Born Paul Francis in Miami, Florida, Sage Francis is a rapper/writer/performer from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the founder and 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 won the Scribble Jam Emcee battle in 2000 and released several CDs available only on his tours and website (Still Sick, Sick Of Waiting, Sick of Waging War, Sickly Business, Still Sickly Business, Sick of Wasting included). In 2001 his song «Makeshift Patriot» became an internet hit for its critique of American media during, and immediately following, the September 11 attacks. After releasing his critically acclaimed Personal Journals album in 2002 he signed to Epitaph Records, making Francis the first hip-hop artist to sign with the punk-rock label. He subsequently released three albums with Epitaph; A Healthy Distrust (2005), Human the Death Dance (2007), and Li(f)e (2010)[1][2]
Francis is also part of the contemporary spoken word movement. 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]
[edit] Discography