Cadence Weapon is here to work. After years of leading the rap avant-garde, the Toronto-based, Edmonton, AB native is more self-assured than ever, making moves in his own lane with no endorsements or sponsorships. In his new loose single, Don’t Talk To Me, Cadence Weapon links with Toronto producer, FrancisGotHeat, (Roy Woods, Bryson Tiller, Drake) for a mellow yet refined sound, detailing his renewed focus, and demanding the people who aren’t adding value to stay away.
“The song is inspired by my experiences navigating the rap scene over the years,” Cadence explains. “Since my last album, I’ve matured a lot, refined my music and surrounded myself with people who have my best interests in mind. It’s about refocusing my energy and flipping the script to the next page of my career. There’s a restorative element to this song. ‘Don’t Talk To Me’ means ‘don’t talk to me unless it’s something productive.’ That’s all I care about.”
Earlier this year, Cadence Weapon ended his long hiatus from recording music by teaming up with Kaytranada for My Crew (Woooo), a haunting, heart-pounding track. Through frenetic tongue-twisting verses that call out internet trolls and Camo pant-wearing cops, My Crew (Woooo) mirrors the energy of Montreal’s underground after-hours party scene, complete with hedonistic imagery and shout outs to his crew dwelling in the various neighbourhoods of the city. Cadence describes the song as “an anthem about unapologetically being who you want to be, no matter what anybody else thinks.”
Recognized as Canada’s “most creative” rapper by the National Post, Cadence Weapon (aka Roland “Rollie” Pemberton) has consistently exhibited a passion to take rap into new and unexpected directions. Born in Edmonton, Cadence had an upbringing uniquely suited to becoming a rapper. His father Teddy, a Brooklyn native, was the DJ that introduced hip-hop to Edmonton with his pioneering radio show, The Black Experience in Sound, on CJSR 88.5 FM. After spending his childhood immersed in his father’s diverse archive of music, Cadence started rapping at age 13. Soon, he was entering freestyle battles, rocking shows with his uncle’s funk band and teaching himself how to make beats.
Following the online success of his Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand mixtape, Cadence 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.” In 2009, Cadence 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 for an event at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He followed up this literary stint with 2012’s Hope In Dirt City, an album produced by Cadence recording live instruments and sampling them for his beats. The album was his second to be shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize.
Good morning!
G’day! On today’s subject matter, rap is not that big for me, or is that me not being so big on rap, but anyway the small Arboretum Festival this Friday and Saturday has managed to snag Cadence Weapon. Huh.
https://www.arboretumfestival.com/friday/
Hello hello! I liked the new Cadence Weapon. I don’t listen to a lot of rap, but I liked this one
Hello
Hello hello hello.
I like some rap, more hip hop, and I enjoy this Cadence Weapon track.
Rollie’s great.
Does anyone else here follow Library Voices on Twitter? They tweeted out this morning about how they would withdraw their support for the CBC if they continued to give air time to white nationalists like Richard Spencer.
I don’t listen to CBC news on the regular, so wasn’t aware they were giving airtime to those groups, but I appreciate the stand Library Voices are taking.
I’m (as usual) opposed to silencing even extreme bigots. I’m not saying “respect them”, but “respect their right as humans to express themselves” — there are already laws to prevent people from straying too far, inciting violence for instance.
The left, and other trying-to-be-decent people, should remember that the most reviled among us are the canaries in the coal mine. The way the most despised of us are treated by the society in regards to human rights, or to their opinions, is evidence of its actual righteousness and fairness of the society in question. Of the fact it’s not just blowing smoke out its ass about freedom of this and that.
There’s also a practical aspect: how do you want to even be able to counter sophistry, false facts and faulty logic if you drive their authors underground?
In short, free speech in an open society is not just for the politically correct, or for the ones we agree with.
I saw that Library Voices post and didn’t give it a like because I wasn’t sure I was completely on board with that. I haven’t listened to CBC news lately to know just what they aired. I do appreciate standing behind your opinion on things. I just take longer to form one.
I just wondered if CBC had interviewed someone from the groups to prompt the post, because otherwise it seemed like a very oddly-worded way to say that you don’t support white nationalists or the alt-right.
Agreed. That was what I was wondering.
It was a bit odd, yes. Most of what I’ve seen on CBC is either just reporting what happened or pointing out that Canadians shouldn’t be to complacent or self-congratulatory. Maybe I missed something