Rating:
  Review Date: October 6, 2008
  Website: Homeboy Sandman
  Label: Independent

Homeboy Sandman “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” Album Review
I knew this album was going to be dope. But to be honest, I didn’t know it was going to be this dope. I’ve always looked at Homeboy Sandman as an emcee with crazy lyrical skills and an innovative flow, but I didn’t know he could put together such a comprehensive album: one that combines humorous rapping with conscious lyricism; the underground mentality with popular appeal – all while remaining fluid and entertaining. “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” is that album.

Homebody Sandman’s “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” is one of those albums that just continues creeping up on you. I listen to most albums just once and can tell you what my favorite tracks and verses are. With this album, I’ve had like ten different favorite songs, and continue to pick up on subtleties and metaphors in the lyrics.

My favorite feature of this album is simply its creativity. Homeboy Sandman creates songs about stuff I’ve never heard anyone rap about before – and shit is mad funny dogg. Food Glorious Food jumps from an Oliver Twist-inspired chorus to hard-banging lyrical attacks. Mambo Tail Tale, a former HHL track of the week, is a hilarious story about Sand’s mambo skills. And I-Tunes Song vocalizes an independent artist’s quest to sell music. In this track, Homeboy Sandman goes as far as to explain to those technologically-impaired cats how to use iTunes:

Download the software/
Click on the icon it be right there/
It’s not too pricey – it’s like breathing a breath of fresh air/
Find where it says ‘Buy Now’ and press there/
You’ll find my CD so manly you’ll grow some chest hair/
You know how movies are must sees? Well this a must hear/

But what impressed me the most about “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” was Homeboy Sandman’s forays into conscious educational lyricism. Lyrically, my favorite track is City Darker (Monstrocity), a reggae-flavored track that comments on the status of New York City, it’s often-violent streets and unbalanced education system. The following verse shows Sand contemplating the positives and negatives of his city of birth:

Friends from the foes is hard to discern/
Living just enough for the city is word/
The city will leave you perturbed/
The city’s perverse/
The peace is hard to preserve/
The city prefers/
Population incurs/
They going bizerk/
A confrontation occurs/
Nobody deters/
Everybody observes/
But it’s my city of birth/
I would never say the city’s a burden/
Guess the worst that I can say is both a gift and a curse/
Gift is that it’s in the dirt – you find the salt of the earth/
Curse is that it’s in the dirt – you find the worst of the worms/
Over pieces of turf/
Peeps come waiving pieces past the point of return/
Every person’s a possible perp/
Streets subverse if I pen me a couple of verses/
Just to voice my concern/

My current favorite track on the album is Wise Up, which kinda sounds like a Roots crew track to me due to the vocalized chorus. While trading verses back and forth with guest emcee P.Casso, Homeboy Sandman drops the following verse that subtly comments on the commercialized status of hip-hop and art:

Get wise, there’s an enterprise/
That decides what’s in front of your eyes/
It’s compromising your mind and mine/
Are we men or we mice?/
You watching my nine/
You’re behind enemy lines/
Real life’s going bye-bye/
Check the bylines/
For who’s providing the lies we rhyme/
Designed to sever the ties that bind/
Crack your mental window and lower the blinds/
We gladly oblige/
Blind of the blight/
And you ain’t gotta be Bill Nye/
To see the science is dollar-dollar bill y’all/
Fuck Bill of Rights/

Add on a couple cold spittin’ tracks (Lightning Bold/Lightning Rod, Airwave Air Raid, Eyes on Vinyl), some laid back or soft-spoken lyricism (Or, Opium) and a big band or rock-ish beat (The Big Band Theory, God Fire Breathe), and Homeboy Sandman’s “Actual Factual Pterodactyl” is one of those albums that has a little something for everyone. Whether you’re from the depths of underground hip-hop or the tip of the mainstream, as Homeboy Sandman might say, you not liking him is not likely. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this album.

Album Track Listing:

1. Sosa’s Crossroads
2. Food Glorious Food
3. I-tunes Song
4. City Darker (Monstrocity) Ft. Jahdan Blakkamoore
5. Wise Up Ft. P.Casso
6. Eyes On Vinyl Ft. Fresh Daily and Deep
7. Mambo Tail Tale
8. God Fire Breathe
9. Lightning Bolt. Lightning Rod
10. Or
11. Airwave Air Raid
12. Opium
13. The Big Band Theory
14. Gggrrraa!!
15. 2 Hungry Bros Outro