by Kim Wiesner
Interview on November 6, 2024
Stylus (S): The deluxe version of your album Rollercoaster came out last month, and it’s about the internet, the ups and downs of it. What’s your relationship with the internet / social media right now?
Cadence Weapon (CW): Well, I have a complicated relationship with the internet right now. I feel like as an artist, you feel an obligation to use the technology because it’s the best way to reach people. But then every time you try to reach your audience, you’re getting throttled, you’re getting your reach blocked, and that frustration really inspired me to make this record. I consider it to be a bit of a love letter to the early internet. When I first started out, I first got my record deal from the internet, from just sending my tracks to random people and then posting on a blog and then record labels hitting me up. I feel like that kind of direct audience connection is much more difficult to have today. It’s like when you go on Instagram, you gotta jump through all these hoops. It’s that kind of thing. So, I feel like the album is really about the social media age we’re in right now and how we navigate it as artists and individuals.
S: Yeah, social media is everything right now. Your childhood nickname was also Rollercoaster. Is there any meaning behind that?
CW: Yeah, my name’s Rollie, short for Roland, it’s just a play on my name. My parents always used to call me rollercoaster or coaster. But the reason why I called the album Rollercoaster is that’s what people used to call me before they called me Cadence Weapon. That’s what they used to call me before I had a username, before I had an alternate name, it’s going back to my roots in a way.
S: So now you’re touring Canada, specifically the prairies and West coast, with Super Duty Tough Work. What can the fans expect from your live show?
CW: Every time I go out to play, I want people to have the greatest experience of their life. I’m serious. For a live music show, I have very high standards with everything I do. And with the show, I really want people to [have their] expectations blown away. So that’s what I’m hoping people will come away from at all the shows on this tour. I’m really excited to be touring with Super Duty Tough Work. I feel like we’re very ideologically aligned. We’re both politically-minded artists. I grew up in Edmonton. I have so many connections to the prairies. I feel like this is really my home territory. So I’m really excited to just come through and chop it up with the homies and just spread the gospel.
S: Absolutely. It’s going to be great. So you actually have a single with them coming out called “Nice Try” in a few days. What can you tell me about that song?
CW: Yeah, so that song is a collaboration with a producer in Toronto, Junia-T. We all got together in his studio in Toronto. And yeah, it came together quite organically. It’s a political song. I feel like my approach to it was really about the concept of “artwashing.” I feel like there’s this phenomenon where people will try to use me or other artists of color to help them get grants or to make their institution look more palatable in some way. So, whether it’s things like the Giller Prize — any of these companies or corporations that are funding the genocide of the Palestinian people — I won’t be taking any of their money and I won’t be helping them artwash their crimes against humanity.
S: Your music definitely has a lot of very strong messaging. How do you approach storytelling in your music?
CW: I always want to have an aspect of truth. I want to have something that feels like it comes from a real place. I feel like that’s the stuff that resonates the most with people. And so that’s when I feel like I’ve tapped into something cool, is when I say something that feels undeniably real, or that feels undeniably authentic.
S: Back to “Nice Try,” how did the collab with Super Duty Tough Work come to be? And why were they the right fit?
CW: We were already talking about doing the tour and I just thought it would be really cool for us to have a song together that we could play at the shows.
S: Cool. Was there anything you wanted to add about the tour or the Rollercoaster deluxe?
CW: Yeah, I think the one thing I want to say is — I make this music, it has socio-political topics, and it’s seemingly quite serious, but we have a lot of fun too. I spend my whole day laughing. I’m constantly walking around laughing to myself. As I come up with new lyrics, I’m just laughing and laughing and laughing. So I want people to look forward to having a fun show. Definitely tonight in Winnipeg, and on the rest of the tour. Come and see us. It’ll be fun.