A Healthy Distrust
- Sage Francis
- Band Name: Sage Francis
- Record Label: Epitaph
- Release Date: Feb 8, 2005
- Critic Score
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100He doesn't plunder, he interweaves - stuff gets thoroughly snake-charmed into his densely-packed music.
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His talents seemingly know no bounds, and A Healthy Distrust is as close as he's come to fully realising such a dominating on-stage character on a recorded format.
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90A Healthy Distrust is impressively fluid; Francis fuses his experimental leanings and newer mainstream hip-hop allowances with ease.
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At once stern and playful, wildly scattered and yet sharply honed by the artist's sheer will and reach. [6 Feb 2005]
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86Francis... [is] a complex, fantastically literate and genuine wordsmith and poet. [#14, p.99]
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Sage Francis is obviously not for everyone. Though he is a gifted lyricist, he is hard to follow, and the entirety of "A Healthy Distrust" has a rough edge that makes it far from easy listening.
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The rapper's ferocity makes him a good fit for punk label Epitaph. [11 Feb 2005, p.63]
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80His style has finally caught up with his intellect, and while his beats are passable but unexceptional, his voice locks onto and scans over them so ferociously they're almost obliterated.
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80Cements his reputation for fast, witty, lyrically dense politico-personal rhymes. [Mar 2005, p.99]
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Overall, the Sage may be polemical on a level like few other than Dead Prez, but he also has a metaphysical side matched by few other than Jeru tha Damaja.
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Distrust is crucial not only as the resurrection of the passion and soul of hip-hop in the face of the overwhelming monetary success of pop-hop, but as a vital questioning of feudal policy, raising awareness, and sounding good doing it.
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80There are certain instances when Francis' politics overreach, like on the annoying "Dance Monkey," but for the most part, "A Healthy Distrust" is this artist's most impressive album yet.
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80Sage transcends genre limitations and expectations with restless energy and poetic turns of phrase that keep his mystery (or, arguably, his lack of defined answers) intriguing rather than irritating.
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On A Healthy Distrust his delivery has noticeably improved.
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A Healthy Distrust reinforces Sage Francis' standing as one of the most verbally gifted rappers currently in the game, but it lacks the cohesive flow of Personal Journals and complains about a host of worldly ills without offering much in the way of a positive solution.
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A Healthy Distrust's production and wordplay have improved to such a large degree that it's hard to believe that it could happen again on the next outing.
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70A Healthy Distrust turns his scouring insight upon America's turbulent recent history, the response of a vulnerable, impassioned, imperfect man. [Mar 2005, p.106]
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70His fire-and-brimstone confessionals are as complex as they are venomous. [Mar 2005, p.140]
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70If you're over 25, then expect to find yourself peering at your old teen angst like some sort of barely remembered dream. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.95]
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It is uncompromising, brutally honest... and adroit at melding many genres together without losing sight of the fact it is first a hip-hop record.
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It's a virulent mixture of political discourse, political polemic, self-aggrandizement, self-diminution, childish humor, and intelligent irony; but, above all, everything is pulled off with undeniable character.
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70The record makes you marinate in Francis' omni-loathing, and the effect is one of catharsis rather than exhaustion. [#254, p.57]
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It's often hugely clever... but tends to forget that the best metaphors are the ones that make you crack involuntary smiles, not the ones that require five minutes and a dictionary. [26 Feb 2005, p.66]
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60Finds him in fine rhyming form... even if the beats aren't always there to back him up. [Mar 2005, p.104]
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If he isn't a sage yet, he does sound like a future star. [Feb 2005, p.94]
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55His weighty messages are duly noted. Unfortunately, they're delivered so acrimoniously that the overwhelming lack of fun in the music makes his albums a chore to listen to.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 21 out of 22
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Mixed: 0 out of 22
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Negative: 1 out of 22
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RichardH10
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Jeremy10"Contemporary house of pain" - who the ef is this clown? Unfortunately those who cannot think for themselves talk far too much. Thanks again sage.
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Mike10Album is great. Exactly what I look for in my music, expression.