free hip hop EP from Cage - I promise it's awesome! haha

[FuzzHugger]

Hey guys!
I just downloaded Cage's new EP, I Never Knew You (which is free).

It's crazy good.
Production by El-P and XO Skeletons. Really.

Nutty emotional rap with a swagger. Not loops, but guitars and synths. Download it. I'm vouching for it's awesomeness.

Anyway:
1) I Never Knew You
2) Follow the Bleeder
3) Hell Oh (mislabeled Tongue in a Shark's Mouth)
4) Tongue in a Shark's Mouth (mislabeled Hell Oh)
5) It's the 80s Again

[sev]

I dig Cage. Especially a record he did several years back with Tame One= The Leak Bros 'Waterworld'. Every song is about doing PCP. Strangely good.

El-P is on my short list of all time favorite hip hop producers.
I'm definitely gonna hit this up.
Thanks, Daltont.

[archlilim]

Emo? A lot of the songs of Hell's Winter were about politics. Hope he didn't go emo.

[FuzzHugger]

Emo? A lot of the songs of Hell's Winter were about politics. Hope he didn't go emo.

Kidding about the emo tag, since he gets that thrown on him a lot. But the EP (and also, I hear, the album) is more about personal relationships and identity than politics.
The "politics" of personal relationships?

[sev]

Emo? A lot of the songs of Hell's Winter were about politics. Hope he didn't go emo.

Cage's early stuff (late '90s / early '00s) had really dark, smutty, violent, shocking lyrics...laced with misogyny and drug glorification (dude was a major user of all kinds of crazy shit).
When he did the album "Hell's Winter" a few years ago, he had gotten sober, lost a ton of weight, changed his visual image/hairstyle, looking more like a rocker than a traditional hip hop MC......and his lyrics took a turn away from the shock stuff, into more personal, confessional subject matter. It was at that point that people began to toss the term "emo" around.

I personally can't stand that term...it's misused so often. Does it really even have a proper use? In my observation, people associate it with hairstyles and what color belt you wear, more than actual musical qualities. I wish a swift death to that term....it's the only term that bugs me more than "alternative", "grunge", or "indie".

[FuzzHugger]

Emo? A lot of the songs of Hell's Winter were about politics. Hope he didn't go emo.

Cage's early stuff (late '90s / early '00s) had really dark, smutty, violent, shocking lyrics...laced with misogyny and drug glorification (dude was a major user of all kinds of crazy shit).
When he did the album "Hell's Winter" a few years ago, he had gotten sober, lost a ton of weight, changed his visual image/hairstyle, looking more like a rocker than a traditional hip hop MC......and his lyrics took a turn away from the shock stuff, into more personal, confessional subject matter. It was at that point that people began to toss the term "emo" around.

I personally can't stand that term...it's misused so often. Does it really even have a proper use? In my observation, people associate it with hairstyles and what color belt you wear, more than actual musical qualities. I wish a swift death to that term....it's the only term that bugs me more than "alternative", "grunge", or "indie".

Sev--you're right on. Nicely said!

For me, Cage got sooo much better after he cleaned up.
He's said himself that people can criticize him for changing, but he's not some confused, drugged-out person anymore that needs to perpetuate sterotypes and make albums about drugs and sexual exploits. For me, his writing and his music have both improved vastly. I don't even care about his old stuff, honestly.

[metalmariachi]

I have to agree.
I never liked any of his older stuff, so when I gave it a listen I thought I'd get through one verse of each song and think “same old crap”
This is much more musical and and I actually enjoyed it.

MM

[archlilim]

I've always seen "emo" as an act that is emotionally fraudulent and not a real style. Actual emotionally driven content is by no means emo in my opinion, its almost the opposite.

[htsamurai]

i just got around to listening to this, BEAST YO!
fo realz
reminds me alot of Atmospheres stuff

[Wizard]

The Illest 4-letter word in the world is CAGE.

[basti moon]

I think he fits nicely into the emo category.
Feels like one of those acts that are overly expressive of their emotions, because they've found out that it works.
Emotional things sounds better on a less flaunty package, I thinks.
And rapping slowly about serious things?. Emotion in rap = fast, erratic/slurred speech, to me at least. Rza when he was in grave diggaz was great at expressing (in general) things. Still is, come to think of it.

Not a jab at the guy himself, though, seems like he's been through lots of things and is still kicking regardless.

[jrmy]

You had me at "produced by El-P."

Listening now... and I'm liking what I'm hearing...