Cadence Weapon

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Cadence Weapon

| image = Cadence Weapon album release show at TD Music Hall, April 20,2024.jpg

| birth_name = Roland Pemberton

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1986|02|21}}

| birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

| origin =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| genre = {{hlist|Canadian hip hop|alternative hip hop}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Rapper|producer|songwriter}}

| years_active = 2005–present

| label = {{hlist|eOne Music Canada|Upper Class Recordings|ANTI-|Big Dada}}

| associated_acts = Buck 65, Skratch Bastid, Noah23

| website = {{URL|https://cadenceweapon.net}}

}}

Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario.{{cite news |first=Tara |last=Henley |title=Candence Weapon: It's All About The After Party |pages=33 |work=Ur Magazine |publisher=Rogers}} Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, Breaking Kayfabe, in 2005 with positive reviews. He subsequently signed with the American record label ANTI-, releasing the albums Afterparty Babies in 2008 and Hope in Dirt City in 2012. In 2009, Cadence Weapon was named Edmonton's Poet Laureate. His first book Magnetic Days was published by Metatron in 2014.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}} Cadence Weapon released a self-titled album in 2018.

His fifth studio album, Parallel World, was released on April 30, 2021, and won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize on September 27, 2021.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article-cadence-weapon-wins-polaris-music-prize-for-parallel-world/ "Cadence Weapon wins Polaris Music Prize for ‘Parallel World’"]. The Globe and Mail, September 27, 2021.

Biography

Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, his father was Teddy Pemberton, a pioneering hip hop DJ on CJSR-FM, and his grandfather was Rollie Miles, a football player for the Edmonton Eskimos.{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/literature/general-6/cadence-weapon-becomes-edmontons-poet-laureate.html|title=Cadence Weapon becomes Edmonton's poet laureate|author=CBC News|accessdate=July 5, 2012}} He began rapping at age 13, and following high school he briefly attended journalism school, dropping out soon afterward to concentrate on music.{{cite news|url=http://music.cbc.ca/blogs/2012/5/Cadence-Weapon-releases-ground-breaking-Hope-in-Dirt-City-Featured-Album|title=Cadence Weapon releases ground-breaking "Hope in Dirt City"|author=Marie Bartlett|publisher=CBC Music|date=May 28, 2012|accessdate=July 25, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} He released the mixtape Cadence Weapon Is the Black Hand in 2005, and his full-length debut Breaking Kayfabe at the end of the year.

Breaking Kayfabe garnered strong reviews in Canadian, American and British media, and Cadence toured extensively to support the disc, including concerts across Canada and three shows in Austin, Texas, at the 2006 South by Southwest festival. Chart magazine named Cadence Weapon one of the 15 Canadian artists to watch in 2006. In addition, the composite review site Metacritic listed Breaking Kayfabe as one of the best albums of 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/breaking-kayfabe/cadence-weapon|title=Breaking Kayfabe Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More|publisher=Metacritic}}

Cadence described his inspiration to pursue a career in music: "It was around me all the time when I was growing up, my dad was a DJ, and he would play all sorts of stuff around the house, Hip hop, electro, funk and my mum would play piano. And I suppose I just randomly got into rapping. I remember rapping in math class, I failed maths, but I suppose I did OK in other things."{{cite web|url=http://www.ukhh.com/features/oldinterviews/cadence_weapon/index.html|title=Cadence Weapon Interview|publisher=UKHH.com|access-date=2012-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729042505/http://www.ukhh.com/features/oldinterviews/cadence_weapon/index.html|archive-date=2012-07-29|url-status=dead}} Cadence has said that he is inspired by dance music: "I'm a big Basement Jaxx fan. I like the way their music sounds, really like it's a party happening. It sounds really organic and super-tech. Switch. Obviously Daft Punk. I'm into very European stuff. I like some of the Ed Banger stuff. Dubsided Records."{{cite web|url=http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2008/03/10/qa-with-cadence-weapon-interview-by-michael-tedder/|title=Q&A with Cadence Weapon|first=Michael|last=Tedder|publisher=Self Titled Mag|date=March 10, 2008|access-date=January 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106194758/http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2008/03/10/qa-with-cadence-weapon-interview-by-michael-tedder/|archive-date=January 6, 2009|url-status=dead}} In addition to his own recordings, Cadence Weapon has also remixed tracks for Lady Sovereign and Ciara, and has written hiphop reviews for Stylus Magazine and Pitchfork Media.

Cadence Weapon was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize, which awards $20,000 for the Canadian album of the year. However, he lost to Owen Pallett's He Poos Clouds. Coincidentally, the Toronto alternative newspaper Eye Weekly's cover photograph the Thursday before the award was presented featured both Cadence and Pallett adopting a mock confrontational pose. The accompanying article, in fact, revealed that Cadence and Pallett had become friends and both really admired each other's records. Cadence and Pallett also performed together on the CBC Radio concert series Fuse in April 2007. He has also been a guest performer on music by other artists, including Super Extra Bonus Party's "Radar" and Shout Out Out Out Out's "Coming Home".{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

On February 21, 2007, Pemberton announced that he signed an American record deal with Epitaph Records sublabel ANTI-, a move that would give him greater exposure in the United States. As a part of his new deal, Breaking Kayfabe was released in the US on March 13, 2007. In the fall of 2007, Big Dada became Cadence Weapon's representative label in Europe. Cadence Weapon's second LP, Afterparty Babies was released by Anti-/Epitaph on March 4, 2008. In 2008, he also played at ZXZW in the Netherlands.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

