Sage Francis “MAKESHIFT PATRIOT” lyrics + free mp3

this song helped shape the way i looked at music and the world into a more mature perspective. sacrifices are sometimes made, but they don't have to be all the time. we need to take initiative as individuals to be responsible for our own nation. PEACE

I remember my best friend was trying to talk me into giving underground hip hop a try...I was pretty reticent since I had vowed to stop listening to rap years earlier(thank you mainstream garbage)since it was getting quite unabashedly racist and just downright 3 ring circus-like.
This is one of the first tracks I listened to and it was definitely on point and reflected many of my observations. It was good to see that rap, an art form I loved, could be intelligent, conscious and well done. Thank you Sage, for your contributions to hip hop. Much Love, PEACE!

It was songs like this that inspired me to take my notebook scribbles and put them behind a mic. Years later I have since abandoned stages with spotlights but I will never lose the spine this helped me to erect to stand up for those rights which require a voice when all those who agree sit quietly afraid. Thank you.

Thank you Sage, for reminding us of what we were really going through ten years ago... The fist pumping, the war drums and the cult-like patriotism that took over the country. When I tell the story of 9-11 to my children, I will always include the vicious backlash of hate and xenophobia, the rush to justify military actions and how scary it was to dissent. It was the only time in my life in this country when speaking against foreign policy made strangers scream at me & threaten violence, when I was afraid that my windshield would be smashed because of my political bumper stickers... But we stood up anyway. Thank you Sage for being the voice of right all along.

Beth,
Thank YOU for helping me make sense of what this means to other people. I'm glad I documented these events the way that I did rather than just let it slip by and submit to the media's version of our whole experience.

This song was introduced to me by a friend, an avid hip-hop fan who was blown away by this articulate observation of human reaction & felt the overpowering need to share it with everyone 'on this side of the pond'. While we in Ireland watched the aftermath of 9/11 unfold, and prepared for America's 'world police' attitude to spread, it was refreshing to hear your voice Sage, soar above the cries for war & strike a chord with us. Don't ever stop man

thank you for reminding all of us that we arnt alone in our distane to join the xenophobia and fake patriotism while still being able to mourn the events that transpired.

THE song of the decade

I was 10 when this happened; I didn't understand the extent of anything. I just saw the same sickening video of the plane crashing and the towers exploding from different angles. They interviewed everyone, always getting the same horror-stricken faces and crying but no one had answers. I vividly remember how suddenly every single person had a flag- it felt like the more they had the more patriotic they seemed. I couldn't understand that concept, nor the instant, undeserved rage people had when they saw a brown person. I still don't understand that; I'm honestly afraid that the general public will relapse of into that fear, blaming and hating "the enemy."

Great song.

I'm glad I can come to your site 10 years later and buy DVD's, buttons, stickers, hoodies, t-shirts, jumpsuits, CD's, MP3, vinyl, posters, books and even gift cards!

Thanks for being American through and through.

came up on this site after some wiki-research about the "new" psychological disorder called depersonalization. After a year of living like a monk with the streets as my monastery some fear of other got the better of me. With little interest in the online it is rare that I make time for surfing but tonight I am alone with a laptop in a Bernal Heights flat looking for a kindred soul.

10 yeas ago I dropped out of journalism school at Rhode Island College. Actually, I was in a psychology class on 9/11 when the first plane hit the tower. A couple months later I'm in a volvo moving to San Francisco by way of Big Sur. At that point, only somewhat versed in the AOI stuff coming out of my home state, Makeshift Patriot dropped. That crazy blue record really hit my mind and the relevance shaped my thinking tremendously. While working my ass off to afford SF rent I never made it to Slims or the Legion of Honor to catch a Sage show which was probably for the better because the anti-con scene had become kind of zoo-ey out here. But that record played endlessly in my little apartment in the sunset. It mixed well with Mr. Lif's emergency rations and I phantom amidst other oldies that I scoured for beats. Like a kid digging a hole in the sand at Narragansett town beach I began searching all the great bay area record stores because through Sage's fearless hip hop journalism I was inspired to be a part of this movement. Until one night when somebody broke into my place and housed my decks, samplers, mixer and guitar. Thankfully, the crates of records were too heavy so I got to hang on to those.

Shortly after I began making my way back to RI with the hope of connecting with this force of relevance. But it seemed I was too late seeing Sage strutting around AS220 with a big Epitaph leather jacket and that beautiful mind all blown up- some ego induced big fish in a small state thing. It was a seeming trend during that time in RI as AS220 was also blowing up even the high school I graduated from, The Met, had taken it's radical educational model global. While these changes only reinforce the law of impermanence- that everything is always undergoing continuous change, it was difficult to deal with. I suppose kittens become cats (sometimes fat cats).

10 years after 9/11 inspired some clear and honest muckraking hip hop I suppose I am just thankful that Sage rose to the occasion. I stupidly held on tightly to the idea that a local hip hop hero could go on to bash apart the entire status quo (strangely enough by painting himself as the anti-hero). So, thank you, 10 years later, for the inspiration.

cary rant

Your music is deep and poetic, it rattles me, and makes me see the world at a different focus. You have the gift of seeing things for how they are, and expressing them so simple and clear, and I like the sound of your voice.
You have my respect and admiration, I will never steal from, but always pay for your music!