Cadence Weapon

Cadence Weapon is Edmonton-born, Hamilton-based rapper, producer, writer, and poet Rollie Pemberton. His 2021 album, Parallel World, won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize.

The son of a pioneering hip-hop radio DJ, Pemberton grew up around a diverse library of music. Splitting his time between Edmonton’s experimental electronic and underground rap scenes as a teenager, Pemberton eventually developed a hybrid of both styles. Cadence Weapon has released five albums, all of which have been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, with Breaking Kayfabe (2006), Hope In Dirt City (2012), and Parallel World (2021) being shortlist nominees. Pemberton has toured extensively following the success of these albums, playing festivals like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork Music Festival, Roskilde, and Primavera Sound and performing shows with artists such as Public Enemy, Diplo, Questlove, De La Soul, and many more.

Pemberton’s music is known for pairing groundbreaking production with incisive, socially conscious lyricism. Pemberton served as Poet Laureate of Edmonton from 2009 to 2011, making him the literary ambassador of his hometown. His poem “The Garden” was incorporated into a bronze sculpture at the Alberta Legislature Grounds in Edmonton in 2018. Pemberton was the narrator and a writer for the VICELAND television series PAYDAY and Mister Tachyon and he has hosted lectures and conducted live interviews for CBC q and Red Bull Music Academy. Pemberton‘s memoir called Bedroom Rapper was published by McClelland & Stewart in May 2022.