Sage Francis

Paul "Sage" Francis (born November 18, 1977) is a hip-hop artist from Providence, Rhode Island ^[1]. Rapping under the pseudonym "Sage Francis,"^[2] his style blends a varying tone and delivery with subject matter that focuses on intricate sequences of widely varying imagery, metaphors, the occasional pun, absurdism, word play often in the form of phonetic mix-ups and rhetorical excursions, and pop culture references, while including touchstones of traditional hip hop such as storytelling and self-promotion.

Francis is the owner/CEO of the independent hip-hop record label Strange Famous Records. This label first began as a way for Francis to bootleg his unreleased songs in the late 90's and has since evolved into an official enterprise with an expanding roster of like-minded artists. Francis is also part of the contemporary spoken word movement, performing often at poetry events, and blurring the lines between poetry and hip-hop. Francis relationship with the Providence Poetry Slam community (he was on their 1998, 1999 and 2002 national poetry slam teams^[3]) led to it being called "The House that Sage Francis Built"^[4]" From 2000 - 2002, he also DJ-ed for the NYC-Urbana Poetry Slam, a weekly slam series held at the legendary punk rock venue CBGB.^[5] In May 2008, Francis represented "stage poetry" in a "Page Meets Stage" event at the Bowery Poetry Club, with Jeffrey McDaniel representing the "page poet."^[6]

Discography

• Personal Journals (Strange Famous Records, 2002)
• A Healthy Distrust (Epitaph Records, 2005)
• Human the Death Dance (Epitaph Records, 2007)

External links and further reading

• Official Sage Francis website
• Strange Famous Records
• [1]
• Strange Famous Forum
• KnowMore: The People's Corporation Watch Project
• Interview for Slap Magazine
• Interview for Scene Missing Magazine
• Sage Francis Interview with Chuck D.

References

1. ^ SF Biography: http://www.songmeanings.net/artist/view/biography/13852/
2. ^ http://www.copyright.gov/records/voyager.html#
3. ^ http://www.gotpoetry.com/Sections/op=viewarticle/artid=16.html Providence Poetry Slam info on GotPoetry.com
4. ^ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York City: Soft Skull Press. Page 100. ISBN 1-933-36882-9.
5. ^ Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008). Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. New York City: Soft Skull Press. Page 198. ISBN 1-933-36882-9.
6. ^ Taylor Mali website: Page Meets Stage page