BrightestYoungThings: Live DC: Cage @ DC9

This past Wednesday a good chunk of the Weathermen /Cardboard City crew was at DC9 on tour to promote Cage’s new album depart from me out now on Definitive Jux records. It was hot, crowded, and the bar drinks were lacking carbonation, all the cards were in place for a high energy, angst filled hip-hop show. Yak Ballz whom I’ve seen a few times before was lurking in the crowd before his set, but I was none the wiser because of his new Zappa-esque look. Despite the extreme makeover dude jumped on stage and did his thing, quickly going through some pretty intricate flows without the help of a hype-man. Yak performed a lot of material from his Scifentology mix-tape series (more like albums) and knocked out a new track from his upcoming Definitive Jux release Gas Galaxy which should be out later this year. Yak is viscous and he’s not the same lazy flowing emcee who released ‘Just Flossin’ in the early millennium. (still love that track though!) Maybe when the new album drops it'll be his turn to headline.

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This is my third time seeing Cage and he gets better every time and this time he brought a friend, HateBreed guitarist F. Sean Martin. The live guitar really added a new dynamic to the set and Cage’s cynical banter between tracks had me dying inside. Death metal guitarist or not this was a real hip-hop show but the similarities to a hardcore act are hard to pass up. Cage has a stage presence and attitude that reminded me of Henry Rollins in the best possible way. Much like his performance Cage’s material keeps getting better with time too he’s no longer just a “rapper’s rapper” his songs are deep and twisted and the new album Depart From Me is an even deeper look inside than his last release Hell’s Winter.

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(Sidenote: if you’re the dude who got ejected for hopping on stage and demanding a battle keep your comments to your self and I’ll keep the photographic evidence of your 15 minutes of shame to myself.)

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