A Renaissance man for the Digital Age, Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton is rapper/producer/author with a list of accomplishments and credits so long - from receiving industry accolades for his music to receiving awards for critiquing this same industry in his writing - you might wonder what more is there for him to do.

At once encyclopedically historical and presciently future-minded, the Polaris Music Prize winner is known first and foremost for his lyricism: charged commentary and cautionary tales of artificiality, tech-culture, classicism, gentrification, exploitation and more fit beside the self-aware chronicles of his own life and career. Cadence Weapon has made good on the critical acclaim of his early work and still remains at the avant-garde, pushing boundaries and buttons while his signature electronic/industrial sound,  a “grimy clarion call,” (Pitchfork) rings on.

An award-winning columnist and contributor to urgent cultural conversations (CBC Commotion, Hazlitt, Mood Machine, docuseries Paid in Full and more), ‘music industry sage’ Cadence Weapon represents the best of the west as Edmonton’s former Poet Laureate.

Now based in Hamilton, Pemberton is poised to surprise his listeners yet again with the release of his new album, Forager. Forager finds Cadence Weapon as archivist and lyricist, curator and collector. The new songs are the work of keen eyes and ears, a restless curiosity for depth of knowledge and appreciation for detail. Written alongside his second book, forthcoming “Ways of Listening,” the songs are the natural extension of a curious mind set to the task of expressing the essence of our relationship to music, and how that is changing.

Track listing:

1. Honus
2. Babymoon
3. Raghouse
4. 501XX
5. Alpenflage
6. Step Out
7. Yves Klein Blue
8. Toronto Zoo (feat. James Baley)
9. Line Dry
10. Barabbas
11. Niagara Region
12. Fall 2012 Couture
    

Wholly Roland Empire Inc. releases Forager in association with Six Shooter Records on April 24th, 2026.