Skhills' Foreword: Sydney is known for many things: The Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Harbour Bridge. Beautiful beaches accompanied by beautiful bi—women (honestly, my compulsion to rhyme will be the d**h of me.) But Sydney is truly fortunate to house two of Geniuses beloved contributors: Theonlydjorkaeff and myself. I was there when my friend was first editored, watching him dominate the leaderboards for months on end, but it wasn't until I made an annotation on Users' Cities that I first interacted with him, and we didn't truely start talking until Christmas Day 2015 when I sent him a message of appreciation. He's now a moderator, a pivotal member of the Genius community, the 4th highest contributor of all time, and most importantly to me, my friend.
We decided to break the mould a little with this one. I interview Ben for the first half of the interview, and he interviews me for the second. Now for your reading pleasure, please journey with us down under into our world of whimsy and wonder. Yo Ben Carter for a starter I'll attack the main artery
How does it feel to be the #1 scholar of Jay Z?
It's great! I guess we all have little things in life that we're pa**ionate about. For example, I bet my mum would be the number 1 scholar on Say Yes To The Dress. I learned from a young age that none of my mates were going to share my pa**ion for Jay Z, so I pursued this interest in private and voraciously. Genius was at first a way for me to learn even more about him, but when I realised there were gaps in the collective knowledge of the website, I decided to fill them. And here we are. It's misleading, I know people like AintNoJigga and most likely SameOldShawn know a lot more about him than me, but I'm getting there.
Okay so at the Skhills Store today I discovered a Hip-Hop Favourites Box. Have you opened one before? I thought not. It's unique to my store. Essentially it's exactly like a Cadbury Favourites Box but, instead of hosting an array of little Favourites chocolates, my box contains little favourite themed questions. Let's engorge.
Damn I need to hit this store up. The only things I gorge myself on are actual chocolates.
Who are your five favourite lyricists alive or dead?
Jay Z, MF DOOM, Ca**idy, 3 Stacks, Eminem. Eminem just sneaks on. He has fallen off pretty badly, but Bad Meets Evil redeems him.
What are your favourite albums?
Oh man... Well put it this way, in 2016 I've listened to on average 45 albums a month, and it's September, and I do this every year. So basically a list of my favourite albums? It's going to be long... Here's a list of 41 albums I adore. I'll also rank my top 5 OAT:
1. Sgt. Peppers
2. Pet Sounds
3. Dark Side of the Moon
4. Who's Better, Who's Best (compilation but it's just insanely good)
5. Phaedra by Tangerine Dream
What are your favourite songs?
Another long list. I'll just say a couple that really stand out to me:
Lil Wayne - "I Feel Like Dying"
Placebo - "English Summer Rain"
Jay Z - "U Don't Know (Remix)" purely for Hov's verse
Alpinestars - "Burning Up"
Sonic Youth - "Teenage Riot"
Depeche Mode - "Blasphemous Rumours"
Future Islands - "Tin Man"
Meat Puppets - "Away"
Frou Frou - "Let Go"
2 Chainz - "Yuck!"
Cadence Weapon - "(You Can't Stop) The Machine"
The Streets - "Weak Become Heroes"
Autechre - "Altibzz"
Ramona Falls - "I Say Fever"
Fennesz - "Endless Summer"
Kanye West - "Pt. 2"
Sorry. I could list forever
Do you have any favourite bars? Or even a definitive favourite?
Loads!!! I mean we all say "D'Evils," but those bars are insane. A lot of them are from Hov. "I had to get off the boat so I could walk on water." "You ain't start out from your trunk / then reach the roof, just to put your roof in the trunk." Hov's verse here is straight insane. A lot of Eminem bars, a lot of Lil Wayne bars. Cory Gunz' "All I want is hits b**h, Wayne signed a fiend." Took me forever to finally get that, don't ask me why, I must have heard it hundreds of times. I couldn't possibly list any more there's thousands!
Do you have some personal favourite Genius moments? (Outside of your interactions with me, although I know they be in your top 3.)
We've had some good times :) Favourite Genius moments... When I finally got the push the bu*ton on @GothicM becoming an editor! We worked so hard together and they deserved it so much! Getting @AintNoJigga to sign up to the site (I am a bit of a fanboy). He'll be an ed in no time. When Angela called me benpai in chat and I had to look up what it meant. I was chuffed! Me, Scopey, and Scopey chatting every night for about a month. We were the only people up. Scopey and his alt (stereo) kept chatting to each other, it was kinda weird. Our two Genius meet ups. I know it sounds a bit lame, but those two days have been absolute stand outs this year for me, I had a blast at both of them. The first few Community Hangouts I participated in were great, I got to put faces to names and learned so much about the site. Competing with Hustleordie in Genius season and realizing that there's always someone out there more dedicated than you, which actually made me feel really good, I felt validated that someone else could as immersed in the website as I! There's so many more, and my memory's no sharp.
