This Edmonton native is certainly making waves in the Canadian music scene

Growing up, Rollie Pemberton lived in a very musically inclined household; his father was a well known DJ who presented the idea of rap to the Alberta radio airwaves and who immersed his son in the sounds of funk, rap and soul. Rollie's strong musical background was one of the main reasons why he decided, at age of 13, to enter the battle scene and try to make a name for himself as a rapper. As the years went by, his success grew more and more and as a result Cadence Weapon was born. As an interm at Vervegirl Magazine, I got to chance to meet with Rollie one sunny afternoon outside Starbucks to chat about his life and what he has planned for the future.

I just started off looking for a name and I felt it sounded tough. Rollie says about his pseudo name my music is kind of like my weapon; it is a means of getting people's attention and of breaking the boundaries. Though his weapons have no direct target, Rollie ultimately wants to make people think differently about music, for example he explains that rap doesn't always have to be rap. I feel that Bob Dylan is sort of a rapper, it's just different perceptions.

His second album, Aftershow Babies, received both confused and exciting reviews. The split in reaction was due to the fact that Rollie drastically departed from his last album and created a synthesis of both dance and rap. Though he has always been interested in electronic and dance, these styles of music only started to become more important to him once he became a serious DJ. I'm finding more and more that the thing that influences me in my production is making music that has a physical response to it. Rollie explains you hear song and it makes you dance, for example. In the case of his new album, he wanted to rap faster, have faster positive beats and as a result it ended up becoming dance music as well as rap. But is there a certain label that can be attached to the music that he is producing? Well, Rollie believes that there are so many different aspects, ideas and directions with his music that it has ultimately become unclassifiable. There are rap and dance beats, but there are also some grim elements, it's hybrid music he says something for the 21^st century.

Even after he released his second album and toured around Canada, US and Europe, Rollie had no intention of stopping anytime soon. Following the end of his Canadian tour, he returned to Edmonton and started to reinvent himself once again with his next album. Though he has finished many of the songs, Rollie has a lot of work ahead of him and hopes that his next album will be out by the next year.

However, in the meantime people can listen to his 20 track mix tape, Separation Anxiety, which is a collection of exclusive new Cadence Weapon tracks, remixes and collaborations.

Yvonne Ivanescu
		About the author:
		A self-proclaimed travel fanatic, Yvonne has had the opportunity to travel to many amazing and exotic countries over the years. Her favorite spot overall was her unforgettable trip to Egypt. Her journey to Paris was particularly special, as it was the Journalism School at Sciences Po that reignited her passion for writing and journalism. Since returning from France, Yvonne has interned at Vervegirl Magazine and MTV Canada while freelancing for a number of other publications. She has an Honors B.Soc.Sc in International Studies with a minor in Spanish and French and is currently pursuing her Masters in International Development and Globalization with a Specialization in Women's Studies.
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