Homeboy Sandman: I Knew – @Questlove @JimmyFallon #PayAttention

We knew Homeboy Sandman was one to watch, naming him our inaugural entry in our “5 Reasons Why New York Hip Hop Doesn’t Suck” series. We knew by watching the level of respect he commands (and gives) from (to) his underground New York City brethren, that he would make a fine ambassador, should he ever “make it big.” We also knew early on that Homeboy Sandman doesn’t do things quite the way anyone else does.

Once Odd Future exploded onto the late night scene with a furiously ambitious appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, we knew that it was possible for an even more compelling artist from the East Coast to similarly explode onto the small screen. Others must have shared our thoughts, as an unsolicited Facebook campaign began shortly after, essentially imploring the world to push to get Boy Sand on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

We suppose the general consensus is that Fallon’s coolness and he and music director ?uestlove’s willingness to expose new talent, make his show the perfect potential vehicle to deliver the clever wordsmith to the wide world.

Perhaps Sandman himself knew this should also be a path worth pursuing, or at the very least, a possible eventuality. So, he crafted a song, “I Knew,” to have ready for that possible eventuality of appearing on late night TV. As an extra push, though he decried its use on his “Yeah, But I Can Rhyme Though,” Homeboy Sandman joined Twitter for a day, strictly to tweet a single tweet – Twittering ?uestlove the song directly.

With a borrowed 24 Carat Black soundtrack that almost perfectly matches a late night band jam session vibe, here is that song.

(If they know like we know, we’ll be able to say that we knew this was gonna work.)

UPDATE: Homeboy Sandman is now signed to Stones Throw Records. His latest EP Subject Matter received a great write-up in Rolling Stone.

Download/Listen: Homeboy Sandman – “I Knew”
[audio:iknew.mp3]