Rollie Pemberton
's earliest albums as
Cadence Weapon
matched advanced, forward-thinking electronic beats with sharp lyrics detailing the experiences of a college-aged club scenester, and his subsequent releases focused more on interpersonal relationships, with 2012's
Hope in Dirt City
being a grim reflection on his hometown. The former poet laureate of Edmonton moved to Toronto in 2015, and addressed gentrification on his 2018 song "High Rise." His fifth album, the brief but potent
Parallel World
, delves much further into political and social issues than any of his previous records. After the storming intro "Africville's Revenge," the grime anthem "On Me" (featuring regular
the Bug
collaborator
Manga Saint Hilare
and producer
Strict Face
) discusses police surveillance and online scamming, ending with a startling sample about how facial recognition technology is typically modeled after white faces, causing people of color to be misidentified. "Skyline" (with restrained but still earth-shaking beats by
Little Snake
) is a more dystopian sibling of "High Rise," beginning with the sobering vision of a changing landscape with the first verse, then calling out slumlords and rulemakers who don't take public transportation with the second. The album's subjects are undeniably serious, but
Pemberton
's playful character and wit are still present. He has fun recklessly ad-libbing and dropping pop culture references on tracks like the
Jacques Greene
-produced bass killer "Senna" (named after Brazilian race car champion Ayrton Senna), which ends with the proud declaration that he doesn't follow anyone and he's not afraid to be himself. "Hard to Find," with illuminating trap production by
Martyn Bootyspoon
, is a mixture of self-assured boasts and lines acknowledging injustice and inequality ("Vibes like mine hard to find like Black CEOs"). 2020 Polaris Music Prize winner
Backxwash
provides an excellent, unhinged guest verse on the harrowing "Ghost," and
gets similarly cathartic on "Connect," which rises from shimmering IDM to a screamed demand for a better future and an end to violence. ~ Paul Simpson