Sage Francis, Li(f)e
Anti-

Sage Francis’ fourth solo album finds him collaborating with Chicago indie-rock band Califone. The resulting songs, most of which address hypocrisy (or “lie”) in modern society, wed Francis’ densely lyrical rap style with complex textural instrumentation. Francis has never been known for hook-laden hits or catchy punchlines, and Li(f)e is no exception. It has plenty of deft meditations, though, including prodigal son anthems like “Little Houdini” and “The Baby Stays.” Like chapters in a book, they add up to a greater, meaningful whole.

This essay was posted on Rhapsody.com’s Music Stuff Place blog on May 25. I wrote it for my Rap Is Not Pop column.

————————————-

Rap Is Not Pop: Lies, Relatives And Revolutions

Do rappers even rap anymore? When B.o.B’s The Adventures of Bobby Ray debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, it not only divided critics and fans, but led to feverish claims that major labels don’t support straight-up lyricism anymore, at least not without an equal helping of slumming pop vocalists and Auto-Tuned crooning to make it palatable for the American Idol generation. The forthcoming arrival of Drake’s Thank Me Later – which will probably follow Bobby Ray as the second number one hip-hop albums of 2010 – hasn’t dissuaded those concerns, not when the Toronto artist spends his time wooing teenage girls with R&B hooks. Drake doesn’t even rap on his latest single, “Find Your Love.”

Judging from these and other recent albums like Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: End of Day, the vaunted new generation of MCs tends to treat rhyming as just another element in a pop-oriented package. However, Sage Francis’s Li(f)e, Talib Kweli & DJ Hi-Tek’s Revolutions Per Minute, and Nas & Damian Marley’s Distant Relatives prove that rap – or at least music where rapping, not singalong hooks, is the primary focus – can still yield critical and commercial rewards.

Not coincidentally, all three came of age during previous generations. Nas emerged in the “fast rap” era at the start of the 90s. Talib Kweli came of age during the underground renaissance of the mid-90s, and Sage Francis debuted when that renaissance yielded a groundswell of indie artists at the start of the century. Kweli and Nas’ new albums will most likely appear near the top of the charts, disproving industry cynics that claim mainstream listeners – or, more pointedly, teenage girls – don’t buy traditional hip-hop albums anymore.

Distant Relatives isn’t a conventional record. It may be the first major full-length collaboration between a rapper and a reggae artist, and the duo commune on nation-building, from nurturing “Leaders” to vowing that “Strong Will Continue.” Nas’ pointed observations of politics, spirituality, and life are his sharpest since 2006’s Hip Hop is Dead. And when Marley sings and chats in a thick patois on “Tribes at War,” he’s not just spitting hooks for the radio: “Everyone deserves to earn/ Every child deserves to learn/ Each and every one deserve a turn/ Like a flame deserves to burn.”

Mostly produced by Marley and his brother Stephen, Distant Relatives has a reflective, urban Adult Alternative sound, save for a handful of cuts like “As We Enter,” where Nas and Marley trade verses like microphones over an uptempo organ riff. It seems intended for aging B-boys, but assuming that would dismiss young audiences who are just as supportive of topical and so-called “conscious” music. The same could be said of Revolutions Per Minute by Talib Kweli & DJ Hi-Tek a.k.a. Reflection Eternal. It’s surprising how well the two complement each other in spite of not working together since 2000’s Train of Thought. Hi-Tek taps into a cool, soulful vibe that he mostly eschewed over the previous decade and his solo, street-rap oriented Hi-Teknology series. And Kweli uses each track to explore concepts, often jumping between standard battle lines and socio-political themes on the same song. On “In This World,” for example, he asks, “When it comes to rapping, who the baddest dude?” Then, on the next stanza, he addresses the world’s current economic malaise. “This a recession/ What recession, dog?/ We been stressin’.”

