Download The Album here, for liner notes and a tracklisting click the read more link!

1) Strange Fame (2009)
2) S.A.G.E. Bastard (prod. by Buck 65, 2009)
3) I Trusted You (beat by Buck 65, 2009)
4) Needle (beat and scratches by Buddy Peace, 2009)
5) House of Bees (feat. B. Dolan, beat by Buck 65, 2009)
6) Jaw of Steel (beat and scratches by Reanimator, 2009)
7) If I Go To Hell (demo, 1997)
Conspiracy to Riot (beat & scratches by Reanimator, 2008)
9) Be a Star (beat by Buck 65, 2007)
10) Sea Legs (feat. B. Dolan & Sleep. Scratches by Buddy Peace.
Additional vocals by Jared Paul and Curtis Plum. Beat by Aupheus, 2009.)
11) Flashback 96 (home recording, 1996)
12) Masturbate Your Brain (AOI demo, 1997)
13) SFR Pays Dues (feat. B. Dolan & Prolyphic, 2008)
14) Pump (beat and scratches by Buddy Peace & Reanimator, 2009)
15) Revenge of the Ogre (interlude w/ Trinity)
16) Who Farted? part 1 (courtesy of XAUL ZAN)

here is a description from sage himself (via: SFR.com ):

I wasn’t sure if I would ever release another mix of this sort after the last one, but it’s been a couple years since my last official album and I’ve accumulated a large number of “left over” tracks that never found their way onto an official album. I also opened up the 4-track vault this year and was able to unearth some solid material that dates back to 1996.

My music career, as most people know it, essentially began with the “Sick of Waiting” mixtape in 1999. Now that I’ve typed that out I’ve realized that we’re essentially celebrating the “Sick of” mixtape series’ 10th birthday. Hot damn. It seems like just yesterday I was dubbing all the original tapes, cutting and pasting the album covers, writing out the album info on the stickers, and selling them hand-to-hand at shows. Time (f)lies.

The first Sick installment was called “Sick of Waiting.” That title was inspired by my frustration in waiting around for something official to pop off. I felt like the iron was hot and I needed to strike whether the labels were willing to scoop me up or not. So I threw together a batch of recordings/demos/freestyles that I had hanging around and I began selling the mix at shows. This was the beginning of Strange Famous Records.

10 years later the label has grown and expanded in significant ways. It has become the home to many of my favorite hiphop artists in the indie scene as well as a constant reminder of how much work it takes to get underground musicians the exposure they deserve.

Like all of the “Sick of” mixes, “Sick of Wasting” is not just an attempt to showcase my own material. It is also a means to promote all the featured artists involved, most of whom have projects of their own that have been released recently or will be released by the end of the year. Be sure to check for their respective projects.

As this project is a free digital download, we certainly don’t expect this to be a big money maker. However, the sales for the CD at our online store have gone well so I’d like to thank everyone who has shown support. For anyone without money to spend on music, the material is there for you to download anyway. We hope you enjoy it.

4 eva & always,
Sage Francis

Here’s a quick break down and explanation of each track:

1) Strange Fame (2009)

This is probably one of the fastest songs I’ve ever put together. Self-produced, recorded, mixed and mastered in my home studio over the course of 1 day. Due to the obvious sample issue, this is something I could never officially release but I’ve always wanted to jack this David Bowie song for a Strange Famous anthem.

2) S.A.G.E. Bastard (prod. by Buck 65, 2009)

Buck 65 put together this interlude by chopping up an obscure Blowfly recording.

3) I Trusted You (beat by Buck 65, 2009)

Buck 65 put together the beat. The intro and outro samples are from a televised Andy Kaufman performance. Kurtis SP sent me the “Sage” samples. I arranged all the vocal samples which took longer than it probably should have. The sentiment of this song is extended to more than a few people I’ve had the displeasure of sharing portions of my life with. That’s all I will say about that.

4) Needle (beat and scratches by Buddy Peace, 2009)

These lyrics have been around for quite a while. I was waiting for an opportunity to use them on an official album but it just never happened. I eventually recorded this song to another beat but wasn’t too thrilled with the outcome. When I sent it over to Buddy Peace he capped it off with that incredible scratch-sentence outro. And then at some point I sent him the acapella at which point he remixed the whole song and breathed new life into it. The funky sample he uses reminds me a bit of the first KMD record, and the drums definitely kill. I’ve never performed this song live but I look forward to it.

5) House of Bees (feat. B. Dolan, beat by Buck 65, 2009)

Recorded at B. Dolan’s studio dungeon, mixed and masted at my home studio. I don’t want to ruin any magic about this song, so I will keep this explanation short. Buck 65 put together a face smashing, boombap beat and we realized the song had to be about a house of bees. I told B. Dolan the concept of the song and he delivered some shit that made me want to go back and rewrite my verse. I never did end up rewriting my verse, but I think its all for the best. There’s a unique version of this track with Buddy Peace’s scratches at www.myspace.com/bernarddolan

6) Jaw of Steel (beat and scratches by Reanimator, 2009)

I fully intended on this song being on an official album, but the way my new material is shaping up it just wouldn’t fit. This beat was first going to be used on Prolyphic and Reanimator’s “The Ugly Truth” album. When it ended up not being used, I jumped at the opportunity to place some lyrics on it. There were a lot of vinyl snaps in the record that Reanimator sampled and I did my best to eliminate most of them, but in the process I think I may have affected the overall sound quality of the song. Whatever the case, I like the pace and build of this song.

