In case you haven't heard,
Edmonton's new poet laureate is none other than Roland Pemberton, aka
Cadence Weapon. Obviously, appointing a 23-year-old rapper to replace a 74-year-old professor emeritus is bound to get people talking, so here's some of the takes:
- Outgoing laureate E.D. (Ted) Blodgett - "(I) didn't think this was how a poet laureate was to be defined."
- Founding laureate, Alice Major: "(It's) a really interesting and wonderful appointment."
- Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel: "This guy will bring poetry to a whole new audience, and challenge the rest of us on our conventional perception of what it means to be a poet."
- Trevor Anderson, Edmonton filmmaker who nominated Pemberton: "I think he’s going to be a great ambassador for Edmonton when he’s touring internationally and people find out he’s a poet laureate at Edmonton."
- John Mahon, director of the Edmonton Arts Council: "He's a good performance poet... He's got a real sense of what Edmonton is."
- The Edmonton Journal: "Hopefully his literal and figurative stage presence and the singularity of change will kick up the profile of our poet laureate up a notch or two. May the 23-year-old hip-hop artist rap Edmonton into glory over the next couple of years -- an inspired, exciting choice altogether."
- Pitchfork Media: "To be clear: There is a guy who used to write for Pitchfork who is now a poet laureate. See mom, I told you this isn't a dead-end career!... Congrats, dude!"
As for Cadence Weapon himself, the first question he asked was, "Do I need a staff and a big, grey beard?" But in further interviews he's stated "I'm trying to give people another view on what poetry really can be and how rap can be." As to any criticism coming his way, he's suggested "poet battles" and on
Twitter has stated that he is "getting enough criticism from people who are 'averse' to rappers and/or black people, don't need it from other lyricists."
Sources:
the Globe and Mail,
the Edmonton Journal,
the Edmonton Journal (editorial),
Metro News,
the Edmonton Sun,
Pitchfork,
@roland_weaponLabels: Cadence Weapon, poet laureate
