaries and diagnosis is, “hopefully,”
It’s sobering,
Cut the “woe is me,”
It’s a work in progress and it may always be,
But even overseas opportunity is known to be in,
America.
Who else is writing bars like that? And that is only one verse of this must play cut.