7) If I Go To Hell (demo, 1997)

Originally released as a “Track of the Week” on SFRstore.com, this song was retrieved from the vault of my 4-track tapes. The sound quality is iffy, the music is jacked from DJ Shadow, but I enjoy the lyrics for the most part. I think this was the beginning of anti-religious sentiment in my songs.

Conspiracy to Riot (beat & scratches by Reanimator, 2008)

Reanimator sent me this beat a while back and he labeled it “militant.” I kept it around not totally sure of what I should do with it until all the pieces eventually fell into place. Originally released on www.ConspiracyToRiot.com as a way to raise funds for Jared Paul’s defense lawyers, this song joins the ranks of my other highly political tracks. Performing this song in MN while having thousands of people put their middle finger up for the police in their state was a gas.

9) Be a Star (beat by Buck 65, 2007)

This song was made during the course of making my Human the Death Dance album but it didn’t seem to fit very well. Also, the sample clearance would have been a headache. It’s mainly just an upbeat track that I did for fun. Perfect candidate for a “Sick of” release.

10) Sea Legs (feat. B. Dolan & Sleep. Scratches by Buddy Peace.
Additional vocals by Jared Paul and Curtis Plum. Beat by Aupheus, 2009.)

This monster posse-cut was originally released as a free download during the relaunch www.StrangeFamous.com to celebrate our 2009 roster. Everyone featured on this song recorded their material in their own studio and sent their contributions to me via email. I had to paste it all together and surprisingly it worked. I am a splice master. I’d love to do a full album like this at some point with all the SFR artists. Not only does B. Dolan completely slay this track, but so does Sleep and this is the first song I’ve ever done with him. Check for his new album “Hesitation Wounds” which drops on June 30th, 2009. You can download his single right now at www.StrangeFamous.com

11) Flashback 96 (home recording, 1996)

The lyrics of this song were originally written in 1993. Since then, I have recorded various versions of the song. The version most people would be familiar with is the “I Keep Calling” song, however this stripped down version was retrieved from old 4-track tapes and it’s got a lot of charm. I’m also amused by the idea of having flashbacks during a time where it sounds like I’m still a little kid.

12) Masturbate Your Brain (AOI demo, 1997)

Another “lost tapes” discovery, this is a 4-track recording of me with my first band before we hired a live drummer. The rhymes are tightly packed and the accent is quite thick.

13) SFR Pays Dues (feat. B. Dolan & Prolyphic. Scratches by Reanimator. 2008)

Originally made as a promo track for the Paid Dues Festival, this song was recorded on the spot in the SFR studio. Instrumental for this track was taken from the Beatnuts.

14) Pump (beat and scratches by Buddy Peace & Reanimator, 2009)

Boombastic, Mr. Fantastic. This song went through many incarnations before a remix beat collaboration came together between Buddy Peace and Reanimator. That mix of talent is tough to deny. The beat knocks hard and the scratches are ridiculous. Big up yaselves.

15) Revenge of the Ogre (interlude w/ Trinity)

Radio interview snippet between me and SFR forum’s very own Diane!

16) Who Farted? part 1 (courtesy of XAUL ZAN, 2009)

This is only part 1 because I fully expect more songs to follow up where this one leaves off. While touring with Grand Buffet a few years ago we came up with a rhyme game to figure out who farted. It helped us stay sane during long drives. Xaul Zan decided to take the worst of the worst and make a song about it. He turned a beautiful song by The Knife into something dirty and juvenile. Figures.

Sage has been collecting more material again and has decided to release another “Sick Of” album. This is a free download that will appear on Strangefamousrecords.com on June 16th along with a limited edition CD also from SFR.com. You can preorder your physical copy here. Appearances on the album include: B. Dolan, Prolyphic, Buck65, Buddy Peace, Reanimator, Sleep, Curtis Plum and more. The first track can be heard on the main page of the SRF.com website

Here it is so you can skip the site:

Honesty. We all ask for it and yet are seldom prepared for its wrath. Perhaps that’s why it seems as though many prefer simply to do without it altogether. Whether young or old, an on-screen attorney or a real-life attorney, everybody is guilty of at least one dishonest moment–probably daily. Luckily, there are two men out there who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is: Prolyphic and Reanimator, MC and producer, respectively. URB.com got a chance to sit down with these two in order to learn more about their new album, The Ugly Truth, and why being honest is always more trying than deceit.

