Cadence Weapon — Poet Laureate

Posted by Peter Hemminger in Stranger in the Alps

Edmonton just announced their new poet laureate, and it's Rollie Pemberton, otherwise known as rapper Cadence Weapon. Given that he's 51 years younger than the previous laureate, Pemberton's appointment is pretty clearly a stab at attracting some youth and vitality (and publicity) to the position, which pays an honorarium of $5,000 per year for its two-year term.

Although it's probably the strangest laureate-related news since Robert Pinsky hosted a metaphor-off between Stephen Colbert and Sean Penn, it could actually set a nice precedent. Imagine the Weakerthans' John K Samson taking over as poet laureate of Winnipeg — he's already devoted himself to capturing the city in verse, anyway. Or imagine Calgary having a poet laureate at all. If an indie-hip hopper can rise to the upper echelons of culture, why not?

...or maybe not. Some things are just too unlikely.


more in Music Features     |     posted May 26th, 2009 at 10:46am     

Comments: 1

aznleo wrote:

Edmontonstories.ca have posted Rollie's story. Check it out at http://www.edmontonstories.ca/story/cadence-weapon

on May 28th, 2009 at 12:02pm Report Abuse


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