In a 2007 Vanity Fair profile piece, actor Shia LaBeouf expressed a desire to make a film about the life of Chris Palko — a.k.a. Cage — calling the rapper’s life “a Raging Bull of hip-hop.” And he's not exaggerating. There have been plenty of hard knocks in Palko’s life. Born to a heroin-addicted father and a distant mother, he battled drug addiction and was institutionalized for 18 months, where he became a test subject for Prozac and tried several times to end his life before discovering hip-hop as a vehicle to express his inner torment. The status of the Palko film isn't exactly clear, but in the meantime the two have forged a friendship which led to the LaBeouf-directed video for “I Never Knew You,” a song from Cage’s upcoming Depart From Me album and the title track from a free EP he's giving away. The EP is his second, and he has released three studio albums. Additionally, he is a founder of the underground hip-hop supergroup called The Weathermen.