On May 26, 2009, Cadence Weapon was sworn in as Edmonton's Poet Laureate for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2009, and as such served as an ambassador of the literary arts, as well as creating original works.{{cite news |author=Richard Helm |title=Weapon of distinction; Rapper named new Edmonton poet laureate |url=http://www.canada.com/Weapon+distinction/1631332/story.html |agency=CanWest Global News |publisher=Canada.com |location=Edmonton |date=May 26, 2009|accessdate=May 28, 2009}}

In 2011, he participated in the National Parks Project, collaborating with musicians Laura Barrett and Mark Hamilton and filmmaker Peter Lynch to produce and score a short film about Alberta's Waterton Lakes National Park.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalparksproject.ca/#/park/7/film|title=National Parks Project|website=www.nationalparksproject.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-01-15|archive-date=2018-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110193950/http://www.nationalparksproject.ca/#/park/7/film|url-status=dead}}

Cadence Weapon released the album Hope in Dirt City on May 29, 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.upperclassrecordings.com/_blog/News/post/Cadence/|title=Cadence Weapon Hope in Dirt City|website=www.upperclassrecordings.com}} The album became his third straight to be nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, and second to make the short list.{{cite news|url=http://music.cbc.ca/blogs/2012/7/Polaris-juror-Alan-Ranta-on-why-Cadence-Weapon-could-take-the-prize|title=Polaris juror Alan Ranta on why Cadence Weapon could take the prize|author=Alan Ranta|publisher=CBC Music|date=July 25, 2012|accessdate=July 25, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Moreover, the National Post's Jesse Kinos-Goodin and Noah Love described how Drake may be Canada's most commercially successful rapper, but Cadence Weapon is certainly one of the most creative. Hope in Dirt City was short listed as one of their best of albums so far of 2012.{{cite web|url=http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/26/the-best-albums-of-2012-so-far-part-2-cadence-weapon-japandroids-and-more/|title=The best albums of 2012 so far, part 2: Cadence Weapon, Japandroids and more|publisher=National Post|date=June 27, 2012|access-date=2012-09-02|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129185001/http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/06/26/the-best-albums-of-2012-so-far-part-2-cadence-weapon-japandroids-and-more/|archive-date=2013-01-29|url-status=dead}}

In 2015, Cadence Weapon began a residency on Toronto Independent Radio Station TRP called Allsorts.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wearetrp.com/portfolio/allsorts/|title=Allsorts - TRP}}

His album Parallel World won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.{{Cite news|last=Friend|first=David|date=September 28, 2021|title=Cadence Weapon wins Polaris Music Prize for hip hop album 'Parallel World'|work=CityNews/The Canadian Press|url=https://kitchener.citynews.ca/around-ontario/cadence-weapon-wins-polaris-music-prize-for-hip-hop-album-parallel-world-4460369}} He described the concept as being told with a "journalistic lens" that was largely inspired by watching the George Floyd protests in 2020.

In 2022 he published the memoir Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry.Ben Rayner, [https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/reviews/2022/06/08/cadence-weapons-new-memoir-bedroom-rapper-could-easily-have-delivered-a-damning-name-naming-diatribe-against-the-evils-of-the-business.html "Cadence Weapon’s new memoir ‘Bedroom Rapper’ “could easily have delivered a damning, name-naming diatribe against the evils of the business’"]. Toronto Star, June 8, 2022.

Personal life

Pemberton was based in Montreal for a period of six years in his twenties, which led to collaborations with artists such as Blue Hawaii and Jacques Greene. In 2015, Pemberton relocated to Toronto, which provided inspiration for his 2018 song, "High Rise," that addresses gentrification.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/05/28/cadence-weapon-takes-aim-at-the-condo-boom-in-new-single.html|title=Cadence Weapon takes aim at the condo boom in new single|website=Toronto Star |date=28 May 2018}}

Discography

=Studio albums=

Breaking Kayfabe (2005)
Afterparty Babies (2008)
Hope in Dirt City (2012)
Cadence Weapon (2018)
Parallel World (2021)
Rollercoaster (2024)

=Mixtapes=

Cadence Weapon Is the Black Hand (2005)
Separation Anxiety (2009)
Tron Legacy: The Mixtape (2010)

=Singles=

"House Music" (2008)
"Conditioning" (2012)
"When It's Real" (2013)

=Guest appearances=

Antimc - "Canadian Dream" from It's Free, But It's Not Cheap (2006)
Buck 65 - "Benz." from Situation (2007)
Noah23 - "Half Drunk" from Rock Paper Scissors (2008)
Dragon Fli Empire - "Outside Inn" from Redefine (2009)
Shout Out Out Out Out - "Coming Home" from Reintegration Time (2009)
B. Dolan - "Fall of T.R.O.Y." from Fallen House, Sunken City (2010)
The Hood Internet - "Critical Captions" from FEAT (2012)
Shad + Skratch Bastid - "Homie" from The Spring Up (2013)
The Voltage Heroes - "The Eagles" from This is Our City (2016) {{Cite web|url=https://allpurposevoltageheroes.bandcamp.com/track/the-eagles-ft-cadence-weapon|title=The Eagles (Ft. Cadence Weapon), by The Voltage Heroes|website=The Voltage Heroes}}
Jacques Greene - "Night Service" from Dawn Chorus (2019)
Alice Ivy - "Sunrise" from Don't Sleep (2020)
Hot Chip - "The Evil That Men Do" from Freakout/Release (2022)
Low End Activist - "Superhighway" from Hostile Utopia (2022)