Hip-hop is at its best when artists shift from the personal to the universal, whether the former is promoted with braggadocio or the latter is just sloganeering and metaphors. Francis is the least known of this trio, although he records for a major-indie (Anti- Records, a division of Epitaph) and packs nightclubs around the country. He’s often accused of preaching to the converted, and appealing to a white, left-leaning crowd of backpackers. But Li(f)e is not only an argument against conformity and groupthink, but an exercise in self-analysis over wry, sympathetic arrangements performed by post-rock band Califone (and written by the late Sparklehorse, Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, and others). On “I Was Zero” he admits, “I’m debating the value of a caste system/ Cashback rewards and wars funded by my tax income/ If I’m a part of the problem, then pardon me/ There’s always been a difference between what I am and what I ought to be.” Maybe Francis’ critics don’t like the journey he makes before reaching his conclusions. Or maybe they don’t like the conclusions.

Francis, Kweli, and Nas often get accused of the same things – bad beats, corny punch lines, and nonsensical verses. But the problem may be that we’ve grown used to formulaic rap, the kind that comes with a promise to buy us diamonds and rings, make love to us on satin sheets, and is frequently interrupted by a Trey Songz chorus. These artists’ albums require more imagination than that, and offer torrents of words that, like a good book full of uneven chapters, don’t always add up to hip-hop quotables. The major question of 2010 is whether a mainstream audience can appreciate such complexity anymore.

Sage Francis has scheduled a series of tour dates in support of his forthcoming album, Li(f)e, which drops May 11. B. Dolan, who just released Fallen House, Sunken City; and Free Moral Agents will join him.

Check out the above video — it’s pretty amusing.

Here are the dates:

• 3/18: The Independent, Austin, TX (1)
• 5/12: Middle East, Cambridge, MA
• 5/13: Higher Ground, S. Burlington, VT
• 5/14: Port City Music Hall, Portland, ME
• 5/15: Ritual Nightclub, Ottawa, ON
• 5/16: The Opera House, Toronto ON
• 5/18: Alvin’s, Detroit, MI
• 5/19: The Bottom Lounge, Detroit, MI
• 5/20: Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
• 5/21: First Avenue, Minneapolis MN
• 5/22: The Blue Note, Columbia, MO
• 5/24: Gothic Theatre, Englewood, CO
• 5/25: Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
• 5/26: Badlander, Missoula, MT
• 5/28: The Starlite Room, Edmonton, AB
• 5/29: Distillery, Calgary, AB
• 5/31: The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
• 6/01: Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
• 6/02: Berbati’s Pan, Portland, OR
• 6/04: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
• 6/05: The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA
• 6/06: Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
• 6/07: Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
• 6/09: The Glass House, Pomona, CA
• 6/10: The Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ
• 6/11: Club Congress, Tucson, AZ
• 6/12: Sunshine Theater, Albuquerque, NM
• 6/14: Granada Theatre, Dallas, TX
• 6/15: Mohawk, Austin, TX
• 6/16: House of Blues, Houston, TX
• 6/18: Firestone, Orlando, FL
• 6/19: The Loft, Atlanta, GA
• 6/21: Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
• 6/22: Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
• 6/23: The Ottobar, Baltimore, MD
• 6/24: Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
• 6/25: Webster Hall, New York, NY

(all dates) w/B. Dolan, Free Moral Agents
(1) SXSW

As the 2010 music season heats up, don’t forget about Sage Francis. The Providence, Rhode Island poet, rapper and iconoclast is returning with his first album since 2007′s Human the Death Dance. Set for release via Anti- on May 11, Li(f)e is a collaboration with several rock musicians, including producer Brian Deck (known for his work on Modest Mouse) and Jim Becker and Tim Rutili from Califone. The overarching theme is a critique of organized religion.

Intrigued? Check the bio facts:

An underground star from his years as a battle champion, poet and founder of influential Strange Famous Records, Francis garnered even wider acclaim with his incendiary 2005 release “A Healthy Distrust,” a timely condemnation of corporate greed, war-mongering and American complacency. On his electrifying new album Li(f)e, Francis turns his keen observational skills to a culture of rampant hypocrisy and, in particular, organized religion.

