Rapper Cadence Weapon Rocks Out at Canadian Music Fest

Has Cadence Weapon has been playing a lot of 'Rock Band' lately? The Edmonton MC debuted new music at his Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest showcase last night, which was much more live rock party than rap show. The rapper, whose real name is Rollie Pemberton, admitted it was a bit of an experiment.

"Thanks for coming out when you could be at so many other shows tonight where you would know what was going on," he self-deprecatingly told the crowd.

Cadence performed with a four-piece band consisting, Cansescos guitarist Paul Prince, bassist Ian Koiter and keyboardist Jered Stuffco from Toronto dance music crew DVAS and drummer Eric Lightfoot, son of famed Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.

The group has been in Toronto recording Cadence Weapon's upcoming album 'Roquetin,' based partly on Jean Paul Sartre's existentialist classic, 'La Nausée.' Their CMF set, a high-energy, often chaotic combination of rock, punk, funk and rap, previewed new tunes such as 'Jukebox,' 'Condition' and 'The Priest to the Guillotine,' which Cadence said was inspired in part by Georges Bataille's infamous novella of sexual perversion, 'Story of the Eye').

The biggest surprise was Weapon's ability as a singer, his style a mix of blues crooning, spoken wordplay and garage rock screaming. It was also a coming-out party for Weapon's new mohawk 'do.

"I passed someone the other day with the same haircut," he joked. "Just when you think you're being original...."