POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE WINNER CADENCE WEAPON ANNOUNCES PARALLEL WORLD (DELUXE EDITION) WITH REMIX OF SENNA (WITH JACQUES GREENE, FEATURING LOGAN)

OUT MARCH 25 VIA MNRK MUSIC GROUP

FEATURES SPECIAL COLLABORATIONS AND REIMAGINED VERSIONS OF TRACKS FROM 2021 POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE-WINNING ALBUM PARALLEL WORLD

PERFORMING AT CALGARY'S BLOCK HEATER FESTIVAL ON FEBRUARY 19 

TORONTO, ON – February 8, 2022 – Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer, writer, poet and activist, Cadence Weapon, is starting the year with fresh energy from the studio to the stage. Today, he announces Parallel World (Deluxe Edition), featuring reimagined versions of standout tracks from his 2021 Polaris Music Prize-winning album, Parallel World. Arriving on March 25 via MNRK Music Group, Cadence previews the album with a remix of SENNA featuring Jacques Greene and UK artist, Logan. Take a listen and pre-order Parallel World (Deluxe Edition) on all streaming platforms  here and via Bandcamp. Watch the visualizer here.

For the expansive project, Cadence handpicked a collection of friends, collaborators, and rising artists from across Canada and London, UK, who respectively forge their own sound to provide the remixes. This eclectic blend of offerings pulls his music into new, curious shapes and continues the conversation that he started with Parallel World. There’s a Chicago acid house-inspired reprise from Martyn Bootyspoon (Montreal), a surreally off-kilter “Renoviction Refix'' from Ciel(Toronto), an optimistically dystopian track from CFCF (Montreal), and left-field funk from Harrison (Toronto). As a nod to his affinity for UK grime and club culture, as well as his desire to showcase Black talent across the diaspora, Pemberton also enlisted the two London up-and-comers, grime MC Logan and experimental club producer, Loraine James

“I was searching for producers who I feel like are really groundbreaking and pushing barriers. That’s the thing I’m always attracted to musically,” Cadence says of Parallel World (Deluxe Edition). “My initial thought was, ‘How can I help give a bigger platform to these artists who I know personally, but who are some of the most innovative artists in Canada?’”

Cadence just rocked Guelph, Ontario's Hillside Inside Festival, and is preparing for a big show at Block Heater Festival in Calgary on February 19. Find more details here.

On the road, Cadence has opened for the likes of Public Enemy, De La Soul, Mos Def, Kool Keith, Busdriver, Questlove, and others, but has continued to honour his hometown in both his music and writing; in 2009, he was appointed the Poet Laureate of Edmonton and spent two years forging a new legacy for his city as its representative rapper-poet. While his debut poetry collection, Magnetic Days, was published in 2014, Cadence's debut book, Bedroom Rapper, a personal account of his life in music as an artist, critic, and fan amid a changing digital landscape, arrives later this year (McClelland & Stewart).

Now based in Toronto, Cadence has reported on the gentrification of the city’s Little Jamaica neighbourhood and the migration of Black Canadian communities, but still holds pride for the Canadian Prairies he hails from. At the end of his Polaris Music Prize victory speech, Cadence declared: “The Prairies got something to say.” 

Parallel World has been heralded has Cadence’s most politically charged album to date. The songs are what Cadence quips Truth in Jest to narrate realities of the world at present and touch on themes of systemic racism, structural inequality, police profiling, gentrification, the internet’s pervasive effects on our lives and the surveillance state that disproportionately punishes Black people. Using elements of trap, drill, grime and acid house, Parallel World is the soundtrack for the dystopian future the world is facing, as society deals with these issues. It is a sonic space where Cadence distills these experiences for all.  

Listen to the original version Parallel World here, learn more about Cadence Weapon below and stay tuned for more North American tour dates to be announced soon. 
 
Tracklist:
1. Africville's Revenge
2. On Me (featuring Manga Saint Hillare and Strict Face)
3. Play No Games
4. SENNA (featuring Jacques Greene)
5. Skyline
6. WATER (featuring Fat Tony)
7. Eye To Eye
8. Ghost (featuring Backxwash)
9. Hard To Find
10. Connect
11. SENNA Remix (featuring Logan)
12. On Me (Loraine James Remix)
13. Africville's Revenge (Martyn Bootyspoon Remix)
14. Skyline (Ciel's Renoviction Refix)
15. Connect (CFCF Remix)
16. Play No Games (Harrison Remix)
 
Upcoming Canadian Tour Date:
February 19 - Calgary, AB - Block Heater Festival - RSVP & Info

Listen to Parallel World here
Pre-order Parallel World Remixes here

 
DOWNLOAD – Hi Res Press Photo (by Mat Dunlap)
DOWNLOAD – Hi Res Album Art
DOWNLOAD – Hi Res Single Art
DOWNLOAD – Hi Res Press Photo (by Mat Dunlap)
 
Listen to Parallel World here
Pre-order Parallel World (Deluxe Edition) here
Pre-order Parallel World (Deluxe Edition) on Bandcamp
 
About Cadence Weapon
Cadence Weapon is the Edmonton-born, Toronto-based rapper, producer, writer, poet, and activist Rollie Pemberton. Throughout his work, the multidisciplinary artist aims to preserve and resurrect Black cultural memory by forging connections between personal, local, and collective histories. Pemberton received the 2021 Polaris Music Prize for his fifth and latest album, Parallel World, an incisive project that uncovers the splintering realities both created and hidden by modern systems of inequality, atop blistering production that draws from UK grime, trap, and acid house.

Raised by a pioneering New York radio DJ father and piano playing mother, Pemberton started rapping at age 13. He cut his teeth performing live with his uncle’s funk band as a teen, but as one of the only rappers in Edmonton, he found endless outlets for his creativity on the internet, where there were no limits on discovering music. Pemberton thrived online finding samples, remixing songs, and battling rap strangers on message boards. As a university student, Pemberton penned alternative hip-hop reviews while crafting his debut album, 2005’s Breaking Kayfabe, the first of five albums that have been nominated for the Polaris Prize.

A scholar and entertainer with many hats, Pemberton has also done narration work for VICELAND TV shows, hosted lectures for Red Bull Music Academy, conducted live interviews for CBC, and acted in Sean Nicholas Savage’s debut musical, Please Thrill Me. In 2020, he launched his ongoing self-titled newsletter, where he shares personal essays about being an artist, essays of music and cultural criticism, and behind-the-scenes posts into his work and creative process. Pemberton’s debut book, Bedroom Rapper, a personal account of his life in music as an artist, critic, and fan amid a changing digital landscape, arrives later this year (McClelland & Stewart).

About MNRK Music Group
MNRK Music Group is one of the largest independent music companies in the world, with recording, music publishing and management divisions operating in every major music market. MNRK is committed to discovering and guiding leading music creators and talent, and is home to numerous top tier artists, the iconic Death Row Records and the music publishing catalog of Chuck Berry, plus premier music companies Dualtone Music Group and Last Gang. Its catalog across divisions consists of 54,000 music tracks, including multiple GRAMMY winners and platinum selling hits. To learn more visit www.mnrk.com.