Line #35 Music/Cage


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cage_2139.jpg]]
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3	Cage (real name Chris Palko, born May 4, 1973) is a rapper from [[BigAppleSauce New York City]]. He's known for his [[{{Horrorcore}} dark, story-based rhymes]], with his later work becoming much more personal.
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5	His lyrics are distinguished from most rappers in that they are ''extremely'' personal, though sometimes exaggerated to cartoonish levels (especially on his debut ''Movies for the Blind''). Despite many of his albums and appearances on mixtapes and compilations feature [[{{Horrorcore}} dark portraits of entirely fictional characters]], the personal touches on his solo releases has gotten Cage a great deal of appraisal as a lyricist and artist of great talent.
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7	Not to be confused with actor Creator/NicolasCage, avant-garde composer Music/JohnCage, the HeavyMetal band of the same name, the 1989 action film of the same name and its sequel, both starring Creator/RebBrown and Creator/LouFerrigno, or the Creator/MarvelComics character ComicBook/LukeCage.
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9	In recent years he's started to become known to mainstream audiences for a few things. For one, his association with actor Creator/ShiaLabeouf. Shia's a fan of Cage's music, and he directed the music video for "I Never Knew You" and the short film ''Maniac'', featuring Cage and Music/KidCudi as a pair of serial killers. He's also (somewhat infamously) known for his feud with Detroit rapper Music/{{Eminem}}, who Cage claimed at the time was ripping off his style. Since then he's admitted that he ''may'' have overreacted, since both rappers started out at pretty much the same time and Eminem could not possibly have ripped off Cage's style due to having already developed his style in a separate rap scene without ever having ''heard'' Cage's music. This inconsistency hasn't stopped Eminem's own FanDumb from accusing Cage of the same thing (i.e. ripping off his style).
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11	!!Albums
12	* ''Movies for the Blind''
13	* ''Hell's Winter''
14	* ''Depart From Me''
15	* ''Kill the Architect''
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17	!!Cage and his works provide examples of:
18	* AlternativeHipHop
19	* AxCrazy: In "Among the Sleep" ("ax in a dead whore")
20	* BigAppleSauce: Cage's hometown is New York City, and he often makes reference to New York in his lyrics, especially in the song "Good Morning", off his Def Jux debut ''Hell's Winter''
21	* BlackComedy: A lot of ''Movies for the Blind''. One example being "Down The Left Hand Path": He convinces a group of teenagers to commit suicide, then they haunt the wrong address (because they're "[[CrossesTheLineTwice stupid dead motherfuckers]]"). Frequently occurred in his early material. Notably, the reference in "Teenage Death" to New York's "two burning middle fingers", as well as other references to the September 11th attacks (such as suggesting that the terrorists should have flown a plane into the MTV building as well) on the same album, which came out less than a year after the attacks.
22	* DreamWithinADream: "Among the Sleep" contains this. Among the events occurring in the song include a school shooting and committing suicide in a church, wondering if he'll end up going to heaven, going to hell, or just wake up...which he does, followed by him taking a bong hit and turning the TV to ''A Clockwork Orange''.
23	* GallowsHumor: "Suicidal Failure" is partly this, partly horror.
24	* {{Horrorcore}}
25	* HorrorHunger: The cover of ''Depart From Me''.
26	* KidsRock: On "Beat Kids".
27	* MilitaryBrat: Raised on a military base until his father was discharged.
28	* OlderThanTheyLook: He was born in 1973, but looks like he's in his 20s.
29	* PoliticalRap: "Grand Ol' Party Crash", with [[Music/DeadKennedys Jello Biafra]] as "[[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush The Dubya]]", who, by the end of the track, [[HookersAndBlow snorts cocaine]] and says "[[Film/BlueVelvet I'll fuck anything that moves!]]"
30	* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Music/RickRubin called Cage a "wigga".
31	* RapeAndRevenge: On the song "Lord Have Mercy" where a woman who was molested by her PedophilePriest gets revenge by murdering him in cold blood ("See if He forgives!")
32	* {{Sampling}}:
33	** Some notable samples in ''Movies for the Blind'':
34	*** "Probably Causes Paranoia" takes dialog from ''Series/SixFeetUnder'' about marijuana and PCP, and smoking a joint dipped in ''[[TooDumbToLive actual embalming fluid]]''.
35	*** "Agent Orange" samples Wendy Carlos' performance of "The Funeral of Queen Mary" from ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' and dialogue from ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub'' (the latter of which was previously sampled in [[Music/WuTangClan GZA's]] "Liquid Swords").
36	*** "Under Satan's Authority" has samples of alien language from ''Film/MarsAttacks''.
37	*** "Pussy, Money And War" ends with a sample from a ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' video game saying "Cage wins!"
38	** More ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' samples in "Radiohead", the B-side of the "Agent Orange" single.
39	** "Ballad of Worms" samples I Would Hurt a Fly by Music/BuiltToSpill
40	** "Grand Ol' Party Crash" samples ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}''
41	* ShoutOut: The multiple ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' references and samples in his early work. And the ''Film/TheyLive''-inspired cover art of ''Movies for the Blind''.
42	* StalkerWithACrush: "I Never Knew You" to a nightmarish extent.
43	* TakeThat: A couple of lines on ''Movies for the Blind'' take shots at Music/{{Eminem}}:
44	-->Used to pistol-whip until Shady made it look pussy
45	* TheRival: Music/{{Eminem}} was once this. At one point, Cage decided not to continue with the feud, and moved on to more personal lyrical subject matter, and away from the more typical HipHop elements of his early work.
46	* WriteWhatYouKnow: A lot of Cage's music takes a very autobiographical approach. For example, many of the tracks on ''Movies for the Blind'' were inspired by his actual experiences in the Stony Lodge psychiatric institution.

Context Music / Cage