Jay: Hey everyone, It's Jay! I'm here to interview my Canadian boy and Genius buddy Drew_Harvie. So Drew, how you feeling these days?
Drew: I'm feeling good! Just living life, taking every day at face value. I'm super busy though. Graduation is coming in a couple months, golf season is picking up (I have tournaments every weekend until middle of June), and of course there's Genius, where I'm trying to stay active and help out @Tyrant, @Roy068 and @Theonlydjorkaeff with the new releases as best as I can. It's fun though, busy-busy is better than boring.
Jay: Wow, you are really busy! Well it's no secret that you are one of the hardest working editors on Genius. What motivated you to get so involved with the site?
Drew: I think the main thing I like is moving up leaderboards and beating people. I've grown up on sports, like Hockey (lol Canadian), basketball, baseball, so I've always had that competitive nature. For me to be able to find that again in something that's really fun is awesome. The motivation, at first, was for me to beat people on whatever leaderboard -- rap, artist leaderboards, all time leaderboards -- but as I've transitioned into a more sk**ed user (at least I think so), my motivation is making a page look amazing and clean, especially hot songs.
Jay: It's nice to see that you're working so hard to improve Genius. I've grown up on sports too (but I'm honestly not feeling you on hockey lol). Earlier in the interview you said that you were playing in golf tournaments. Are you a golf fanatic? And if so, what prompted your love for golf?
Drew: Yeah! I play lots of golf tournaments. Depending on the year, I'll play anywhere from 10 to 15 multi-day events from March to August, and anywhere from 5-10 one day events. I guess when you play as much as I do you kind of have to be a golf fanatic, but ironically I don't love watching golf. It's a little too boring to watch every weekend, so I'll watch the four majors (The Masters, the U.S. Open, The Open & The PGA Championship) and watch highlights.
It's actually funny how I got into golf. I grew up playing hockey, and I think I played it for ten years. Most hockey players turn to the golf course for the summer, and I wanted to do that too! Only one problem -- I didn't really know how to play golf, other than when my grandparents would take us out every once-in-awhile. I ended up getting used clubs and I would just go to the driving range and putting green for eight hours a day for the summer. The guys on my team were pretty good, or at least at the time I thought they were, so I just wanted to get as good as they were. Before I knew it, I was actually pretty ok at golf, and I was playing golf tournaments. Ironically, I quit hockey for golf, but hockey got me into golf.
Jay: So you like golf and you're a hip hop fan? You're like the Tyler The Creator of Genius!
Drew: I guess so! That's a funny comparison actually.
Jay: Well, which rapper would you say you are most like? Heck, it doesn't even have to be your favorite rapper. Just somebody who you feel that you could relate too.
Drew: I can't even relate to any of the rappers really. A white kid who golfs, goes to a private school, lives in the suburbs. You show me a rapper with a similar background and I'll show you that same rapper not becoming successful in the industry.
Jay: I couldn't think of any rappers at the moment, but you have to explain to me why they'd s** haha.
So tell me, how are those B.C suburbs treating you? Where exactly are you located in B.C?
Drew: I'm not saying they'd s**, but a lot of rappers music is fuelled by their tough background. It'd just be tough for him to sell that. There's exceptions to that though, like Drake.
British Columbia's nice! I live in Kelowna, which is about four hours from Vancouver, an hour and a half from the United States (Washington) border, and four and a half hours from the Alberta border. Kelowna actually is super nice though. It's tied-first for the nicest places to live (due to its weather), we have a big a** lake (it takes about four hours to drive from one side to the other, north/south) and a ton of outdoor activities. Of course, what's a city without its indoor stuff to do! There's something here for everyone.
Jay: Now correct me if I'm wrong, but Kelowna doesn't seem like a city that'd be big on hip hop. Is there any other music genre that really explains what the city is about?
