We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
“I Never Knew You,” the first single from Cage’s new album, Depart From Me, is an ode to stalking; the music video, directed by Shia LaBeouf, features a young man perpetrating a B&E at the home of a woman he’s been following while he sings, “It’s like the sky opened up/and God handed you directly to me.” This isn’t just a bad first impression for people who had never heard of the rapper prior to LaBeouf lending his golden touch, it’s also an inaccurate one: The only person Cage regularly harms is himself. A better place to start is “Peeranoia” from 2006’s Hell’s Winter, on which Cage is clean (as in, heroin-free), and confessional, dealing with everything from being molested while under psychiatric care, to his fans’ complaints that he was better when he was high: “I’m not insane, my life’s a game show/I shot for the stars, missed/So now I aim low.”
CAGE PERFORMS at 9 p.m. at the rock & roll hotel, 1353 h st. ne. $12. (202) 388-7625.