Customer Reviews

Hope

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rock & Roll is dead, eh? Yeah, maybe so, but at one point it was a radical, generation defining force. It represented all the important elements of social awareness, free love, government questioning, and everything else at the forefront of globally important personal and social change. Things are different now. Many styles of music have come, gone, and evolved to the point where what sells completely dominates the airwaves and plagues all corners of our collective unconscious. This is where the disk jockey becomes an on-air personality and whose job consists of selecting songs of a label arranged playlist and musical freedom comes with a price tag. Here is where Beyonce, Missy Elliott, Nelly, and countless other super produced voices with nothing to say get fantastically expensive production, sound great, and change nothing while people of effort, integrity, and awareness, whose ideas often contrast the status quo's, remain in the borders to be sought out instead of universally expected, heard, and acted upon.

But perhaps this balance of the world is the only way it can be. The way of the world, the one that Non-Prophets MC Sage Francis so honestly describes and viciously criticizes quite justifiably, is the same one that motivates him to do anything in the first place. Hope sounds as fresh as Gangstarr, De La Soul, and Rum DMC did back in the day but brings the fierceness of Rage Against The Machine to this struggling genre of hip-hop. It's a great match between heavily sarcastic, penetrating, and invasive yet highly lyrical and well-spoken words and Blow Your Headphones [Herbaliser] style production.

Still, while I like to keep abreast of how pathetic and miserable everything is, which is the main cognitive reason I listen to Bill Hicks, Jello Biafra, Noam Chomsky, and others of that nature, I feel a bit sadistic for taking so much pleasure in it, especially in Sage Francis' case. Perhaps I find comfort in knowing that I'm not the only one who sees the magnitude of how vile things are as well as the brief flashes of beauty in life and art that somehow make it all worthwhile. I know I am not alone.

it's been a little over 6 months since i got ahold of this cd. my original review was a five-star rating; nothing has changed aside from my appriciation for this album. non-prophets are sage francis on the lyrics and joe beats on the production. i got the priviledge and honor of seeing them live. these guys can put on a show, but this review isn't about their live performances, it's about their music. when i first got this album i was just jumpy and excited because it was so new and so fresh. my first review was written in january of '04. it is not july, near august and i am still excited and jumpy because it is so new and so fresh. this album never ceases to amaze. i had put it away for a while, and recently put it back on heavy rotation. this album is amazing with the production. the beats are groovy, funk, with tads of this, bits of that, and hints of everything else. it is clear that joe beats does not only listen to hip hop, his influences come from everywhere, mixing various types of styles. the beats can almost be reminiscent of old school beats with a hint of modern upgrade. sage francis, what can i say? this man is a genius. his lyrical style is amazing, he is not afraid to speak truth. his truths aren't of complaining about his life (not all of them anyways). his truth are of what we see in society as far as media, finance, social life, everything. he can flow, he can spit, he can do it all. his delivery is smooth, at times it feels like he is speaking to you, giving a surreal feel to the songs. a very thought provoking sound is "the cure." tracks like "any port" and "damage" give you a very energic feel, very intense in terms of song content and he comes right in your face. "fresh" is also a very nice song with a fun hook. they can bring the funk, they can bring fun, with poetic meaning, and deep-dope rhymes. this has to be one of the greatest underground hip hop albums.

For bad hiphop, and I found it. For as long as I remember, Sage Francis has been the sickest MC to lay down vocals. His "Still Sick" series of CD's collect some original songs, radio apperances and freestyles, and "Personal Journals" is easily one of the greatest hiphop albums of all time, and now this. "Hope" takes off where Journals left us and elevates the listener even further. Many waited skeptically for the follow up to Journals, and they weren't let down at all. The cd hasn't left my car stereo since I bought it. Every track is classic. So many different styles and themes from Sage, and Joey Beats has laid out some awesome tracks for Sage to lay the knowledge on. Sage hits on so many issues, every time you listen to a song you hear something you didn't before. Lot's of references to other artists, current issues, and Sage's own philosophy of the art. Long story short, if you're as sick at the state of hiphop/rap as I am, "Hope" is easily "The Cure". You won't be dissapointed. "My god, has it come to this...I'm the Spaceman".
My favorite tracks: New Word Order, Spaceman, Mainstream 307, Tolerance Level.

