Fabricated Show Review by Chart Attack, Blasted by Cadence Weapon: A Call For A More Accountable Media

Read the full article at Toronto Life

So I'm mostly excited about the fact that this was my first ever retweet on my twitter (retweeted by Cadence Weapon himself, Exclaim Magazine's Editor James Keast, and then Exclaim), but this has been getting quite the buzz and deserves some attention here. These "twitter based scandals" have been hitting me quite close to home. I work at Upper Class Recordings home of Cadence Weapon so there is an inherent interest in this one for me.

I'm certain we all recall those crazy 40 minutes in February when twitter exploded with rumours of Gordon Lightfoot's death. A little known fact is that Lightfoot's son is the drummer for Cadence Weapon's new band and these rumours were quite stressful on an unimaginable number of people. The information was retracted by the National Post almost as quickly as it was confirmed.

With the growing importance of social networking sites (twitter, facebook etc) the quality and truthfulness of the information we are being fed has taken a turn for the worse. It is important to consider the source of the information and their credibility, instead of instantly reposting to be one of the first to know about it. This trend of living in the moment is problematic to say the least and the close distance provided by social networking sites is a double edged sword, placing everyone within arm's reach of eachother, but not actually close enough to see how our actions resonate amongst our peers. You are still going to be held accountable for your actions in the digital realm. What still boggles my mind is why you would write a fake review of a show so well attended by other media, and an artist who has a large online presence? I guess there's no such thing as bad publicity.

For the record Chart Attack did retract their review and send an apology to Cadence Weapon. It is relieving to see the credibility of our information sources being challenged and made public and will hopefully make for a more socially conscious media in the future. Consider this a cautionary tale in tweeting.

Kids, listen to your parents, don't believe everything you read.