Cadence Weapon & Jacques Greene Do The “Exceptional”

Cadence Weapon releases his new single and video for “Exceptional” from his upcoming album, ‘ROLLERCOASTER’, out April 19th via MNRK Music.

Cadence Weapon – aka rapper, producer, author, and former poet laureate Rollie Pemberton — releases a new single and video “Exceptional” (produced by Jacques Greene), off of his upcoming album, ‘ROLLERCOASTER’, arriving April 19th via MNRK Music.

Featuring production from Jacques Greene and additional vocals by myst milano, “Exceptional” is a high-octane, club-ready track.

“When I wrote ‘Exceptional’ with Jacques Greene, I wanted it to feel like the endorphin rush you get from pressing the button that says ‘Buy It Now’ when you’re shopping online,” says Pemberton.

The music video, directed by Colin Medley and Jared Raab, features Pemberton constantly changing outfits and dancing in a hyper-dimensional, strobe-heavy alternate dimension, rapping “my taste is not cheap / do just what I please / cop anything I see.”

Having emerged as an artist who gave voice to issues of systemic inequality and racial disparity, particularly among Canada’s Black communities, with his 2021 Polaris Prize-winning fifth album ‘Parallel World’, Cadence Weapon returns with an urgency, addressing the dizzying contradictions of modern culture and technology with both precision and irreverence.

The hyperpop and electro-inspired production of ‘ROLLERCOASTER’ is intended to replicate the internet’s “sensory overload.”

With credits including the likes of Jacques Greene, Grandtheft, Bartees Strange, Machinedrum, Cecile Believe, Martyn Bootyspoon, Loraine James, Taydex, Wesley Singerman, myst milano, and Harrison, Pemberton has organized a combination of tried-and-true Canadian collaborators and “fellow Black weirdos,” as Pemberton puts it, to execute his vision.

On ‘ROLLERCOASTER’, Pemberton expands his incisive commentary to the sprawling internet—a former utopian playground that’s turned into a capitalist junkyard—to remind users they don’t have to just “go along for the ride,” he says.

Despite its bleak portrait of today’s digital attention economy, ‘ROLLERCOASTER’ still fits into a long lineage of Black electronic artists using music to forge Black futures.

It goes hand-in-hand with his work outside of music, as he frequently uses his platform to shed light on musicians rights and financial realities.

By illuminating the current issues of the world, Pemberton inspires others to join him in the fight for a better one.

Cadence Weapon Tour Dates:

Fri. April 19 – Hamilton, ON @ Bridgeworks

Sat. April 20 – Toronto, ON @ TD Music Hall

Wed. May 1 – Quebec City, QC @ Pantoum

Thu. May 2 – Montreal, QC @ Ausgang Plaza

Fri. May 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Zone One

Sat. May 4 – Washington, DC @ Quarry House Tavern

Sat. May 11 – Los Angeles @ Zebulon

Wed. May 15 – Portland, OR @ Holocene

Thu. May 16 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza

Fri. May 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret

Sun. Aug. 4 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Festival

Audio:

Video:

Cadence Weapon’s “Exceptional” track is also available now to stream and cop while his ‘ROLLERCOASTER‘ album is available now to pre-order/pre-save on all major digital streaming platforms