Thursday, March 15   12:15 a.m.
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  Cadence Weapon - Sharks
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Every now and again, a hip-hop artist emerges and threatens to take the music from its growing commercial context, back to its essence. Enter 19-year-old rapper/producer Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton), hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, son of a Brooklyn DJ, nephew of a funk musician, and child of fresh music. Rollie has used his teen years to assemble a cv in music few music-lovers can dream of, and finally, Pemberton has just released his highly anticipated, full length debut, "Breaking Kayfabe" in Canada on Upper Class Recordings (December 6, 2005)...the awaited USA Release of Breaking Kayfabe comes just in time for SXSW 2007, early March 2007.

Enter a new kind of celebrity; Roland Pemberton had never released an album, but by age 18 Rollie had been a reknowned hip-hop reviewer at online indie music mecca Pitchforkmedia.com, reviewer for Brooklyn’s Stylus Magazine, reviewing music for Wired Magazine and rapping with his uncle’s jazz-funk band on weekends. He launched his own mp3 blog, (RazorBladeRunner.blogspot.com) and began remixing artists as a producer and posting his home mixes on his mp3 blog, to much critical acclaim. Early in 2005 Cadence Weapon decided to compile some of his favourite remixes and freestyles and released his “Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand” mixtape, sold only online and at shows.

This caught the attention of three record labels: Def Jam, who had just signed Lady Sovereign, asked Cadence Weapon to remix her “Blah Blah Blah” single. Vice Records, who had 2 large records in production – Disco D's Entourage anthem "Hug It Out B*tch" and the all-star indie jam 'Do They Know It’s Halloween' – hired Cadence for both remixes, and Upper Class Recordings who signed Mr. Pemberton on the spot. The Cadence Weapon sound that everyone is freaking out about? His rap style has been referred to as a "young canuck Roots Manuva" and his beats reflect his love of electro dance music. The overall sound is so smoking hot you can't help but associate Cadence's potential with a Missy Elliott or Neptunes level of fresh.

Following massive grassroots support for his independent mixtape, "Cadence Weapon Is the Black Hand" (2005), Pemberton delivered a more focused sound on "Breaking Kayfabe" (2005). The first video for “Black Hand” created by the bright minds at Fluorescent Hill (Heavy Blinkers, Badly Drawn Boy) is in rotation at Muchmusic and MuchVibe; the second video for the grimey explosion "Sharks" has just been shot by world-wide video all-stars SPY FILMS (Arcade Fire, Death From Above). His remixes for Vice and Def Jam are hitting dance floors and he has several more remixes in the works, he’s shared the stage with Lady Sovereign, Wu-Tang’s Raekwon, Hot Chip, Islands, TTC, Spank Rock, New Pornographers, Rihanna and many more, his blog is bigger than ever…and he’s just turned 20.

“Cadence Weapon’s M.O. is breaking boundaries. Certainly he's a writer and not a biter. - URB MAGAZINE