Freezing Over: Cage's Cold Woes

Album: Hell’s Winter
Artist: Cage
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Year: 2005
Label: Definitive Jux

I first heard of Cage on El-P’s “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead” (the album that got me into Hip-Hop) when he guested on the track “Habeas Corpses (Draconian Love)” and all I knew of him was that he had a very nasally voice. On the track, El-P and Cage are futuristic prison guards in a totalitarian regime, discussing the beauty of one of their prisoners. This was long before I’d heard of Def Jux records or any of the artists associated with it. I liked the song but wanted to know who Cage was. As I discovered, Cage is a rapper with a past most angsty artists would give their right foot for. The man was abused by his father and stepfather, experimented with drugs and was confined to a mental hospital where he was misdiagnosed and put on incorrect medication. After being released, Cage became some kind of Horrorcore Rap wunderkind. Most of his material revolved around madness, drugs and horrible acts of misogynistic violence. Here in lies the problem. I really can’t stand misogyny in music and, reading his lyrics, Cage seemed to be one of the worst offenders. However by the time I found out about him, he had already released his second album “Hell’s Winter” on Def Jux records. Part of the album’s promotion was that it had no misogyny on it and so, with caution, I picked it up.

Well. This was not what I expected. Rather than a horror show of sickening lyrics and ridiculous antics, “Hell’s Winter” is a dark, introspective trip through the mind of a clear headed Cage. Instead of disgusting acts of violence we find ourselves in a group therapy session with Cage as he discusses all the wrongs of his life, ones he committed and ones committed against him. He isn’t looking to glorify drugs, abuse or violence; he’s trying to exorcise his own demons. And demons he has; on the second track “Too Heavy for Cherubs” Cage takes us back to his childhood where his father forced him to pull a tourniquet tight while he shot up heroin. Scared, Cage tries to escape from his father out the window but gets caught and beaten for it. One of the most frightening parts of the song are the moments where Cage, through a voice distorter, plays his father. Blockhead’s production features a lilting guitar riff that repeats over and over again throughout the piece. Sounding a bit childlike in its tone, the music makes the subject matter of the song all the more difficult to bear.

Speaking of production, Cage has involved some big name people in the making of this album as there is production from Blockhead, El-P, RJD2, Camu Tao, PaWl and DJ Shadow. You’d think that Shadow’s contribution to the album would be the greatest given his track record, (Endtroducing? Anyone?) But this isn’t so. The best production moments come from RJD2 on “Shoot Frank”; a synth piano chord progression over which Cage raps some of his most heart wrenching verse, and the El-P produced opener “Good Morning” which gets the album off to a rousing start with its bouncing bass lines, courtesy of James McNew of Yo La Tango. That’s another of the things that has greatly helped Cage’s credit in my eyes is the willingness of other skilled artists to work with him. The production crew aside, Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys also appears on “Grand Ol’ Party Crash” and Aesop Rock (along with the rest of the Weathermen) makes an appearance on the Camu Tao produced track 11 “Left It to Us.”

The greatest thing about this album comes not from outside help but from the fact that Cage, an artist who seemed doomed to making the same sick joke over and over again, didn’t like where his career was going and changed it. Sure, there are still moments of violence and drugs, but rather than glorify them, Cage warns against them. Once or twice on the album he said things I found questionable, even gross, but this was the exception rather then the rule. Overall, “Hell’s Winter” finds a Cage transformed, shedding the Horrorcore elements to leave just the Rap Wunderkind behind. And that’s why I’ve been listening to him so much, because it’s surprisingly good stuff. It’s dark, sure, but it makes you think, something his previous work never would have done.