"Many things you hear and you see/Are not what they appear to be,” says Queens rapper Homeboy Sandman on his new EP. It could be his motto. He’s a musical trompe l’oeil artist: His beats build up steam, then take hairpin turns into abstraction; his rhymes start out as straight forward boasts and veer into politics ("Illuminati"), linguistics ("Cops Get Scared of Me") and feeding the needy ("Canned Goods"). It’s the kind of shtick that can get precious, but unlike many left-field rappers, Sandman's eccentricity feels unforced. And he has a skill for wordplay that keeps you hooked: "Cats ain't out the woods and tryin' be all stud/Kinda like they Tiger Woods, but they can't putt."

Listen To Homeboy Sandman's "The Miracle":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Satisfied”

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.