Cage - Movies For The Blind - 2002 - Eastern Conference
Upon first listen to Cage's Movies For The Blind you might immediately think of Eminem. And that's fitting, as material here dates back to earlier late 90's singles released on Rawkus that would go on to start a beef between Cage and Em during the Slim Shady era. Allegations state that it wasn't long after these singles dropped that Eminem ditched the sound of his Infinite work and invented the Slim Shady persona. Nobody can say for certain if Em really was influenced by Cage, but the similarities are there. But Cage's history makes his work here all the more chilling. Being held at gunpoint by his own father, being committed to a mental institution in his teens where experimental drugs were tested on him... it makes for some gruesome listening. Where as The Slim Shady LP seemed almost fun in its violence, everything here comes off far more demented. "In Stony Lodge" makes "Brain Damage" sound light-hearted by contrast. And "In Stony Lodge" is a great example of what makes this album to amazing. Over an amazing plucked violin sample produced by J-Zone, Cage's wordplay is showcased and tells a brutal story about his stay in said facility. Of course it's hard to know where creative license takes place. Where Wikipedia says Cage was there for just over a year, in the song it's seven. But it doesn't really matter. It's the movie here that does. As the poster indicates, Cage is showing you something that you might be missing in everyday life. He claims that the mental institution was "college for my fucking rap career." This album is great because it's so dark, and so personal, yet keeps you at arms length guessing. Did Cage really survive abortion, a PCP overdose and suicide? Who knows for sure. His whole career has been shrouded in mystery in the sense that no matter how much he divulges it's tough to know who's the actor and who's the character, especially with so many nods to movies. The opening feels like a missing American Psycho chapter, "Agent Orange" quotes A Clockwork Orange. But it really doesn't matter where the script came from. It's an incredible work of nihilistic art.