A Few Words with Sage Francis

On his album Personal Journals, released in 2002 on the Anticon label, Sage Francis' style of rhyme and lyrical content intrigued conscious hip hoppers. It showed hope for a genre blanketed by greedy pockets. Infused with political themes and self-realizations of a rebellious mind, the album became an immediate underground success. With the release of A Healthy Distrust, his debut on Epitaph Records comes a more refined Sage Francis. Being the first hip hop act on a primarily punk label is probably a difficult task, unless you look past than the image. Old school punk rock acts, like Epitaph label-mates Bad Religion, challenged authority and exposed truths through their music in the same way that the legends of hip hop exposed true social conflicts in the inner cities. Thus, the connection between hip hop and punk rock...IK: How did you get hooked up with Epitaph and how has the transition been?SAGE: The President of Epitaph, Andy Kaulkin, called me after seeing me perform in LA and he asked if they could put Makeshift Patriot on their Punk-0-Rama and I quickly obliged. They told me that my style of music and the content reminded me a lot of what they loved so much about punk in the beginning. I had recently purchased a lot of Epitaph material and it was all a part of my consciousness. After talking to them for a while I decided that Epitaph is the company who will work my projects better than any other label, so when they asked if I was interested in being the first hip hop act signed to their label I got in touch with my lawyer and we made it all happen. It's been great.