A Rough Guide to Sage Francis

Personal Journals (Anticon, 2002)
“This is the big one as far as I’m concerned,” Sage says. “It’s the first official record I made as Sage Francis and kick-started my career as I know it.

"At the time I was known as a battle rapper and there was a lot of braggadocios rap happening at the time – a lot of people rapping about how great they are and that was hip-hop in general. I wanted to go the opposite route and make a vulnerable record – not every rap album needs to be a fantasy action flick – and say here’s the rugged raw and sad nature of someone trying to make it in life. This is my human condition, do you share it?”

Non-Prophets: Hope (Lex, 2003)
Non-Prophets was Sage’s seedling group, with the producer Joe Beats, whose music is unashamedly traditional boom-bap, although never stuck in the past. This is pure bounce, and an album which Sage calls his “hip-hop book report”.

“Hope is a salute to all the hip-hop I loved when I was growing up,” he says. “I tried to cram as many hip-hop references into one album as I could, it was fun and playful. But I wanted to do this record in a way that I wouldn’t be considered a throw-back MC.”

Life is Easy (DVD, 2005)
More fun than a barrelful of fez-wearing monkeys, this DVD follows Sage on tour, around town, larking, giving tips on running a micro-budget empire, rare promo videos and features some phenomenal live footage.

“It shows a lot of behind the scenes stuff and me in various stages of my life,” Sage says. “I still like sitting down and watching this with people to see their reactions. I never expected to do a DVD, it took a lot of frustrating interactions with videographers, but I would like to do another, updated, one.”

A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph, 2005)
It’s little surprise that Sage’s album for legendary punk label Epitaph is dark, raw and politically charged but also infused with an exquisite melodic sensibility. And a duet with Will Oldham.

“This is one of my personal favourites,” Sage says. “It’s up there with Personal Journals, but for very different reasons. It’s jam packed with golden lines and infectious tunes. It’s a socio-political album: very rugged, very heavy.”

Mullet
A staple of Sage’s live show, Mullet is an explosive spoken word routine. Part persona piece and part history of hip-hop, it’s a prime example of performance poetry as an exhilarating live spectacle.

“Mullet is my way, a cheap way, of introducing myself to both the hip-hop crowd and the spoken word crowd and bridging the aspects of what both crowds enjoy,” Sage explains. “That’s me walking the line and figuring out what my voice was going to be.”