Crowned with a sweaty brow and an open palm, his movements are deliberate and without reservation. The mercurial wordsmith and the Rhode Island emcee released his newest record, “Li(f)e,” earlier this year. The LP, not atypical of the artist’s intellectual bloodletting, uncoils with introspective buoyancy. Enlisting some of the biggest movers in the music industry, Francis cut tracks with members of Calexico, Death Cab for Cutie, and Sparklehorse. Even with the aforementioned artists, the record is entirely his own. Fencing with existentialism, Sage has released one of the most interesting records of the past decade. Cinema Spartan interviewed the Strange Famous label owner about the passing of Guru, music journalism, and the future of hip-hop.