| There’s a saying in Calgary that the only good thing to come out of Edmonton is an empty bus. If any Calgarian actually believes this, then the recent flood of fantastic music pouring out of the "City of Champions" will drown out any such remaining frat-boy rivalry speak. Bands like The Floor, The Vertical Struts and Shout Out Out Out Out, longstanding Edmonton favourites, are no longer Alberta secrets.
Another more unique breakout from the thriving Edmonton music scene is an eletro-rap prodigy, 19-year-old writer, DJ, rapper and producer Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a. Cadence Weapon.
"I just feel it’s good timing right now," says Pemberton about the quality of the Edmonton music scene. "A lot of people have been around making music for a long time and now they’ve got ideas and they’re putting them together."
Pemberton’s own album Breaking Kayfabe, was released at the end of 2005 on Upper Class Recordings, a Toronto label started by The Russian Futurists and other likeminded musicians. He also just returned from shows in Toronto and Montreal with Lady Sovereign and Montreal DJ Ghislain Porier. Plans for a Canadian tour are currently being made, and Pemberton’s first ever show in Calgary should be soon.
Breaking Kayfabe was recorded in the summer of 2004 and has a generous helping of Edmonton pride sprinkled throughout the glitchy IDM-styled beats. The opening track, "Oliver Square," is an ode of sorts to an Edmonton landmark often overshadowed by the provincial legislature building and West Edmonton Mall.
"That’s my biggest hit," says Pemberton with a laugh. "Oliver Square is not an important place. It’s a strip mall with a Blockbuster and shit in it, but I used to live by there and I always had to go there a lot."
So it was with his tongue firmly planted in cheek that the relentless wordsmith first rapped the opening line, "Yo it’s corrupt where I’m from / Ed-mon-ton," over beats featuring cut-up hockey organs – a beat he made as the Calgary Flames were in the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"I was chopping up hockey organs and playing with those sounds and I thought it would be good to make a mad Edmonton song at a time like this – when Calgary pride is at its highest."
His next album, which is half finished, takes a more in-depth look at strip malls in Alberta – it’s called Urban Sprawl in North Texas. Although he thinks hometown pride in Alberta is overdone, there is no doubt about Pemberton’s allegiance to Edmonton. He grew up there and even though the hype he is generating could provide the opportunity to move to Vancouver, he’s not going anywhere.
"I’m gonna stay here," he says. "I like Edmonton and I’m happy here, so I don’t see any reason why I should change my whole life."
Pemberton’s roots in Edmonton’s music scene run deep. His father was a DJ on the airwaves of CJSR, the University of Alberta’s campus radio station, and his uncle, Brett Miles, is a prolific saxophonist and leader of the funk band Magilla Funk Conduit.
"He was a major influence," Pemberton says about his uncle. "He was the first one to really put me on to do shows and stuff. He’s always been really supportive of me doing this, but I’ve also got to give props to my father. He used to DJ and I’d always get records from him."
It was with his uncle’s band that Pemberton first started doing shows in bars. Though the under-aged MC always had to ‘forget’ his ID. And it was during those early shows that Pemberton started to hone his stage persona, Cadence Weapon.
"When I’m Rollie, I’m really low-key, just watching things go by," he explains. "When I’m Cadence Weapon, I get pretty wild, I get really excitable."
The dual personas make a lot of sense for a guy who listens to Animal Collective and Three 6 Mafia in equal doses. But when he’s onstage, he’s clearly more influenced by the latter.
"I think it’s really important to have a notable stage presence.
People remember that," he says. "Ultimately that’s the important thing." |
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