Homeboy Sandman is back, bouncier, and livelier than ever on his newest single, the funky and catchy "Real Good." Moreover, you might know the Queens lyricist for previous amazing work, such as the recently released Now! tape with Darko The Super and his conceptually released project, 12 Days Of Christmas & Día De Los Reyes. This time around, he trades the boom-bap flows and dense subject matter for some more tools in his arsenal: vibrant delivery, some cheeky lines, and above all, a lot of fun. It opens up with brash brass and a simple but enveloping piano melody, and steady drums and snaps come in to give the cut some more weight and swing.
Furthermore, Homeboy Sandman is able to flow over this peppy production with a lot of personality, adopting a casual but somewhat snarky vocal tone to spit his bars with. "Real Good" is also a superb display of rhyme scheme adherence and creative follow-ups with internal rhymes, all while sticking to his artistically pure and un-compromised lyrical stance. Not only that, but the "Get Yours" MC doesn't slouch on the hook: "How you doing, Boy Sand? Real good, real good" will likely be one of the catchiest choruses you'll find this week within hip-hop. But the bars don't slouch on here, and the verses are still the most exciting part of the song. In this era of rap, such qualities seem harder to find than ever.
Homeboy Sandman's "Real Good": Listen
Meanwhile, Aesop Rock's frequent collaborator is so prolific that we're sure this isn't the end of excellent singles from him in 2024. We might even get a couple of projects if we're lucky, although we wouldn't want to pressure Homeboy Sandman like that. You can tell that if he didn't really think about this song, he might've acted against it, and we're glad taking one's time with art results in these gems. If you haven't heard "Real Good" yet, you can find it on your preferred streaming service, but you should support it on Bandcamp here. As always, peep some standout bars below and log back into HNHH for more great hip-hop releases around the clock.
Quotable Lyrics
I don’t chase green, I don’t pay to play,
But I eat greens and train like a green beret,
And got a hundred million ways that I raise the stakes,
Only to rise to the occasion and save the day