The Witzard

Make no mistake, party people—'round these parts, one-time Canadian Poet Laureate and former Pitchfork staff writer Roland (Rollie) "Cadence Weapon" Pemberton is often regarded as one of the finest, funnest, and most-talented emcees in all of the land; just think, an extremely more talented, painfully under-rated, waaaayyy less corny, lyrically verbose version of Canadian export Drake . Cadence Weapon recently re-emerged from a self-imposed nearly 5-year-long sabbatical from the music industry following his critically-acclaimed 2012 album. Hope In Dirt City , as well as a brief period wherein he appeared to be going by simply "Rollie." A re-weaponized and tactfully word-sharpened Cadence Weapon triumphantly returned to the spotlight not long after the top of the year with KAYTRANADA -produced "My Crew (Woooo)" and not long after, seemingly only Spotify Canada -released "Connor McDavid" (which soon pooped up on his Soundcloud. ) Whi...

"There's a sense of personal freedom that's unique to Montreal and "My Crew (Woooo)" is a representation of that feeling... It's a song about defying the labels that people try to place on artists. Is it Underground ? Mainstream ? Conscious ? Trap ? Who cares, as long as it sounds dope," rapper-producer, acclaimed writer, and Edmonton 's 2009 Poet Laureate Roland "Rollie" Pemberton (Cadence Weapon) wrote within a recent statement sent to EXCLAIM! Cadence Weapon is finally back in full form, after taking a nearly 5-year break following his last full-length album, 2012 Polaris Music Prize -nominated Hope In Dirt City . Pemberton made a few short-lived attempts at a proper comeback: first, with 2013 Jarrell Perry -assisted non-album single "When It's Real" and then, seemingly teased a temporary re-branding as "Rollie" throughout 2015 with Summer Cool Music Two comp. submission "Come See Me" and a f...

"Yeah, that's my grandfather. My grandfather's side of the family is a bunch of Jazz musicians. Nat & Cannonball Adderley , my grandfather's Richard Adderley , they played with Miles Davis ... and my grandfather, he's a beast," Rome Fortune ecstatically revealed to THE HUNDREDS writer Senay Kenfe during a 2015 Small VVorld EP -centric interview; Kenfe was inquiring about a suspicious underlying Jazz/Hard Bop influence running through his Beautiful Pimp I-II mixtapes. It makes a bit more sense, taking his Jazz roots into account, that Rome Fortune has worked with such a wide array of genre-spanning producers and musicians such as Neo-Soul -minded multi-instrumentalist Chris McClenney , Jazz -inclined Electronic producer Four Tet , Grimes -affiliated song-writer and producer BloodPop (formerly Blood Diamonds ), and Haitian-Canadian Hip-Hop/R&B producer KAYTRANADA . Rome Fortune can easily be categorized as a by-product of fellow ATLiens Out...

Sacramento -based Noise-Rap band Death Grips have had a very tumultuous, to say the least, relationship with the media since their sudden 2010 inception, although the recently "disbanded" and reunited three-piece have been heralded as "the first truly important band of the 21st century;" having direct influence on The Thin White Duke's final album ★ (Blackstar) , Kanye 's Aggro-Rap masterpiece Yeezus , and even Travi$ Scott 's righteous T.I. & Kanye -assisted Rodeo . Death Grips' first post-"breakup" album, Bottomless Pit was unleashed Friday, May 6th at the stroke of midnight, amdist a weekend abuzz with new music and countless headlines from the likes of Radiohead , James Blake, Chance The Rapper , De La Soul, Homeboy Sandman , KAYTRANADA, and Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def . Bottomless Pit was preceded by eventual album tracks "Hot Head," Zane Lowe -debuted "Eh," and non-album "Interview 2016," althou...

"We're dropping a 12" of Tuxedo remixes this summer. Here's one from Jean Tonique , remixing Tuxedo 's "The Right Time," Stones Throw wrote within a mini-press release uploaded this past May; preceeded by a handful of unofficially released remixes haphazardly shared on Tuxedo 's Soundcloud page including Funk -laden re-works from the likes of Nick Catchdubs , Dimitri from Paris, Flaunt Edwards (resident DJ J. Rocc ), Kaytranada, and Tonique. Following a set of unexpected delays, Stones Throw finally unleashed Tuxedo: The M+M Mixes back in mid-September. Mayer Hawthorne & Jake-One recruited self-described "original disco don dada" John Morales , who previously mixed Tuxedo 's critically-acclaimed debut, to painstakingly edit together a 12" collection of 80's Classic -stylized remixes; "I started to do my edits using the pause button on a Teac cassette, [then] purchased a Sony reel-to-reel. It was hard work, w...