Drew: Hmm, Kelowna is a vacation spot/party town, so it's really anything that is fun/spring break-type songs. There's a strong EDM following, pop, alternative, big R&B following as well, but there is hip hop thrown in for variety.
Jay: Sweet! I'll have to visit some time.
Now it's obvious that you like hip hop/rap, but is there any other music genre that really speaks to you on a personal level?
Drew: I really like R&B. I think that's my second favourite genre. I also really like Alternative!
Other genre's I dabble in is Rock from time-to-time, and pop thrown in for variety. And of course, anything that kinik chat recommends, which is mostly Niday lol, but Freeus, Serein, Vinyl and Empath all have given me some music to listen to!
Jay: Yeah, I've discovered some amazing music because of Genius, especially from the kinik family. Speaking of family, what is yours like? Do you have siblings? Any odd cousins?
Drew: Yes! I have two brothers which is fun. I have a couple cousins, but all of them are under the age of ten, so I don't think any of them could be branded odd-ball yet.
Jay: That's great! So I a**ume that you'd have some really funny family stories to tell, seeing your parents are raising three boys?
Drew: Yeah, kinda! I guess it's more stories about competition instead of funny stories. If one of us did something cool, the other two would always have to do it better. We'd just always do that game, which actually helped out our athletics. It was always a "anything you can do I can do better" scenario.
Jay: Sibling rivalry is great! It can get very interesting at times.
Now let's switch it up a bit. I have these rapid fire questions prepared. I'm gonna ask you to chose between two different answers, and then have you explain why you chose that answer. Ready?
Drew: Okay lets do this!
Jay: So...Drake or Meek?
Drew: Drake. Take Care is a cla**ic, Meek has no cla**ics.
Jay: New school or old school hip hop?
Drew: Old school because it's cla**ic and you have the amazing lyricists and the all-time greats, new school because of how there's so many diverse ways to make music now.
Jay: Adele or Sia?
Drew: Adele. 21 was a great album, and because I'm second on top scholars. I'm coming for you Babuc.
Jay: Oh, shots fired! Now when listening to music, do you shuffle all your songs or listen to full albums at a time?
Drew: I'm actually pretty stingy with my music. I like to listen to albums all the way through, and when I'm not doing that, I'm listening to a playlist that I've made in an order that I think flows nicely. The only time I'll shuffle through something is when I get bored of that and I'll just shuffle my "good playlist," which is over 1000 songs.
Jay: Apple or Android?
Drew: Apple! I don't even know, but I've used Apple for as long as I can remember, so Apple is my weapon of choice.
Jay: Biggie or 2Pac?
Drew: Biggie. Tupac's great, but Biggie was able to rhyme words together like no-one else at that time, and was just incredible.
Jay: "Ether" or "Takeover"?
Drew: "Ether" as a diss track, "Takeover" as a song. I listen to "Takeover" lots because of 'Ye's production, but "Ether" was just savage.
Jay Katy Perry or Taylor Swift?
Drew: Can I answer neither? Haha, just kidding! Probably Katy Perry. I used to listen to Katy Perry a lot when I was younger.
Jay Well, those were all the speed questions I could come up with. But before we finish the interview I'd like to ask you two more questions:
What was you're favorite moment on Genius, and how would you describe your overall reception on the site?
Drew: Hmm, my favourite moment... I think my favourite moment was getting editor. It was a grind, spending a ton of hours improving my writing, annotation style, improving my facts through research and other means. When it finally happened, it was amazing! Genius becomes so much more fun with more powers.
I'd like to think I'm generally respected on the site, or if I'm not, ignorance is bliss haha. I'm not sure about what others think, but I'm in the community a ton and always willing to help with any kind of project, so I set myself up to be respected. If I'm not, well, I guess I've done all that I can.
Jay: I can imagine why becoming an editor would be your favourite experience on Genius! And don't worry Drew, I respect you and I'm sure everyone else does too. After all, how can you hate Dr00 Harvo?
Well thank you for your time Drew, it's been really fun interviewing you!