Cage - For Your Box (1999)

[DirtMcgehrk]

01. Adlibs In My Head
02. Radiohead
03. 4 Letter Word
04. And So Kiddies
05. Mersh
06. Beyond and Back
07. Last House On The Left
08. Daydreams
09. Fanatic
10. Cage & Godfather Don Promo
11. Clockwork Orange (Agent Orange)
12. WKCR Promo
13. Bitch Lady
14. 54
15. 1992 Freestyle
16. Crazy Men Ahead
17. Paper Kuts (1st Song)
18. Just Like Clockwork
19. For The Record
20. Rich Bring 'Em Back

[DirtMcgehrk]

This is a mixtape recorded in 1999 and put out in 2002 by Cage. A lot of it is rarities and b-sides from just before he signed with Fondle 'Em records. The sound quality is pretty shitty, but it kind of jumps around depending on the tracks. The best songs are generally the ones with the best quality, as these were taken from his studio records with the Fondle 'Em and Eastern Conference labels. "A Clockwork Orange (Agent Orange)" is particularly good. It's a 7:00 long extended version of the track that came out on his debut LP "Movies For The Blind", and is the standout song on the mixtape. Basically a lumbering beat over an easily recognizable sample from the movie "A Clockwork Orange". Cage has an incredible flow throughout the mixtape, and it makes the bad sound quality bearable. His nasally delivery may not be for everyone though. Lyrically the album's pretty fucked up. I guess you could loosely define it as a concept album, telling of the violent escapades of Cage's alter ego, Alex (also influenced by the protagonist in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange") Fans of some of the more grimey Bobby Digital stuff and Gravediggaz will definitely like "For Your Box". The track,"Daydreams" really brings the Gravediggaz vibe. Another great song snippet (just because of it's background) is "Bitch Lady", which is a diss track against none other than Eminem. The two had a beef a while back in which Cage accused Eminem of biting his style. It's hard to label this mixtape as a horrorcore album, as it isn't really mindless. It comes off as a profoundly creepy listen as opposed to the stupidly schlocky stuff that most horrorcore brings to mind.

Personally, I really liked the shitty quality of most of the recordings. It made me nostalgic for that raw sound that early Wu had with "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)". The ultra-violence and pornographic lyricism may wear thin with some people, and there are some tracks that are just unlistenable promos, but overall it's an extremely good mixtape. Cage fans in particular will love it. Comparing this to his most recent work is very interesting, as he's made an almost polar shift in sound and content. "For Your Box" is an excellent throwback, with sparse, bare bones production and uncompromising, acid-tongue lyrics.

"For Your Box" is virtually impossible to find anywhere. So if you wanna check this out you're probably going to have to download it. A quick google search for it will no doubt yield some results.

Score: 4/5

[RynMur]

it's ok. you can tell from this mixtape that he had potential to make real great hip hop album such as hell's winter. his lyrical skills were in need of improvement (which he accomplished).

p.s. it's funny how he use to be such a wigger by saying nigga like on every track and now he's the complete opposite

grade: (2.7/5) C+

[DirtMcgehrk]

p.s. it's funny how he use to be such a wigger by saying nigga like on every track and now he's the complete opposite

When I first heard it I was taken aback that he actually said it. Had to skip back to make sure it was actually him and not some sample that he was just using. But yeah, it is weird how much he's changed......well, maybe. He'd probably be dead if he hadn't. That was one of the problems I had with the album though. I dunno why white guys get it into their head that because they're a rapper or they have black friends or whatever that they have somehow have the right to use the word.