Okay I'm full, now. Oh wait! If you had to choose two annotations (you can choose more if you want,) what would be your favourite community made one, and one you've made?
I think the "Famous" annotation, because it's the embodiment of what this website is, on the most maximal level. It decodes. It was made into an incredible video, and all the information you'd ever need is right there. In 20 years, a kid just like me will be listening to the track for the first time and go "what the hell was he talking about? Who is Taylor?" And he/she will jump on Genius and have the answer. It's how I learned so much about slang and connections.
As for one I've made? That's tough actually. I've made 9,700 (make some noise for me flexing). It'd be a Jay Z one somewhere, I do remember some annotations that took me 2+ hours. There's a lot of occasions where I spent hours researching and finding sources. I couldn't point to a specific one though!
What to you is the great moment in Hip-Story (Hip-Hop History)
When Cole went platinum with no features.
No.
Not that.
The day Jay and Big officially met. Clark Kent had Biggie in a car downstairs, whilst upstairs Jay was recording "Brooklyn's Finest." Clark brought him up, and Jay spat his verses while Big was there. I don't believe Jay would have been anywhere near as good if he'd never formally met and collaborated with Big. Pac and Big were so far ahead of the rest of the world, the fact that the greatest rapper of our time (Kendrick) is influenced so heavily by a man who pa**ed away 20 years ago is proof that if they'd continued, hip-hop would be a vastly different landscape. Imagine Nas collaborating heavily with Pac? Jay learning story telling from him? Imagine if Lupe had a chance to sit with Big and learn about his cadences and his ability to ride a hook.
Moment in music that made your jaw drop or moved you incredibly?
Although it was before my time, John Lennon getting k**ed. Just devastating. David Bowie pa**ing really really hurt me too, I cried that day. The man was such a ma**ive influence on my life, and got me through my teenage years, and I so desperately looking forward to actually interacting with his new music as a fan, with other fans. It's hard when you listen to a lot of old music. The hype has pa**ed, and you can't just sit and chat to people as easily about old music as new. Bowie had so much more to give the world, and we're much poorer for having lost him.
Proof getting k**ed also impacted me. I wasn't even a big fan, but it was the first time I'd been exposed to the violence of hip-hop in the modern era. I knew Biggie and Pac had died from it, but I wasn't caught up in the culture back then (I was 8). When Proof died I was like "damn, so they actually can die from this?" It really brought a lot of my own posturing into focus.
Any cosigns or recognitions that really stood out to you?
When Rob Markman told us that Jay actually reads the website, I felt something I don't think I've ever felt before. I guess it was a tiny tiny tiny portion of that feeling people get when they meet their idol. He wasn't even referencing any of my work, but I felt connected to Jay in the tiniest of ways, and I've never felt that before.
I love it when people cosign Genius. It makes you feel like the work you put in matters, that it's something positive.
Any Genius projects you wanna embark upon?
At the moment, not really. I am slowly making Genius the place to come for Placebo knowledge. Another of the artisits I "stan." Working on Elbow and Limp Bizkit as well.
And finally, a user submitted question from Kev: If you weren't contributing to Genius what would you be doing?
This is a good and relevant question. Due to a combination of factors, I do have quite a lot of free time since I left university. Since mid 2012 I've embarked on a number of different time-consuming endeavours. I began gardening first, and my first harvest was an absolute bounty. We had these huge corn stalks 2 metres+, and we got 2 ma**ive cobs of corn off each plant. Plus 50-100 capsicums, loads of chillies, and I even grew a watermelon! When that got a bit dull, I moved onto blogging. I actually have 120,000 views on my blog. I mainly did reviews to start with, music/movies/games. But then I transitioned into cooking. There was a point where I spent hours every day cooking and baking. My sister is celiac, which means she cannot eat any gluten or wheat. So I would spend all my free time researching recipes and cooking and experimenting, and introducing her to foods I'd grown up on, but she'd never experienced. Neenish tarts, Vanilla slices, Mint Slice biscuits, Tim Tams, banana bread, wagon wheels. About 2 years I spent in the kitchen. Then I got over it, and joined Genius.
Sorry for the long answer. What would I be doing if not working on Genius? Something new. A business of some kind. Maybe I'd learn about cars and start working on them, or maybe I'd do up my house, or maybe I'd learn to knit. No idea. But great question :)
I think that's enough questions from me. So, here we go: First up, tell me about your name Skhills? Where does it come from?
