CAGE: Comeback of the Year.
I never got to do anytype of round-up for the best of last year, but I’d rather leave that to better writers and more obsessive nerds. The only award I’ll give out is the comeback of the year, which easily goes to a really suprising artist, Cage.
Rember him? Rhymes about killing women and doing coke and driving drunk and fucking broads and how much of a piece of shit he was over some mad backpacker beats. I always thought he was atechnically good rapper, but his subject matter bored the shit out of me. Just like Necro, his schtick trapped him in a one dimensional character. So imagine my suprise when press for his new album, Hell’s Winter (released late last year of Dex Jux), showed a normal, almost indie-rocker looking dude without his ballcap and trademark fat gut hanging under a 4xl white tee. So says the man known as Chris Palko:
So I made the record [Movies for the blind, Cages previous album] with “Agent Orange” in mind and in that frame of mind. And I go back and listen to that album now and I’ll be like, “What the f**k was I thinking about?” A lot of the s**t I said on that record I address on “Paranoia” on Hellz Winter. Everything I said on Movies was because of my buzz. I was completely on mad drugs and with this record, it was a matter of a complete life change, not just artistically. As a man, I completely don’t agree with any of the s**t anymore.
When I decided to make this record, I gambled. I wanted to talk about my life and I deal with issues that have plagued me since adolescence. I’m dealing with my father’s heroin abuse, child abuse, drug addiction - I just wanted to talk about real s**t. There is plenty of kids who listen to my music who aren’t trying to hear what I am saying right now, I’m sure of that. They want to keep you in a box, and as an artist, that is not what you want to do. Now I’m over the misogyny aspects, now I’m just like, “What’s the point? Wow a b*tch sucking my d**k, wow how original.” Even the braggadocios s**t, I was done with the whole battle-rap thing. It’s just a bugged out place to be in right now. I got this record which is essentially a pivotal point in my life right now - musically and in life in general.
If you haven’t already, check this album. He really pulled it back by getting personal, and some of the songs are his best work. Almost uncomfortably so, and in interviews he seems like so much more of a real person, and therefore, more engaging as a rapper, when he doesn’t launch into fantasy drug raps. The beats are crazy. Some don’t work, some are a little over the top (EL-P is the executive producer) but they’re much more solid musically than his last shit, which was your cut-and-paste stringloops over ASR drum type disposable underground.
By being real to himself and throwing away his entire gimmick, Cage managed to stay relevent, progress as an artists, get his paper right and get a propoer deal through Def Jux (on the albumhe addresses Eastern Conference stealing 50 grand from him). So yeah, comeback of the year. Easy.
Cage - Peeranoia (Instrumental)-(Produced by PaWl) - Download
Cage - Stripes (Instrumental)-(Produced by Blockhead) - Download
Cage - Public Property (Instrumental)-(Produced By Camu Tao) - Download
February 14th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
hey i thought you might want to check out Cage’s interview on mtvU. http://www.mtvu.com/music/the_hot_seat/
March 9th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Yes he became a more mature rapper(good for him),yes his album’s dope but I don’t think he would’ve became as famous if he would’ve released “Hell’s Winter” first.The rap game would suck without “Movies for the blind”.I still don’t understand why Agent Orange is considered his best song though.
And by the way Necro didn’t get stuck at all,he raps about a lotta stuff like suicide,cannibalism etc.You hear that voice u instantly know it’s him,he’s one ofthe most original rapper out there and Cage so stop making senseless comments
March 10th, 2006 at 5:32 am
he raps about a lotta stuff like suicide,cannibalism etc [sic]
HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Senseless comments? Necro is a played as cats who rhyme about nothing but cars and bitches. Every song is about KILLING YOU or DYING or, and I’m quoting here, “Robots with m16’s for arms”. He has a one note character, unlike his brother Ill Bill, who manages to talk about more than some tired horror movie bullshit. Necro should stick to making hot beats (which nobody can deny he does) and shut the fuck up with the played out death rap shit. Maybe he should try rapping about something that you know, ACTUALLY HAPPENED, because I doubt he goes around killing women and casting magic spells or whatver the fuck he raps about now. Hell, look at him in the Green DVD, he’s probably too fat to do much else besides chat on MSN, jerk off to asian prono and eat greasy sandwiches all day.