Forager
My new album produced by Junia-T is out April 24th
So happy to share that my seventh album Forager is out on April 24th. The whole record is produced by iconic Toronto beat maestro Junia-T. It’s a love letter to fashion history and golden age rap. It brought me back to being a teen working at Divine Decadence on Whyte Ave in Edmonton, selling ringer tees and jean jackets while developing my own personal style. Around that same time, I was absorbing the hip-hop canon each day, learning who I wanted to be as an emcee.
Those two worlds will always be intertwined for me. In recent years, these passions have grown stronger than ever for me. After my son was born, I fell in love with rap again after being more interested in electronic and experimental music for a bit. I was inspired by the stuff I grew up on (OutKast, Wu-Tang Clan, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, MF DOOM, Aceyalone) and I tapped into a lot of contemporary rap that spoke to me: Mach-Hommy, MIKE, Action Bronson, Roc Marciano, Earl Sweatshirt, Westside Gunn.
This coincided with a deepening of my love for fashion. I started Searcher Vintage and finding the most fire garments known to man became a kind of crusade. I learned everything I could about clothing: how to identify silk and linen, how to remove stains, how to figure out how old a garment was, etc. Those experiences went on to inform my lyrics.
One big part of thrifting is the ecological side of it. There is so much clothing out there in the world that was made in the past. I feel like anything I stop from getting shipped to another country or thrown into the dump is a good thing. New clothing is made with cheaper synthetic materials and uses cheap, exploitative labour. Fast fashion. True vintage is made from natural materials and was created with a higher standard of craftsmanship. It was built to last, similar to the classic hip-hop I grew up on.
Most of my previous music found me experimenting with form, trying to take rap into wild new directions. After making Rollercoaster, probably my most electronic-leaning album, I knew that I wanted to come back with something more organic the next time around. Junia-T was the perfect collaborator for this project. His Polaris Prize shortlisted album Studio Monk is sumptuous and deeply funky, he has a certain Dilla-ness to his production that I gravitated to.
You can pre-order the vinyl on Bandcamp and my web shop.
I’ll be celebrating the album launch with a set of Forager Markets happening in cities across Canada this spring:
An application form to be a vendor will be coming soon, but if you’re interested in setting up shop in one of these cities, hit me up! Looking for vintage sellers, vinyl merchants and booksellers. I’ll be there with my own booth featuring vintage clothing curated by me and special merch, including a vinyl variant of the album with an alternate cover that will be exclusive to the markets:
You can find me updating my playlists or hanging on TikTok, Instagram and Bluesky. You can listen to my music on Apple Music, Bandcamp and Spotify. You can get Cadence Weapon merchandise here. Pick up your copy of Bedroom Rapper here and please rate it on Goodreads.
After the paywall, continue on for a private pre-order link for the market vinyl variant for paid subscribers only:
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