Album Review of ‘Hope In Dirt City’ by Cadence Weapon, a 2012 Polaris Prize long list nominee.
Cadence Weapon is a rapper from Edmonton Alberta. Edmonton is north of Vancouver and borders a place Canadians call ‘The Great White North’. I have never been there but I hear that Edmonton has long and cold winters and Edmontonions have to plug in their cars to keep their engines warm. Sounds like they are in need of a warm pounding beat and Cadence Weapon is bringing this beat, not just to Edmonton, but also to the rest of Canada. I foresee a future in which you Euros will be hearing him on the other side of the pond….mark my words.
While listening to Roland Pemberton, aka Cadence Weapon, I am reminded of the hiphop from the late eighties early nineties. We would call that old skool these days but I would just call it tres kool :-) De La Soul, Jungle Brothers and even LL. What makes Cadence Weapon sound fresh is the mix with todays electronic synth pop, the use of deep Brit bass beats, real snare drums and guitar and other non-electronic sound effects. This combined with Cadence’s incredible flow of words, slow, up and even crescendo brings hiphop and rap back to its essence. Straight from the streets of Montreal where Cadence resides these days when not on the road.
For the Vancourists reading this post, Cadence Weapon is the special guest of ‘Liars’ on July 9th at the Biltmore Hotel.
This is the second post in a weekly series on all kinds of new Canadian music …. watch this space for next weeks’ update!
Fuzz On !
[...] The evening was not altogether lost. Opening act, Montreal based rapper and former poet laureate of Edmonton, Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton) along with DJ Kuhrye-oo started things off with an energetic set which included the title track of his newest album Hope in Dirt City, 88, Conditioning and Loft Party among others. The album review of Hope In Dirt City you find here. [...]