Cadence Weapon

Rapper, producer, poet, and journalist Rollie Pemberton, also known as Cadence Weapon, breaks down musical barriers with his literate, club-influenced hip-hop. Hailed as a rising hip-hop star in the independent scene when his debut album, Breaking Kayfabe, hit record store shelves in 2005, he was lauded for avoiding the stale formulas that are too commonly found in mainstream pop, and also for straying from the reclusive nature that characterizes a lot of underground rappers. He was named Poet Laureate of Edmonton in 2009. He returned from an absence of several years with a 2018 self-titled effort that included some of his most pop-influenced material, and he released the drill-influenced Parallel World, his most politically charged work, in 2021. The album was awarded the Polaris Music Prize that year. Rollercoaster, focusing on the contradictions of modern culture and technology, appeared in 2024.