URB: When you guys first got together, I know that Sage thought that you would suit each others’ sounds very well and work together very well. What was the initial period of collaborating like?
Prolyphic: Well, seeing that Reanimator was in Chicago, it was mostly me and Sage meeting up. I would record stuff…I would send Reanimator and Sage the acapellas and Reanimator would kind of remix it almost. I would tell him the BPM and he would remix it and we just kinda took it from there. We started off kinda slow to see how, to see if it would work. And then I think right after the first couple of songs, Sage was excited about it and I think both of us were kind of on board.
Reanimator: Yeah, the first couple were basically just, I would get the acapella and then after a while, it was more back and forth where, I would make the beats first and then Prolyphic would record and write lyrics over it. I think a lot of the songs were probably written after we started working, so Prolyphic kind of knew my style at least.

“Survive Another Winter,” the first single off the record, talks a lot about people who will embark on this journey for fortune and fame and a lot of them will come out here to California for that purpose. What made the focus of the song more West Coast or Los Angeles than, say, New York?
P: I wrote it in the winter of 2005. I started writing it and a lot of the kids, a lot of the dudes that I knew around here, thought that the East Coast scene was kinda dead because no one was really supporting unknown, independent hip-hop artists. You know, unless you were a big name, you weren’t really drawing any crowds and nobody really wanted to come to any shows and hear what anybody had to say, so everybody thought that the ticket was that if you went out West, you would get more of a reception but I was still here. I just talked about how I survived without having to compromise myself. A lot of people move to New York City as well, but I picked California for the opposite extreme. It’s winter here and it’s summer there; to have that contrast.

Is the idea of an ugly truth an overall theme of the album? That there’s a core ugly truth in the world at large or is it more “the truth about the industry, the truth about myself, the truth about…”
P: [There was a] period of time where I just cut a lot of people out of my life. I sent a couple emails out to people and the headline of it, before I thought of the song, was “The Ugly Truth.” A lot of that feeling went into those songs. The truth is not easy. As much as people want to be honest, there’s not a lot of honesty going on in the world nowadays because it’s not what people wanna hear. People wanna hear what they wanna hear and even if you tell them something, sometimes they even twist it to make it what they wanted to hear. It’s so tough to be honest and truthful, like, 100%, all the time and a lot of times, it’s not pretty. That’s the reason why it’s so difficult to be honest and truthful.

Who are the artists that made you guys want to start doing what you do?
R: I’d probably have to say Dr. Dre. I always liked how he took samples and how he could layer beats over it and have them line up real nicely and all the beats were real tight but still had break beats and samples in there…his more NWA stuff.
P: I don’t really know. There’s a lot of people I like to listen to that inspire me but there’s no one [where] I really wanted to be like, “I want to be like him.” When I started to see guys like Slug and Sage…I guess it would be those guys. I love Rakim, I love KRS, but I’ve never, like, “Yeah, I wanna be like those guys.” I never really thought like that. Even when I saw Slug and all those guys, I didn’t want to be them. I was already writing so I was like, “Oh, maybe I’ll give this a chance. Maybe I’ll just see how people react to what the fuck I gotta say, you know?”

Are there any questions that either of you ever wanted to ask each other?
P: I don’t really know. Reanimator, do you love cooking?
R: Yeah…yeah.
P: Nice!

Via (Urb.com)

1. A brand new track from Prolyphic and Reanimator’s upcoming album. Its a posse cut featuring Sage Francis, Alias, B. Dolan and of course Prolyphic.

2. A remix of B. Dolan’s Heart Failure featuring Sage Francis.

Go there and listen to them right now. These songs can also be found on each myspace page. Also Prolyphic will be performing at the living room on February 16 opening for Sole And The Sky Rider Band

Here is some more information from strangefamousrecords.com:

“Prolyphic and Reanimator prelude their upcoming LP “The Ugly Truth” with the debut single “Artist Goes Pop!” The A side contains “Artist Goes Pop”, “Survived Another Winter” (feat. Sage Francis, Alias and B. Dolan), non-album track “Salt” and the B-side has all the instrumentals. This 12″ drops on April 1st.”

Next up is B Dolan also releasing a vinyl EP entitled “Live Evel”. This will include songs from the limited run of “The Failure” which was released late last fall (07 for people who can’t figure that out)

Here is a little blurb from SFR.com about that:

B. Dolan’s “Live Evel” vinyl EP pays tribute to a true American hero and features six tracks from his upcoming release, “The Failure.” including a brand new version of “Heart Failure” (ft. Sage Francis) produced by Alias! Other tracks include “The Skycycle Blues”, “Crow on the Riddle”, “Joan of Arcadia”, “Still Electric” and “Love Will Survive”. This vinyl EP drops on April 1st.

Both will drop on April 1st and you will be able to purchase them through Strangefamousrecords.com

On a slight side note B. Dolan had this to say “I just wanna say that if Prolyphic & Reanimator outsell me in the first week, I vow to kill 50 Cent.“

For more information on both artists please visit Prolyphics Myspace Page and B Dolan’s Myspace page