Cage

For his second Def Jux album, Cage departs from the alt-rap of his previous work and instead gives us an electro-tinged alt-rock album. But while the sound may have changed, his themes remain the same. He continues to chronicle his traumatic childhood (he was forced to help his addict father shoot up heroin), failed relationships (there's a very ugly and violent streak through lead single "I Never Knew You") and his own tenuous grip on sanity. There's little sunlight here, but Cage always seems to work best in the darkness.