PremRock: Obviously a successful hip-hop career is something only a few can achieve in a sea of so many. What words of wisdom do you have for the aspiring artist reading this now?

Homeboy Sandman: To be honest, if your music is part of a sea of so much other music, maybe music isn’t your thing. Maybe it’s architecture or maybe it’s marine biology. I think that only a few can achieve it because only a few are supposed to be able to. Only a few are actually good enough. I’m not in a sea of many. Anybody who thinks that about me hasn’t heard my tunes yet. Moment they do they’ll realize I’m one of a kind. The genuine article. For the aspiring artist I’d say, make sure you’re really an artist, because there’s a lot of confusion these days on what being an artist means. It doesn’t mean somebody that wants to be famous. It means somebody who can’t stop from doing something. Who has to do it everyday. Who is obsessed. Who’d better make a living doing it, otherwise they’re going to die. This isn’t a job. This isn’t something cool to do. Is there anybody else in the world that does what you do, like you do it? If so, sorry to break it to you, but you might not be an artist.

But if you find that you are an artist (and if you are then you knew it way before applying the test I just gave you) then never give up, because true talent is an undeniable thing, and if you have patience and you have faith and you have integrity, you can’t fail. Failure is a myth. I don’t know one person who had what it takes to succeed, and never gave up, that failed. Not even one. Neither do you neither does anybody reading this. It is impossible. Cannot happen. Some cats give up. Some cats lose focus. Some cats never had the goods in the first place. Some cats half ass because they’re scared to spend all night riding the train because they have no place to sleep. They’re worried more about their paycheck than their art. But if you are truly an artist, and you go as hard as you can every minute of every day, you can’t fail. It’s impossible.