Cadence Weapon

Afterparty Babies

Cadence Weapon's Official Website

Cadence Weapon's MySpace

Backpacker, nerdcore, emo rap, electro-hop, grime, breakbeat, hip house: all of this and none of this describes Edmonton, Alberta rapper Rollie Pemberton, aka Cadence Weapon. It can’t be too much of a surprise, as a former Pitchfork hip-hop reporter and son of hip-hop radio DJ Teddy Pemberton, it was probably inevitable Pemberton would wind up overstimulated by hip-hop’s ever growing number of alternative styles when it came time to make his own music. On his sophomore effort as Cadence Weapon, Afterparty Babies, Pemberton boldly proclaims underground rap “kinda played out” while simultaneously presenting a rambunctious and excitable celebration of its myriad subgenres.

The end result of listening to Cadence Weapon’s seemingly inexhaustible bag of tricks is mixed. Afterparty Babies first half is a thrilling, intense experience, grabbing the listener by the collar with goofy and eye opening convulsions. “In Search of the Youth Crew” wildly twists up trance beats, while “Real Estate” bumps along like the soundtrack to a crazed pop-up book, infusing the sound of tape rewinding with fractured ’50s girl-group samples. Lyrically, Cadence’s flow catches the ear via non-stop pop culture references, name dropping The Wire and MegaMan in the same rhyme on “Juliann Wilding” and hilariously declaring himself the catalyst for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ union on “Limited Edition OJ Slammer.”

By the time the eighth track rolls around, unfortunately, Pemberton starts to run out of steam, while still showing no shortage of intriguing ideas. Without fail, every time a series of cut-up hi-hats or sewer-soppy synths sound haphazardly matched, Cadence makes up for it through his invasive vocal delivery. Techniques like multi-tracking his voice atop the guitar sneak-ins on “The New Face of Fashion,” and the casual chit-chatting with the listener Pemberton dips into throughout the album's second half continue to prove his inventiveness. In attempting to stuff all of his varied inspirations into one record Pemberton might have lost a bit of focus, but due to his fierce artistic passions Afterparty Babies always feels honest.