October 17th, 2008, Cadence Weapon with DJ Cosmo
I should not review a hip hop/rap event. I shouldn’t.
I consider myself a bit of a music person, but I don’t have a clue about what makes a good rap artist and the only two rap CDs that adorn my collection are Wu Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP. I have no idea how the latter came to grace my collection.
That said, I have no qualms whatsoever in saying that Cadence Weapon was my favourite Wave event to date. And hell, I was sober. Though unsurprising that I didn’t know many of Cadence Weapon’s songs, it was kind of surprising to me that a large chunk of the audience did. And in case you are as ignorant about rap music as I am, there are a lot of words to memorize in rap songs.
Cadence Weapon is the stage name of Rollie Pemberton. An Alberta native, he has achieved critical success. He independently released the underground mix tape Cadence Weapon is the Black Hand in 2005, and his first full-length debut Breaking Kayfabe later that year. Scoring excellent reviews, Cadence has toured extensively to support the disc, including concerts across Canada and three shows in Austin, Texas at the 2006 South by Southwest festival. In addition to his own recordings, Cadence Weapon has also remixed tracks for Lady Sovereign and Ciara, and has written hiphop reviews for Stylus and Pitchfork.
Earlier this year, Cadence released his second LP, Afterparty Babies on Anti/Epitaph.
Cadence’s lyrics are unbelievable. His dominating stage presence is impressive given his lack of band, and his rogue style keeps things fresh and not contrived. Everyone at The Wave, including the business pub crawl, were completely into it.
Still, even more exciting than Cadence Weapon was third year psych/history student Zac Thompson. If academics fail him, he could make it as a professional dancer. Do UPEI proud, Zac!
UPEI Wave Press Photo/Photo by Sean Berrigan
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