Cadence Weapon
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| Cadence Weapon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Rollie Pemberton |
| Born | c. 1986 |
| Origin | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Genres | Canadian hip hop Alternative hip hop |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Upper Class Recordings Epitaph Records Big Dada |
| Website | cadenceweaponmusic.com |
Cadence Weapon (born c. 1986) is the stage name of Rollie Pemberton, a Canadian rapper.[1]
Contents |
[edit] 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.[2] He began rapping at 13, and following high school he briefly attended journalism school, dropping out soon afterward to concentrate on music.[citation needed] He released the underground mix tape Cadence Weapon is the Black Hand in 2005, and his full-length debut Breaking Kayfabe at the end of the year. Breaking Kayfabe has garnered strong reviews in Canadian, American and British media, and Cadence has toured extensively to support the disc, including concerts across Canada and three shows in Austin, Texas at the 2006 South by Southwest festival. Cadence has said in an interview what inspired him to go into music as a career: "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." [3] Cadence has said that he is inspired by dance music: "I’m a big Basement Jaxx fan. I like they 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." [4]
Chart magazine named Cadence Weapon one of the 15 Canadian artists to watch in 2006. In addition, composite review site Metacritic lists Breaking Kayfabe as one of the best albums of 2006.
In addition to his own recordings, Cadence Weapon has also remixed tracks for Lady Sovereign[1] and Ciara, and has written hiphop reviews for Stylus and Pitchfork.
Cadence Weapon was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize[1], which awards $20,000 for the Canadian album of the year. However, he lost to Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds. Coincidentally, the Toronto alternative newspaper Eye weekly's cover photograph the Thursday before the award was presented featured both Cadence Weapon and Final Fantasy's Owen 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.
On February 21, 2007, Pemberton announced that he signed an American record deal with Epitaph Records, a move that will 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.
He also accompanied Final Fantasy on part of his 2007 tour.
Cadence Weapon's second LP, Afterparty Babies was released by Anti-/Epitaph on March 4, 2008. In 2008 he also played at ZXZW in Holland.
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".
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 is expected serve as an ambassador of the literary arts, as well as creating original works.[2][5]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Breaking Kayfabe (2005)
- Afterparty Babies (2008)
[edit] Mixtapes
- Cadence Weapon is the Black Hand (2005)
- Separation Anxiety (2009)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Henley, Tara. "Candence Weapon:It's All About The After Party". Ur magazine (Rogers): pp. 33.
- ^ a b CBC News. "Edmonton names hip-hop artist latest poet laureate". http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/05/26/edmonton-pemberton-poet-laureate.html. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
- ^ http://www.ukhh.com/features/interviews/cadence_weapon/index.html
- ^ http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2008/03/10/qa-with-cadence-weapon-interview-by-michael-tedder/
- ^ Richard Helm (2009-05-26). "Weapon of distinction; Rapper named new Edmonton poet laureate" (in english). CanWest Global News. Edmonton: Canada.com. http://www.canada.com/Weapon+distinction/1631332/story.html. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- "Edmonton Hip hop Champion Charges in From Leftfield", Exclaim!, February 2, 2006
- "Weapons ready", Vue Weekly, December 2005
- Cadence Weapon on AOL Music Canada
- Interview at britishhiphop.co.uk, May 2008
- Cadence Weapon questionnaire
- UGSMAG interview
- Canadian Press article
- State Magazine interview with Cadence Weapon
