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100

Playlouder

He doesn't plunder, he interweaves - stuff gets thoroughly snake-charmed into his densely-packed music.

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Splendid

A Healthy Distrust is impressively fluid; Francis fuses his experimental leanings and newer mainstream hip-hop allowances with ease.

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Drowned In Sound

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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Los Angeles Times

At once stern and playful, wildly scattered and yet sharply honed by the artist's sheer will and reach. [6 Feb 2005]

Filter

Francis... [is] a complex, fantastically literate and genuine wordsmith and poet. [#14, p.99]

RapReviews.com

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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Entertainment Weekly

The rapper's ferocity makes him a good fit for punk label Epitaph. [11 Feb 2005, p.63]

All Music Guide

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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Pitchfork

His 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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PopMatters

Sage 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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Billboard

There 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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Tiny Mix Tapes

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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Uncut

Cements his reputation for fast, witty, lyrically dense politico-personal rhymes. [Mar 2005, p.99]

cokemachineglow

On A Healthy Distrust his delivery has noticeably improved.

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ShakingThrough.net

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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Stylus Magazine

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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Urb

If 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]

Blender

His fire-and-brimstone confessionals are as complex as they are venomous. [Mar 2005, p.140]

The Wire

The record makes you marinate in Francis' omni-loathing, and the effect is one of catharsis rather than exhaustion. [#254, p.57]

Prefix Magazine

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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Delusions of Adequacy

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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Mojo

A Healthy Distrust turns his scouring insight upon America's turbulent recent history, the response of a vulnerable, impassioned, imperfect man. [Mar 2005, p.106]

Q Magazine

Finds him in fine rhyming form... even if the beats aren't always there to back him up. [Mar 2005, p.104]

New Musical Express

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]

Alternative Press

If he isn't a sage yet, he does sound like a future star. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Neumu.net

His 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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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Richard H gave it a10:
An absolute classic. I can still listen to this disk all the way through without skipping a single track. This disk 'bottles' Sage's stage presence better than any of his other studio efforts. Forget that he's a 'white rapper', his flow is lava and you can't deny it.

Jeremy gave it a10:
"Contemporary house of pain" - who the ef is this clown? Unfortunately those who cannot think for themselves talk far too much. Thanks again sage.

Mike gave it a10:
Album is great. Exactly what I look for in my music, expression.

Michael H gave it a9:
good album, his older stuff is still better

Juicy Berry gave it a10:
Lyrically superb, with some awesome beats and heavy, heavy basslines!!

Doof gave it a9:
Amazing lyrics and cool blend of hip-hop and rock. Definitely better than the 76 it got.

trent gave it a9:
Those who feel that Sage is 2005's version of House of Pain probably have an outdated prejudice against white hip-hop artists. Sage's lyrics communicate to the American public an emotion that both liberal and conservatives have felt from 9/11 to 2005, angst! Angst is not an emotion that is only associated with one's teenage years. The possibility of a draft make teenagers and their PARENTS anxious and so on. This album, lyrically is a shocking, emotional and overall moving critique of post 9/11-and possibly pre-Iraq draft American society. Sage's masterful lyrics gracefully interweave complex figurative language with honest moral, and political convictions. Had the beats been produced by the likes of El-P, Prefuse 73, and RJD2, this album might have been both an emo rap and progressive hip-hop classic, dissassociating Sage with the almost-ethnocentritic Anticon collective. If Sage keeps writing fantasic lyrics, somebody with prestige in the progressive hip-hop community will pick up on Sage sooner or later. El-P might praise Sage for his political insights and knowledge of hip-hop. This might lead to a Sage/Kweli collaboration on a Prefuse 73 album. Unlike Ghostface and El-P, Kweli and Sage might actually record their vocals in the same room. How progressive would that be ? Or El-P might criticize him for being too spoken wordish. If that happens, Sage might be unjustly perceived as a contemporary of the hyperlexic Sole who thinks that rambling is a plausible style of rapping. No matter what happens, Sage will probably be the brilliant MC, poet personal journalist and social commentator that he is now.

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A Healthy Distrust

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