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May 20, 2005
casting the strength of street knowledge
Cadence Weapon - Black Hand
Cadence Weapon = Rollie Pemberton, whose name you might recognize from either his reviews on P-fork or on Stylus. Rollie has a short bio up on his Cadence Weapon site that starts off with the following phrase, "I'm 19 and good...", which for some reason has been stuck in my head for the past month or so. There's nothing quite as cut-through-the-bullshit as introducing yourself with your age and skill level (moral value?), and I dig that. So though there is some impressiveness happening here- Rollie's 19 now, and that means he wrote the majority of his P-fork reviews (which were always clear, well-reasoned, and entertaining [sort of a rare thing for that site], much like, say, Dominique Leone's or Mark Richardson's) when he was 17 (your jaw should drop here). I think I was still writing like, stories about the ninja turtles when I was 17 (but didn't everyone go through that phase, for 10 years?).
Let me admit right off the bat that I have no idea for certain what Rollie is saying in the latter half of the chorus ("Style soft like a pillow for real though/black hand like Gavrilo") [editor's note: Rollie was kind enough to stop by and actually tell me what he was saying in this line- not "Avrillo" like I had thought], but that's probably just because of my Wernicke's turbo-aphasia. Anyway, 'Black Hand' breaks out of the gate with some quick sirens, then there's a small break (the beats are intense, sounding like deep, live drums), and Rollie flows over top of an insanely addictive acoustic guitar (or what sounds like one- the vibrations sound like the E(bass) string ringing out) run, and his voice fluctuates between an aggressive, aloof tone and something that's more just like the confidence of someone stating the facts. One of my favorite lines in 'Black Hand' is "hand black like the Moors/and I ran to the back with seven years and four scores", which is tied with, "I get my point across like an atheist archer", whew, so good.
'Balck Hand' is from Cadence's mixtape, "Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand", which you can order direct from Rollie for $15, right here. Next up is an LP, "Breaking Kayfabe", on Upper Class Recordings. Besides all that, Rollie also writes a hilarious and well-selected mp3blog, Razorblade Runner, and contributes to the (v. funny) music-video blog Purpology, along with Riff Central's Nick S. Plus he loves Arrested Development. How can you beat that? [update: P-fork WATW hearts Rollie's Ciara remix]
Posted by Kevin at May 20, 2005 12:28 AM
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