Paul William "Sage" Francis (born November 18, 1976) is an American independent underground rapper from Providence, Rhode Island.

[1] Francis began writing and recording original lyrics at age 8, being inspired by acts such as Run DMC and Public Enemy.

[7] In 1996, he recorded his first official demo tape, and by 1998 he had a radio show on WRIU called True School Session.

[4][7][10][11] In 2001, the song "Makeshift Patriot," recorded on October 11, 2001, became an Internet hit for its critique of American media during and immediately following the September 11 attacks.

[14][15] Francis has described A Healthy Distrust as being a political record, which reflected his mistrust of government and big business with a focus on socio-political matters.

The video featured cameos from B. Dolan, Brother Ali, Buck 65, Divinci from Solillaquists of Sound, Holland, Slug, and Tom Inhaler from Francis' band and Strange Famous Records[16] Life was a shift into a different style for Francis, focusing on spoken word and indie rock.

[17] The record featured contributions and collaborations with Califone, Chris Walla, Jason Lytle, and Mark Linkous.

[4] Francis made a guest appearance on Bad Religion's The Empire Strikes First, on the track "Let Them Eat War".

[12] Francis worked with fellow rapper B. Dolan who had the idea to start an organization and website named KnowMore.org aka KnowMore: The People's Corporation Watch Project which focused on connecting consumers with social responsibility information about corporations and responsible consumerism.