Cadence Weapon Fears Arnold Schwarzenegger

04/09/08 2:30pm

by Noah Love (CHARTattack)

From the opening beats of Afterparty Babies' second track, "In Search Of The Youth Crew," it's obvious something is different about Cadence Weapon's sound.

The Edmonton rapper's second official full-length is full of dance floor-packing hip-shakers and less of the glitchy production that marked his excellent Breaking Kayfabe debut.

Rollie Pemberton, the man behind the Weapon, reveals that he was trying to make a record that people would play at parties, rather than just rock on their headphones. We caught up with him during a quiet period in his winter schedule.

ChartAttack: What kind of dance music were you listening to that might have influenced Afterparty Babies?
Rollie Pemberton: A lot of electro house stuff, a lot of French stuff, a lot of stuff from the U.K. I'm a big Switch fan. Definitely Basement Jaxx is probably one of the main ones, because hearing those Basement Jaxx records, every record sounds like a party is happening during the recording of it. And it's so rich and full. And I wanted to make records that were kind of like that.

Did you have to do much work to adjust your flow to the quicker beats?
Not so much. I felt like I was kind of going in that direction anyway, going into faster speeds, and even on my mixtape [Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand] I was rapping over Mu, which I was really into back then. I just found I was having more fun with more challenging speeds. It was just a result of the kind of music I was listening to and it didn't really seem like a hard thing. Whenever I'm listening to dance music, I think of myself rapping over it already. It seemed like a natural progression.

Do you assemble your beats by yourself or with DJ Weasel?
It's just me. Weasel doesn't do any of it.

How are they put together?
It's usually just on my desktop computer. It's all computer-oriented programming.

Do you use ProTools?
Usually a lot of shittier programs: Cool Edit, Fruity Loops, Reason — just really proprietary sound programs. When I was 12 or 13 and making stuff, I used to use the sound recorder program that comes with Windows. That's kind of the school I'm coming from.

How are the songs with video game sounds produced?
I kind of want to stray away from the video game sound because people keep thinking I'm a video game rapper. You know, I have the video game video? ["Sharks"] There's only one song on this album that has video game sounds: "Limited Edition OJ Slammer."

Which has what sounds like old school Nintendo effects.
Yeah. Usually I start with a sample or a weird sample that I like. The way I sample is a lot different than most people. Instead of taking a full loop of something, or taking a really obvious element of it, I usually try to take the sound in between those sounds. So basically, I'll build something out of the debris around with what someone else will take. I will take the trash and make something out of it. But also, it's usually based on taking certain keys or specific notes. I try to cut and create a melody. That's kind of the way I think of music — just a series of higher and lower notes — and I try to find them in other people's recordings sometimes.

Does sampling [said Nintendo game's music] have to be cleared?
Yes, so don't say it, please.

Don't you think someone will figure it out?
No, because it's really chopped-up. Most of the stuff on the album is completely indistinguishable from what it originally was. The way I like to think of how I'm sampling is, it's like the same as a piano. I don't feel that bad about it. Personally, I'd have no problem with someone sampling me. But it's not like I'm completely taking Billy Joel singing my chorus. I'm not going to pay Billy Joel. Not to say I sampled Billy Joel anywhere on this album.

What about something like the Arnold Schwarzenegger cuts? Does that have to be cleared?
I just don't know what the circumstances are with the cuts. I don't have anything to do with the cuts. Weasel just does those. That was his idea. And, I don't know, I've never heard of anyone getting sued for scratching something in. But you never know. This is making me feel great. I'm gonna be dead broke because of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Cadence Weapon is about to embark on a cross-Canada tour with Buck 65 and Skratch Bastid. And we mean CROSS-Canada, so no hate-mail, east coasters. Here are the dates:

April 10 Moncton, NB @ The Empress
April 11 St. John's, NL @ Club One
April 12 Charlottetown, PEI @ The Mack
April 13 Fredericton, NB @ The Playhouse
April 17 Halifax, NS @ The Marquee (no Buck 65 or Skratch Bastid)
April 18 Halifax, NS @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium w/Symphony Nova Scotia
April 19 Montreal, QC @ Le National
April 21 Quebec City, QC @ Cabaret Du Capitole
April 22 Ottawa, ON @ The Bronson Centre
April 23 Hamilton, ON @ Westside Concert Theatre
April 25 Toronto ON @ The Music Hall
April 26 London, ON @ Call The Office
April 29 Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick Theatre
April 30 Regina, SK @ The Exchange
May 1 Edmonton, AB @ McDougall United Church
May 2 Saskatoon, SK @ Louis' Pub
May 3 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Ballroom
May 7 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
May 8 Victoria, BC @ Alix Goolden Hall
May 10 Tofino, BC @ The Legion