fredag 16 juni 2017

Sage Francis : The great wordsmith

  Idag blir det hip hop och spoken word från en artist som är uppfödd i "the game". Han skrev tidigt egna texter och han har tävlat i så kallade battles. Hans ordsmideri håller mycket hög klass. Det blir två textutdrag, ett videoklipp och en spellista i slutet.

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  Paul William "Sage" Francis (född 1976) är en amerikansk Hip Hop-artist och Spoken Word-poet från Providence, Rhode Island. Han är grundare av Strange Famous Records.

  Francis började skriva och spela in originaltexter redan som åttaåring, inspirerad av artister som Run DMC och Public Enemy. 1996 spelade han in sin första officiella demo, och 1998 hade han ett radioprogram på WRIU som hette True School Session. Han vann Superbowl MC Battle i Boston 1999 och slog Esoteric. Källa: Wikipedia


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The best of times (extract), by Sage Francis
(Lyrics & Music: Sage Francis. Album: Li(f)e. Strange Famous Records, 2010.)

It's been a long and lonely trip 
But I'm glad that I took it because it was well worth it.
I got to read a couple books 
And do some research before I reached my verdict.
Never thought that I was perfect.
Always thought that I had a purpose.
Used to wonder if I'd live to see my first kiss.

The most difficult thing I ever did was recite my own words at a service

Realizing the person I was addressing 
Probably wasn't looking down from heaven.
Or cooking up something in hell's kitchen trying to listen in 
Or eaves drop from some another dimension
It was self serving just like this is.

Conveniently religious on Easter Sunday and on Christmas.

The television went from being a babysitter to a mistress.
Technology made it easy for us to stay in touch while keeping a distance
Til we just stayed distant and never touched.
Now all we do is text too much.

I don't remember much from my youth. Maybe my memory is repressed.

Or I just spent too much time wondering if I'd live to have sex.
Fell in love for the first time in 4th grade 
But I didn't have the courage to talk to her.
In 8th grade I wrote her the note
But I slipped it in someone else's locker.

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Grace (extract), by Sage Francis
(Lyrics & Music: Sage Francis. Album: Copper Gone. Strange Famous Records, 2014.)

Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace
Grace is a little girl who wouldn’t wash her face
Grace is a virtue, virtue is a mean
Between two extremes, one of excess, one of deficiencies
Patience is a virtue, virtue is a dirty stain
Cleanliness is next to godliness and isn’t worth the pain
Grace is a virtue, virtue of the pageant
And this is not a love ballad


You suggested Lithium to get me better again
That is unless if we, uhm, get together again
But that ain’t gonna happen, never again
Send my well wishes to your nutritionist
Your dietician, your pharmacist
Your personal trainer and your accomplices
Your partners in thought crime
Your criminal group thinking doctors online
There is a difference between what is and isn’t
Business and friendship
Parental assistance and an assistant
A permanent solution and a quick-fix
A fit body and sound mind
A hundred hour weeks, and dangerous amounts of downtime
You got a lot to offer, but you’re not an author
If I kill your persecution complex that don’t make you a martyr
Drop the styrofoam cross, you can’t walk on water
You could use it for floatation, not a flying saucer
You suggested professional help like I wasn’t mentally well
What I was feeling wasn’t meant to be felt
Duly noted, you’ll be quoted in the eulogy
It’ll be passed off as poetry between you and me
I know you know the difference between confession and conjecture
Prosody and needing to be lectured to a meter
The student becomes the teacher, the son becomes a parent
From a scab to teamster, the sun becomes apparent
From a chemical imbalance to a litany of habits
And this is not a love ballad

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