Cadence Weapon is the pseudonym of Roland “Rollie” Pemberton, born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1986. He is a writer, producer, poet, activist, and rapper. Cadence Weapon is a Toronto based artist, releasing hip-hop in a style which combines a range of genres including psychedelic soul, old school rap, funk, grime, and electro techno. He is the son of DJ Teddy Pemberton, a Brooklyn, New York native who is credited for introducing hip-hop to Edmonton and created The Black Sound Experience radio show on the University of Alberta’s CSJR station in 1980.

He began working as a music critic for Stylus Webzine and Pitchfork. Additionally, his written work has been published in the Globe and Mail, Hazlitt, the Guardian, and Wired. The featured music from Weapon’s is the “Black Hand” on his blog Razorblade Runner, which caught the attention of record labels including Epitaph/Anti and Def Jam Records. He released his first album, Breaking Kayfabe in 2005 under the Toronto label Upper Class Recordings. Breaking Kayfabe earned a Polaris Prize nomination in 2006, which lead to a record deal with the American label Epitaph/Anti. He has released a total of five albums, all of which have been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, including three shortlist nominations. His album Parallel World, successfully won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize.

Weapon’s creative ventures go beyond music. He served as the Poet Laureate of Edmonton from 2009 to 2011, and his poem “The Garden” was incorporated into a bronze sculpture at the Alberta Legislature Grounds in Edmonton in 2018. He was the narrator and a writer for the VICELAND television series PAYDAY and Mister Tachyon, and collaborated Laura Barrett, Mark Hamilton, and Peter Lynch to create and score a short film about Waterton Lakes and National Park in Alberta.

Weapon published a memoir in 2022 titled Bedroom Rapper, containing a wide-range history of hip-hop from an international perspective, discussing American hip-hop, UK grime, and nice scenes in the Canadian Prairies. Weapon still actively engages with and shares his love of music with public audiences by blogging, DJ’ing, performing, and curating Spotify playlists.