We knew what Sage Francis was going to do to us when he came by the studio in Austin a month ago. We knew he was going to destroy us. We just didn't know he was going to destroy us as much as he wound up destroying us. He's a rapper unequaled and his new record, "Copper Gone," is a goddamned blessing, after a four year break between records. "Thank You," from this session floored us. We were slack-jawed and stunned by the passionate delivery and sentiment in "Thank You" and we all -- Sage included -- wanted to get this out into the world in front of the full session, which is now posted completely. With music by Anders Parker and drums by Alias, "Thank You" is a song that feels as ponderous as it feels definitive. It's a song about a long span of time and people who mostly act out of love, though sometimes it's strangely shown. Francis raps, "Thank you for the matches, for the gift of fire, for the wood and axe, for whuppin' my ass/For the wheel even if you didn't invent it/For the impact that you had on me/ It's epic/Thank you for the effort, for teaching me the ABCs, even if I never make my way to Z, even if I never do for someone else exactly what you did for me, I'm gonna do my best while you rest, in peace/Thank you," and then we turned the lights off for the night and shut it down. For the rest of the session, Francis draws on the "toxic drama" that can be our albatross. He bats at the many ways that we can suffocate, the many ways that we're nibbled at and bitten. He bites back, always. He lunges and snaps. He nips and he swings -- big roundhouse swipes, with his hairy arms. He takes on the assholes and the enablers. He lashes at the deadbeats and the insensitive fucks who strive to dismantle rather than nurture. It's alright to be disgusted, to be disappointed, but it's not alright to take it out on other people who had nothing to do with your disgust and disappointment. This epic beard man is here to level the place, to reduce the population of dummies.