A Healthy Distrust

Sage Francis. <i>Epitaph</i>.

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Iconoclastic rapper Sage Francis is angry—at himself, at hip-hop, at the world—and isn’t about to hold his tongue. While only a practiced listener could keep up with the torrent of words this poetry-slam veteran unleashes on A Healthy Distrust, it’s well worth the effort. Driven by hard, sputtering grooves too brutal to be called funky, he mocks mass-culture intoxication in “The Buzz Kill,” shouts “Call a stop to the abuse of authority” in “Slow Down Gandhi,” and riffs on America’s gun fetish in “Gunz Yo,” calling his weapon “an extension of my manhood.” Francis isn’t subtle and his passionate outbursts can overwhelm the message, but he’s riveting from the first pissed-off beat to the last.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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