Cadence Weapon is Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer, writer and poet Rollie Pemberton. 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 four albums, all of which have been nominated for the Polaris Prize, with Breaking Kayfabe (2006) and Hope In Dirt City (2012) 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 is writing a book about his career called Bedroom Rapper that will be published by McClelland & Stewart in Fall 2022 and his new album Parallel World is out on April 30, 2021. Using elements of trap, drill, grime and acid house, Cadence touches on themes of systemic racism, structural inequality, police profiling, gentrification, the internet’s pervasive effects on our lives and the surveillance state.