Rapping is easier with guns and drugs, so give
credit to Cadence Weapon's 2005 breakout Breaking Kayfabe for proving that a former Pitchfork
scribe with a Nintendo fetish—and a Canadian, no less—could make
something as just captivating without either. Yet for all of its admirable
idiosyncrasies, Kayfabe felt slightly detached; on his techno-flavored follow-up, Afterparty
Babies,
Cadence Weapon (a.k.a. Rollie Pemberton) lets his guard down, spinning stories
of friends left behind and failed relationships that are personal enough to hit
universally. Between bouts of self-reflection and ripping on hipsters who try
too hard, Pemberton flashes his own indie cred with references to Ian Curtis,
Marc Bolan, and The Wire, but somehow it never feels like posturing—it helps
that he's got a sense of humor, whether dropping a Kindergarten Cop sample ("Messages Matter"),
making a pog reference ("Limited Edition OJ Slammer"), or pumping up the meta
jams ("House Music"). Throughout, Pemberton comes off like a clever friend who
just happens to be lyrically gifted: He's the perfect hip-hop hero for the
MySpace age.