This album is a marked evolution for Francis. His signature wordplay, a dazzling mix of sardonic humor and biting social commentary, is now complimented by a talented band consisting of producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine) and cohorts Jim Becker and Tim Rutili of the acclaimed Chicago outfit Califone. It proves an effective soundtrack for Francis’ riveting lyrical discourse. The record’s title Li(f)e is a deliberate amalgamation of the words life and lie. As Francis says, “What about life is a lie? What we’re told about God is a lie. What we’re told about race, gender roles, beauty, war, food, drugs, sexuality, capitalism, history, the nature of humankind…a gang of lies. I feel it in my gut, I think it in my brain, I write it with my hands and I speak it with my mouth. That’s what makes Li(f)e the general theme of this album.”

To help convey his impassioned message Francis has enlisted a cadre of uniquely talented songwriters. The album begins with a stirring Steinbeck imbued tale of prison break entitled Little Houdini’ with music written by ex Grandaddy frontman turned solo artist Jason Lytle. “We specifically sought out songwriters who had never worked with a rapper,” Francis explains. “And I didn’t want them to write music they thought they should for hip-hop. The music for ‘Little Houdini’ was a long epic instrumental piece Jason had just hanging around which I then worked my story into.” Next up is a rousing and energetic anthem entitled “Three Sheets” with music written by Chris Walla of the band Death Cab for Cutie. Subsequent songs feature compositions by Tim Fite, members of Calexico, DeVotchKa, and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse – each interpreted by Francis and the band resulting in an entirely organic and captivating vehicle for Francis’ dramatic narratives.

Here’s the track listing:

• 1. “Little Houdini”
• 2. “Three Sheets to the Wind”
• 3. “I Was Zero”
• 4. “Slow Man”
• 5. “Diamonds and Pearls”
• 6. “Polterzeitgeist”
• 7. “The Baby Stays”
• 8. “16 Years”
• 9. “Worry Not”
• 10. “London Bridge”
• 11. “Love the Lie”
• 12. “The Best of Times”

Lots of politically-themed music and events this week as the world enters the final month before the long-awaited McCain/Obama showdown. Next up: A new track from Sage Francis.

Some may remember that Francis wrote one of the best songs on the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath, “Makeshift Patriot.” This time, he honors the protestors at the Republican National Convention; and Jared Paul,  a slam poet/indy journalist covering the protests. You can download the song at the Strange Famous Records website.

Here’s a few words from Francis’ site:

On Sept 1, 2008 I received a voicemail from Sean Daley (aka Slug of Atmosphere) informing me that my longtime friend, Jared Paul, was sitting in a Minnesota jail cell. This was the first day of the National Republican Convention, a 5 day event that Jared was covering for a Providence publication. I thought to myself “Well…that was quick.” And then the dark, disturbing feeling washed over me. Jared Paul is currently in a legal battle with the St. Paul, MN court system, along with hundreds of others who face trumped up charges thanks to the overzealous riot police at the Republican National Convention. Jared is one of many who does not have the appropriate funds to hire proper legal representation and the ACLU of Minnesota is so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of RNC arrest cases that they are unable to provide assistance. What Jared does have is massive support from music and poetry communities. As soon as news of his situation was made public people were in a frenzy asking how they could help out. When bail was granted, Slug graciously posted the fee and waited the entire day and night for Jared’s release. I’ve agreed to front the remainder of Jared’s legal fees while creating www.ConspiracyToRiot.com as a way to raise awareness about his situation and accept donations for our cause.

And some words from Jared Paul via his MySpace page:

My long time friend and personal avant Guardian Angel, Sage Francis has made it his business to step into the ring on my behalf. With his help I have retained a quality private attorney and will be walking into court with professional representation; We intend to make it a fair fight this time. …

Wish me, the other arrestees, and all of the thousands of innocent Americans sitting in jail right now because they could not afford a proper lawyer, LUCK! It’s time maybe, for all of us to get involved on a different level. To sign on to write letters to prisoners, to lobby for prisoners rights, to work for wrongful convictions to be overturned, and find any ways we can to slow the rise of the Prison Industrial Complex. Innocent folks are in jail right now, it is completely, and utterly unacceptable. I am so thankful for my health and my freedom… Please take care of yourselves and make time to get familiar with the websites of your local Lawyer’s Guild and ACLU chapters; the way things are going now, any citizen can seemingly be detained for nearly any reason, any time there are Riot Cops, or any cops around… we’re all going to have to get a firmer grip on understanding our rights, how they protect us, and what to do if we, or anyone near us, is wrongfully arrested.

