Album: Depart From Me
Artist: Cage
Genre: Underground Hip-Hop
Year: 2009
Label: Definitive Jux
Rarely have I seen such division between fans as I have between Cage fans. One camp desperately clings to the past, because according to them, Cage “used to be” a dope MC, he “used to be” awesome. To them, Movies For The Blind was Cage’s finest work and everything he’s done since then is shit, Emo and boring. They see the steps Cage has taken to get a hold of life and career as some sort of detriment and the brilliant work he has done recently as somehow backwards. And then there’s the other camp, the one I occupy, who understand that the aforementioned camp is a bunch of mentally deficient assholes that listen to Insane Clown Posse and think they know everything. All joking aside, Cage is an artist who has impressed the hell out of me. Considering how strong his last album, Hell’s Winter, was, I’m more than a little stunned that the new one, Depart From Me, is even better.
Cage was once a Horrorcore stuntman who knew how to do little else besides trying to gross you out. These days, he’s still out to give you chills, but not in the shocking for the sake of being shocking sake kind of way. These days he’s all about storytelling and while the stories are still dark; the nature of the beast has changed. Even on Hell’s Winter there were still moments of gore and shock for the sake of gory shock. But Depart From Me has almost completely dispensed with both gore and shock entirely. The result is that this is the strongest Cage has ever been lyrically. I like poetic Hip-Hop and Cage seems to finally have realized his potential in this department. Additionally, Cage’s stories have become a bit more… accessible. Where as most of the stories on Hell’s Winter were specific to his life and therefore hard to identify with sometimes, Cage has adopted a way of talking about things that allows more people to tune in. He’s still telling stories about his life and woes, but I personally found it easier to grasp this time around.
The other major change this time is the structure and form of the music. Hell’s Winter was all over the place musically, mainly due to the fact that there were at least five different producers working on it. Depart From Me feels much more focused as the majority of the production and music comes from one source. That source is probably Cage’s strangest collaborator to date, Sean Martin, the guitarist of Hatebreed. I’ve never listened to Hatebreed once in my life, and while I doubt highly that this album sounds anything like them, I have to tip my hat to Martin for some brilliant production. Some people (who will not be named) claim that by indulging in more live instrumentation and relying more on synths and guitars rather than sampling, Cage is regressing back into Rap Rock or something horrible like that. Calling this album Rap Rock is about a laughable as calling it Horrorcore for it is neither. Just because you have an actual guitar and like to rap isn’t a sign of Bizkitism, really, people can be so closed-minded some times.
Cage’s delivery has morphed to fit the music better too. He still Raps most of the time, but he also speaks, screams and even sings. He’s blurring the line between Indie Rocker and Hip-Hop artist in a fascinating way. This album is not genre defying, but it certainly is genre bending. Cage has created something that combines Underground Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, Pseudo-Industrial, Spoken Word and Punk. What the fuck am I supposed to call that? Anyways. Another interesting thing about the album is that, unlike Hell’s Winter, Depart From Me has no features. This is Cage’s show in its entirety and he doesn’t give up the mic for anyone. Good thing too. This being Cage’s strongest work, no one could possibly feature on the album and not seem to be intruding.
Now, Highlights. At fourteen tracks, the album is littered with great songs and very little filler. In fact the only track I would define as “Filler” is the 2:09 long “Kick Rocks” which seems more like a skit than a song. Every other track feels strong, even the short ones. You’ve got the bitter opener “Nothing Left To Say” which is both our introduction to this evolved Cage and a requiem for Camu Tao, a deceased Rapper and friend of Cage’s. Cage has claimed that “Nothing Left To Say” sounded a bit like Nine Inch Nails, but I disagree. The track that really apes NIN is track 13 “Depart From Me” the chorus and chords of which sounds like it was written by Trent Reznor for Cage to sing. Funny thing is, it sounds great on him, so much so that I think Reznor should produce Cage’s next album… or EP… please?
Three other great moments include: “Captain Bumout” which demonstrates Cage’s maturity more than any other track, being about how there is more to life than “being in a club and getting drunk.” “Fat Kids Need An Anthem” I don’t know whether or not I’m allowed to think this is funny, but it’s Cage’s story of how he used to be overweight it’s the only moment of reprieving humor on the album amongst the gloom. “I Never Knew You” the closing track on the album is by far the most unsettling song I have heard in a long time. The intro states that “this song was written by a serial killer” and it sounds like it. In the song, Cage sings from the perspective of a man stalking a woman to her house, where he breaks in and kills her, because he’s in love with her. Obviously fiction, it’s still a really scary song and is probably, musically, the best track on the whole album. The chorus gives me chills every time I hear it: “it’s like the sky opened and God gave you directly to me.” If Depart From Me is Cage’s Downward Spiral, then “I Never Knew You” is his “Hurt.” If that makes sense. Cage’s evolution as an artist is a powerful thing to witness and from the sounds of it, he’s not slowing down anytime soon. If you like dark music, Underground Hip-Hop or both, I strongly recommend this album to you. Enjoy.
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