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Cadence Weapon drops Connor McDavid track to celebrate Oilers playoff berth

Members of Oilers Nation have a new anthem. Rapper Cadence Weapon — a.k.a. Roland "Rollie" Pemberton — has dropped a track celebrating the team, and their venerated captain Connor McDavid.

'I wanted to harness that energy in a song, and it feels like the timing is perfect now,' musician says

Wallis Snowdon · CBC News ·
Edmonton born rapper and longtime Oilers fan Cadence Weapon has dropped a new track celebrating Connor McDavid. (Cadence Weapon/Twitter)

Members of Oilers Nation have a new anthem.

Rapper Cadence Weapon — a.k.a. Roland "Rollie" Pemberton — has dropped a track celebrating the team, and their venerated captain Connor McDavid.  

When the boys in copper and blue clinched a spot in the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2006 Tuesday night, a kind of hysteria took hold in Alberta's capital city.

'It was like a fever pitch'

And the Edmonton-born rapper took advantage of the excitement and released his new single, titled Connor McDavid.

"I felt the energy when I was in Edmonton over the holidays and it was like a fever pitch," said Pemberton. "People were going so crazy about Connor McDavid and the Oilers and I wanted to harness that energy in a song, and it feels like the timing is perfect now."

Produced by Gibbs and Cadence Weapon, the song features a marching band-style of beat and lyrics like "Skatin' on your whole team" and "Anticipated when I came in, we'd we be winnin' when the game ends."

There's also plenty of other NHL shoutouts, with references to Wayne Gretzky, Milan Lucic, and even the Ice District.

Pemberton wrote the song during McDavid mania last year. But he couldn't resist releasing it when the Oilers cemented their place in the playoffs.

"I was watching the Oilers this season and I was getting hyped. I was looking at some highlights of Connor McDavid playing, and I thought, 'Wow, there is something special happening.'

"And I started having a vision of making a song to hype up the Oilers. I wanted to make something that I can envision people in their trucks, blasting on their way to the games."

The song is meant to be an "Edmonton pride" song, said Pemberton who served as Edmonton's  poet laureate in 2009. He hopes it will bring fans back to the team's former glory days, but without the riots. 

"I remember the last time we were in the playoffs, it was a very heartbreaking loss in the Stanley Cup," said Pemberton. "I was living on Whyte Ave. at the time so I was caught up in all the madness that was happening," he said.

"So I hope there is that kind of high energy and excitement in the games, but maybe with less fires."

Since releasing the song a few hours after the end of Tuesday's game, Pemberton said the response from Edmontonians has been "amazing." His inbox and Twitter feed has been flooded with "excitement about the song."

But there's still a person he's waiting to hear from: Connor McDavid.

"I hope he does get a chance to listen to the song, and I hope he appreciates the sentiment," said Pemberton. "I would love it if the Oilers had a chance to get hyped in the locker room to the song,

"That's really what I made it for. I want it to be that extra bit of motivation."

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