During the past decade-plus, upstate MC Christian "Cage" Palko has plotted a winding course through the music industry, issuing two albums on the tastemaking Definitive Jux label and collaborating with everyone from Kid Cudi to, yes, Shia LaBeouf. Here, Cage airs his brooding, gritty alt-hip-hop narratives, as heard on last year's self-released Kill the Architect.