Cadence Weapon

Rollie Pemberton, also known as Cadence Weapon, broke down musical barriers when his debut album, Breaking Kayfabe, hit record shelves in 2005. Hailed as a rising hip-hop star in the independent scene, he was lauded for avoiding the stale formulas that are too commonly found in mainstream pop but also for straying from the too often reclusive nature that characterizes a lot of underground rappers. His biting rhymes laid over his own synth-heavy, electro-fused beats have prompted some to label him as the Canadian response to British grime MC Dizzee Rascal. His admiration for IDM acts like Aphex Twin is much more apparent in his material than some of his other influences, such as hip-hop veterans Prince Paul and Timbaland. Pemberton's musical roots, however, can be traced back to his father, Teddy Pemberton, a DJ who is credited for introducing hip-hop to his hometown of Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Teddy Pemberton created The Black Sound Experience radio show on the University of Alberta's CSJR station in 1980. Following in his father's footsteps, Cadence Weapon discovered that he truly wanted to rap around the age of 13, but his mother wanted him to pursue a career in journalism. He attended journalism school in Virginia for some time, but the school did not suit him. Nonetheless, by the age of 18, he still established a name for himself as a tough music critic, writing for the Brooklyn-based Stylus webzine and the influential Pitchfork Media. After he quit the former and was fired from the latter (the Pitchfork editor-in-chief stated via email that his reviews were too vague), he began immersing himself into rhymes and producing his own tracks. In 2005, he pressed and released his first effort, the mix CD Cadence Weapon Is the...