Los Angeles's white Anticon collective nursed the talent of Rhode Island's frenzied rapper Paul "Sage" Francis, the best lyricist of his generation, as already demonstrated on the six-song EP Makeshift Patriot (2001), containing the eponymous political rant, and the 23-song mixtape Sick Of Waging War (2001).

His debut album Personal Journals (2002) was marked by a "straight-edge" philosophy of life and produced by the Anticon squad (Sixtoo, Alias, Odd Nosdam, Jel, etc). Most songs are based on two-voice call and response. The musical peaks are Crack Pipes, equipped by Sixtoo with industrial noise and a sitar motif a` la Rolling Stones' Paint it Black, and Climb Trees, with a catchy melody that a couple of times slides into Broadway musical mode and arrangement by Jel (booming beat and glittering electronics. The literary peaks are the harrowing Eviction Notice, which Odd Nosdam buries in a cinematic soundtrack of sound effects, the moving Runaways, accompanied by Joe "Beats" DelCarpini (also based in Rhode Island). with haunting piano and strings, Pitchers of Silence, wrapped by Sixtoo in a web of tablas (Buckets of Silence on some releases), and the effervescent neurotic nadir Personal Journalist, a busy anxiety-filled polyrhythm concocted by Chris "DJ Mayonnaise" Greer (who also fills the space of the breathless Inherited Scars with jazzy saxophone and organ). These are the top "emotional" songs, but there are many others that create powerful emotions: Broken Wings, produced by Scott Matelic in an atmosphere of suspense and dejection and with the inspirational sentence "We don't need wings to fly", or Smoke and Mirrors, produced by Jel in a martial Arabic atmosphere, or Message Sent, produced by Alias in a smooth flow of bongo-style drummming and nostalgic piano and strings. The album also contains weird detours: the humorous interlude The Strange Famous Mullet Remover, produced by Ryan "Reanimator" Bowersock in a clownish jazzy accent, and My Name Is Strange, a saloon-style cover of Bob Seger's Turn The Page.

A Healthy Distrust (2005) is an angrier vocal assault that often evokes vintage Public Enemy and that stands as a classics of "emo hip-hop". Francis' interference of political and personal discourses was enhanced by beatmakers and producers of a new generation. The explosive The Buzz Kill, bombastically and frantically produced by Reanimator, Sun vs Moon, another Reanimator concoction, whipped by industrial-metal distortions, and Dance Monkey, produced by Daddy Kev, form the backbone of the album. The album generally loses momentum in the songs that don't subscribe to the militant aesthetic, but the high cinematic drama Gunz Yo, sternly and ominously produced by Danger Mouse, and the two-voice call and response narrative of Slow Down Gandhi, produced by Reanimator, cement its emotional dimension. As usual, there are distractions: Sea Lion, produced by Alias, which opens and closes as a folk lament, and even a tribute to country music star Johnny Cash, Jah Didn't Kill Johnny.

Hope (2003), credited to the Non-Prophets (a duo with Joe Beats), indulges in more traditional hip-hop.

Road Tested (2006) is a live album.

Still Sickly Business (2006) collects and reprocesses material that was originally released on limited-edition albums (the "Sick" series, from 2000 till 2004). Francis' lyrics abandon the political overtones of A Healthy Distrust and return to the domestic sphere while several songs seem to distance themselves from hip-hop.

Human the Death Dance (2007) relied mainly on the work of the producers: Buck 65 (Got Up This Morning), Odd Nosdam (Underground for Dummies), Alias (Keep Moving and standout Going Back to Rehab), and none less than Mark Isham (the brief Good Fashion and Waterline).

Li(f)e (2010) collects songs co-written with an army of rock songwriters: Tim Fite (Worry Not), Yann Tiersen (The Best of Times), Calexico's Joey Burns and John Convertino (Slow Man), Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla (Three Sheets to the Wind), Grandaddy's Jason Lytle (Little Houdini), Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous (Love the Lie) and Califone's Tim Rutili (The Baby Stays). His "rock" album, however, is a modest work compared with his non-rock albums.

After his solo album Copper Gone (2014), Sage Francis formed Epic Beard Men with fellow Rhode Island rapper Bernard Dolan, documented on This Was Supposed to Be Fun (2019), which contains You Can't Tell Me Shit.