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 - fittingly - performed his first show of the year in his home province at Alberta for Block Heater Festival in Calgary on February 19. He will be performing at SXSW in Austin, Texas on March 16 at Swan Dive Patio and March 18 at The Drafting Room. Find all 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.” 

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).