Cadence Weapon

Cadence Weapon

Artist

Roland “Rollie” Pemberton (born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on February 21, 1986) is rapper and producer Cadence Weapon. His father Teddy was a pioneering radio DJ that introduced hip-hop to Edmonton with his radio show The Black Experience in Sound on CJSR 88.5 FM and his grandfather is CFL Hall of Fame football player Rollie Miles.

Following the online success of his Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand mixtape, Rollie released his self-produced debut album Breaking Kayfabe in December 2005 at the age of 19. The album was met with international critical acclaim, with the BBC praising its mix of “vivid, scattershot rhymes” and “techno-tinged beats.” Cadence performed shows around the continent with artists such as Diplo, Mos Def, De La Soul and Raekwon. It was shortlisted for the inaugural Polaris Prize, Canada’s critics award for best album of the year.

His 2008 sophomore album Afterparty Babies was released in the USA on Epitaph’s Anti- imprint and in the UK on Big Dada Records, bringing his music to a wider audience. The New York Times remarked upon the album’s “dense, tricky productions that pile samples and scratching atop techno and electro beats” with the Guardian claiming Cadence’s “darting intelligence and racing imagination are evident in every line.” The album was supported by extensive worldwide touring including festivals like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Roskilde, Primavera Sound and the Great Escape and opening slots for bands like Public Enemy.

In 2009, Rollie Pemberton was appointed Poet Laureate of Edmonton, making him the literary ambassador of his home city for two years, during which he was invited to read poetry at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He followed up this literary stint with 2012’s Hope In Dirt City, an album produced by Rollie recording live instruments and sampling them for his beats. “I wanted to make it ambiguous between where the sample ends and the live band begins,” he told Paste Magazine. The album was his second to be shortlisted for the Polaris Prize.