You can read more about Paul’s legal travails, download “Conspiracy to Riot,” and read a blog he has kept for the Strange Famous site. If you like, you can also donate funds to Paul’s legal defense via a PayPal form on the site.

If Sage Francis’ summer trek for Human the Death Dance was a full-blown punk-hopper’s paradise that co-starred Buck 65, Bernard Dolan, and Alias, then his opening dates for Against Me! will be a little more low-key. Against Me! is the Gainesville, Fla. hardcore band who, when not gathering kudos for its string of albums (including this year’s New Wave), sometimes combats fans who feel they’ve sold out. The resolutely independent Francis should lend the tour some credibility.

Francis, for his part, will continue to support Human the Death Dance, which critics will hopefully remember when it’s time to make those all-important Best of 2007 lists. Dance, monkey! The tour dates are below.

• 10/30: Living Room, Providence, RI
• 11/01: Middle East, Cambridge, MA
• 11/04: Sonar, Baltimore, MD
• 11/05: Canal Club, Richmond, VA
• 11/06: Center Stage, Atlanta, GA
• 11/08: Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 11/09: House of Blues, Orlando, FL
• 11/10: Back Booth, Orlando, FL
• 11/12: Norva, Norfolk, VA
• 11/13: 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
• 11/14: Northern Lights, Clifton, NY
• 11/15: Lupo’s, Providence, RI
• 11/16: Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
• 11/17: Terminal 5, New York, NY
• 11/19: House of Blues, Cleveland, OH
• 11/20: Clutch Cargo’s, Detroit, MI
• 11/21: House of Blues, Chicago, IL
• 11/22: Metro, Chicago, IL
• 11/23: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
• 11/24: Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI
• 11/25: Pop’s, Sauget, IL
• 11/27: Skelletone’s, Grand Rapids, MI

10/30-11/01: w/Buck 65
11/04: w/Lyrics Born, Hangar 18, Glue
11/05-11/09, 11/12-11/27: w/Against Me!
11/05-11/27: w/World Inferno Friendship Society, Cobra Skulls

www.sagefrancis.net
www.myspace.com/sagefrancis

Last week, Rhode Island warrior-poet Sage Francis announced the itinerary for his national tour supporting Human the Death Dance. To liven things up, he’s assembled a proper band that includes Anticon rapper/producer Alias on synthesizers and MPC, guitarist Tom Inhaler and multi-instrumentalist Dilly Dally.

Better yet Buck 65 will be one of the tour’s opening acts. Much like Sage Francis, the Montreal rapper apprenticed with Anticon earlier in the decade. He has since evolved into a strange Tom Waits-like storyteller with a huge cult following, even though most of his work is only available in this country on import. Spoken word poet Buddy Wakefield fills out the bill.

Human the Death Dance, as previously noted, drops May 8 on Anti-/Epitaph. Sage has prepared a few appetizers: he created a short video for the track “Clickety Clak”; the YouTube clip is below. He’ll also make a few in-store appearances around the time the album is released, then wage a full-scale assault later in the month.