Rhode Island isn't exactly what you would call a Hip-Hop hotbed but Sage Francis (emcee) and Joe Beats (producer) have come to carry the (ahem) cross for the nation's smallest state. Known as Anticon mainstays, the two have deviated from their art-hop path to make a more classic, old-school rap album in the vein of BDP or Public Enemy. You'll understand once Joe's bass and hard drums rip through "Any Port" as Sage kicks straight forward battle rhymes and social commentary his following might not be used to. He even manages to kick some dirt in the face of the industry on "Mainstream 307" as Joe Beats sets an atmosphere reminiscent of the angst the artists went through in the mid-90s. To dig deeper, the haunting "The Cure" features a wailing muted trumpet caressing Sage's poetic lines of searching for lost love and a cure for his physical as well as emotional ailments. But it doesn't really get wishy washy as the hardcore beats and rhymes of "Tolerance Level" and "New World Order" sticks with the purpose of the album: to produce revolutionary hardcore Hip-Hop like it is no longer done. A record that plays through without many hitches or errors is one thing. One that makes you long to hear it all the way through each time is another. "Hope" is the latter. Definitely check it out.

This is what rap should be. Sage Francis has smooth, clear vocals, the samples and beats are from old jazz records and give the whole thing an old school feel. It feels more like slick beat poetry than rap, because it's witty and smart and isn't full of the bombastic egotistic pap that you'll hear in anything mainstream.

I'm pleased to see he's deviated from the Anticon label, which is a hotbed for awkward time signatures, clumsy samples, and MCs with really really irritating vocals. This album sees Sage Francis as Sage Francis, as he should be, not as a puppet of the oft-pretentious self proclaimed art-hop label Anticon.

much of sage francis' great work has come from his spoken word/poetic stage performances, but the strange famous has proven his hip hop lyrical ability time and time again. his phenominal solo album personal journals(accompanied with production by equally sick heads, Jel, Sixtoo, alias, etc) was well worth the wait after being immersed in such "tour" albums as sick of waiting tables, still sick all of which were quite impressive. Now, sage working with fellow non-prophet joe beats has created an equally dazzling album. The producition is great and i have read the reviews of people complaining of sage's "inability" to rhyme to beats, but give the man a break and haters can go buy any St. Lunatics album and leave sage alone. The album is great, and if youre familiar and amped with the rhymesayers/def jux/anticon etc. catalogues, pick it up and savor Sage's no holds barred take on the world

Knowing the previous works of Sage Francis with Joey Beats, the new Nonprophets' Hope album is up to, and beyond par to what the listener becomes accustomed to. With intricate instrumental beats and clever rhymes, it's an album that grows on you the more times you listen to it. If you have any appreciation for Sage or Joey- you should more than most definately pick this album up.

Pretend you are hiking on Mount Everest...You finally reach the top, and just fall...There is 50 minutes of you falling, and you have one cd to listen to while you are falling before your death...THIS IS THE CD YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO!!

Sage at his BEST! Sage and Joey Beats hook together to make their most innovative cd ever...Joey Beats makes some of his nicest beats ever, while Sage does all he can to bless these beats with everything he has...Great lyrical ability, great music...everything is just great. BUY THIS CD!!! Once you have a copy, buy 10 more...listen to every one, make a cd club, and discuss to yourself how great this cd is..

This is truly a hot album. A couple of my favorite tracks are "Tolorence
Level" and "The Cure". The whole album is extremely tight. This album
has a different flavor from most Hip Hop. Check out "The Cure" to see
what im saying. "Mill" is a little goofy, which im sure was their point
but thats the only track that i'll skip through. The rest of this album
is pure BUTTER. You wont hear any words ending in "izle", Sage will not
be ryhming about b*tchs and hoes. This is what Hip Hop should be. Buy
this cd and you'll be a happier person and the world will be a better
place in which to live..........

Wow... my fellow "backpack-hoppers", yet another great work from Sage to savor. If one equates the essence of Sage Francis by his "Personal Journals," they will be plenty surprised with this drop. When I hear this album, it almost makes me feel as excited as when I first heard Co-Flo's Funcrusherplus. If you're looking for some brain and ear candy, check this one out. I give props to JoeBeats for reinvention, and both of em for naming their act "non-prophets."