Cadence Weapon: Afterparty Babies

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.