Cadence Weapon

As i've mentioned him in two recent previous post, i thought that it would only be right to give Cadence Weapon his own one. I first came across him when he featured on the Robotville track Kick Out The Snow and then on a radio session with Final Fantasy, both bands who i'm a bit crazy about at the moment, so i was very intrigued to hear him do his own thing. Now i'm not the biggest hip-hop fan there ever was, i've dabbled with a few albums but i'm too much of a guitar fan to get really into it, but his debut album, Breaking Kayfabe, was a different matter.
Released in 2005 - yes i'm quite late on this one - it got a lot of critical acclaim at the time and was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize last year, only to beaten by He Poos Clouds, but his album has as much ingenuity and musical know-how in it as Pallett's creation.
The production on it is unlike any other hip-hop i've heard, all done by Mr. Weapon himself, which is probably the reason for its originality as Rollie Remberton, thats his real name, has a whole range of diverse musical influences from Les Savy Fav and Tricky to David Bowie and Daft Punk. The sounds are quite dark and intense from the off, Oliver Square is full of seedy beats and paranoid synths over which Pemberton spits out distinct and fluent rhymes. This carries on for the next 11 tracks, dense, unhinged and unrelenting but with so much variation and intensity that it whips you up with it, carrying you along on a dirty cloud of paranoid sounds and words.
And yes the lyrics are grade-A worthy too, full of intelligence and wit. Sometimes there's a odd duff couplet but the kid's young and it shows that he isn't all perfection but everywhere else, the lyrics are tight and clever.
Now signed to Epitaph, CW should be releasing a new album sometime this year...hopefully.

Cadence Weapon - Sharks
Cadence Weapon - Oliver Square
Robotville feat. Cadence Weapon - Kick Out The Snow