The tour dates:

• 5/08: Amoeba SF, San Francisco, CA (in-store)
• 5/09: Amoeba Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA (in-store)
• 5/10: Easy Street, Seattle, WA (in-store)
• 5/11: Twist and Shout, Denver, CO (in-store)
• 5/23: Middle East, Boston, MA
• 5/24: Middle East, Boston, MA
• 5/25: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
• 5/26: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
• 5/27: Crazy Donkey, Long Island, NY
• 5/29: Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
• 5/30: Ottobar, Baltimore, MD
• 5/31: Rock And Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
• 6/01: Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC
• 6/02: The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
• 6/04: Firestone, Orlando, FL
• 6/06: House Of Blues, New Orleans, LA
• 6/07: Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
• 6/08: Granada, Dallas, TX
• 6/09: Emo’s, Austin, TX
• 6/11: Launchpad, Albuquerque, NM
• 6/12: Clubhouse, Phoenix, AZ
• 6/13: Club Congress, Tucson, AZ
• 6/15: Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
• 6/16: Glasshouse, Pomona, CA
• 6/17: Soma, San Diego, CA
• 6/19: Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
• 6/20: Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
• 6/22: Roseland, Portland, OR
• 6/23: Showbox, Seattle, WA
• 6/24: Night Light, Bellingham, WA
• 6/25: Pavillion, Bend, OR
• 6/27: The Venue, Boise, ID
• 6/28: In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
• 6/29: Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
• 6/30: Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
• 7/02: Sokol Hall, Omaha, NE
• 7/03: Picadero, Iowa City, IA
• 7/05: First Ave, Minneapolis, MN
• 7/06: Abbey Pub, Chicago, IL
• 7/07: Abbey Pub, Chicago, IL
• 7/09: Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI
• 7/10: Magic Stick, Detroit, MI
• 7/11: Mr. Smalls, Pittsburgh, PA

And here’s the video. Check out the scenes lifted from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

{youtube}Dz1a2-fEGyg{/youtube}

www.strangefamousrecords.com
www.myspace.com/sagefrancis

‘Tis the season of great white rappers! Following anticipated releases by El-P and Brother Ali (who, granted, is albino), Sage Francis returns with a new album of spoken-word-styled rhymes and Ernest Hemingway-sized manifestos. The Providence, Rhode Island citizen will soon release his third major album (and umpteenth overall), Human the Death Dance.

“With all the work Epitaph plans on putting into this record, I suspect it will break the 100,000 point, which is something I have never done. Fingers are crossed,” writes Francis on his website. “The material on this album is strong as hell. I have to say…there are Personal Journals moments…there are Hope moments…there is ONE Healthy Distrust moment…and the rest is probably the stuff I will be most remembered by.”

Guests featured on Human the Death Dance include eccentric folk stylist Jolie Holland, character rapper Buck 65 and trumpeter/movie composer Mark Isham (Crash, The Cooler). Several of Isham and Francis’ collaborations will appear in Pride & Glory, a forthcoming drama about New York police corruption starring Ed Norton and Colin Farrell. Human the Death Dance hits stores via Anti/Epitaph on May 8.

In the years since 2005′s excellent A Healthy Distrust, Francis burnished his reputation as a fierce and unpredictable artist. He founded a muckraking website with spoken-word poet Bernard Dolan called Knowmore.org. Admirably, the site uncovered hipster clothing line American Apparel’s use of sweatshop labor. He also mentored new artists like Sol.illaquists of Sound and Macromantics, and collaborated with artist Sarah Coleman on a series of projects.

Human the Death Dance is being billed as Francis’ most personal album to date, but I can’t see how that’s possible. His breakthrough, after all, was called Personal Journals. Maybe this one has fewer cryptic metaphors? Song topics, according to the press release, range from “9-to-5 cubicle madness and addiction to sex and hip hop.” Titles include “Hell of a Year,” “Woke Up This Morning” (with Holland), “Keep Moving,” “Underground for Dummies” (a montage of his earliest tracks produced by Odd Nosdam), “Civil Obedience,” and the politically-oriented “Hoofprints in the Sand” (which may be a nod to President Bush’s fascination with Western iconography.)

“As the album stands now it is 55 minutes long,” writes Francis. “I want it to be something people can digest in one sitting. Not something you have to break up in 3 parts just to hear the whole thing. But I think 55 minutes is a good length. Perfect for an hour long road trip.”

www.sagefrancis.net
www.myspace.com/sagefrancis
www.strangefamousrecords.com