So much for anonymity on the Internet ayy? *Laughs* To be honest I like the anonymity that the internet provides, as I discussed with you the other day, so I'll keep my identity a mystery to most. All I'll say is I thought up the moniker in my early–mid-teens, and it integrates my surname.
How old are you? What's your occupation? Do you find it fulfilling?
I'm 20 and I'm a full-time educator in Early Childhood. I really enjoy working with children, however it's never left me feeling fulfilled. I enjoy what I do, but contentment isn't my strong suit.
I know you love hip-hop, notably Australian hip-hop. I wanna chat about that a bit. First, when did you get into it?
I started listening to hip-hop in the later years of primary school. I didn't categorise songs by genre at the time, but I remember distinctly loving “Dance Wiv Me” by Dizzee Rascal. In year six, two of my best friends were taking hip-hop dance lessons. They'd try and teach me, and we'd practice to the clean version of D12's “Git Up.” My friend introduced me to Eminem, and we thought songs like “My Band” and “Ass Like That” were hysterical. We got into him during his hiatus.
As a fellow Eminem fan (super fan), I really am disappointed with his recent out. What do you think? Mainly talking ShadyXV and Southpaw.
I'm not sure if you recall, but we actually spoke about this back in January. Personally, I think “Guts Over Fear,” “Die Alone,” “All I Think About,” and “Best Friend” were fantastic. Outside of those though, only a few tracks/features grew on me after multiple listens. The rest I wasn't really interested in entertaining .
What was it like being a fan of hip-hop during school? Did you meet many others who shared your pa**ion?
Hell no *Laughs*. Nah, there were a few of my peers that liked hip-hop, but not many. Throughout high school my love for hip-hop kept getting stronger. I went from initially listening nearly exclusively to Eminem and his collaborators to an array of artists. Music is what got me through high school.
Being in Australia, do you feel a bit cut off from the rest of the world in terms of hot songs, hot albums, and genuine discussion about hip-hop?
Oh, for sure. In my workplace, there's one person I can talk to about hip-hop. And none of my friends are true hip-hop heads. I'm hardly ever in the conversation about what's happening at the time when it comes to music. It's rare I get to actually discuss hip-hop, but I wish I could.
How did you get into Aussie hip-hop? Who are your favourite artists and why?
Full disclosure, I'm not entirely sure anymore. The memory that sticks out is when my cousin played me some Hilltop Hoods. I also remember him listening to "Weird Al" Yankovic and downloading the Left Foot, Right Foot album via Limewire. I don't really remember much else. It kinda just happened.
I'm tryna represent the genre and you're making me choose favourites! I suppose I can be unbiased, no longer. As of right now Hilltop Hoods, Horrorshow, and Seth Sentry are my top 3. Recently I've gotten back into 360, and in the last week I've been bumping One Day's album.
Why do you think there's such a stigma attached to Australian hip-hop? Why doesn't that apply to other countries, for Instance England?
Not sure to be honest, but as you and Michael did admit the other day, the accent is a turnoff for some. I've heard that for most people. I think it does apply to England to an extent. I mean, how many British MCs get decent airplay? I'd cite Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah and Skepta, but they're about it. I haven't kept up with their scene either, so maybe that statement's one of ignorance, but honestly, I think the globe's pretty sceptical about non-American rap. Aussie Hip-Hop's very different to American. I listened to both sides religiously, and I believe they can both coexist and complement one another.
How would you react if Drake decided to "borrow" some of our Aussie culture, and began featuring artists like 360 and Illy?
Honestly if Drake were to collaborate with some talented Aussie artists I might start listening to him. It won't happen though. There's too much North American music for him to “borrow.”
How do you feel about Kerser?
I know he gets a lot of hate, but honestly, I think he gets a bad rap. He's talented, that's indisputable. Do I f** with his music? Not particularly, but last year I listened to “Still Haven't Changed” and I really quite liked it. His image and persona is the main reasons he gets hated on, and I think that just highlights how narrow-minded people can be. A quartet of Solo's springs to mind while I write this: See who's the man to you/Ain't the same who's the man to me/Means their ain't no man to be/Except your own As Kerser illustrated in the song I spoke of above, he hasn't changed who he is to be accepted. I don't think I'll ever become a fan, but I respect him as an artist.
I didn't ask you favourite albums songs etc. I'm curious to know what you're listening to this year, what your top albums of the year are. Also, not your favourite song, but what would you say is your most played song? For me for example, it'd be "Rap God," but it's by no means my favourite
My most played track is “No Love” by Eminem & Lil Wayne, closely followed by B.o.B's “New York, New York”. I used to wake up to “No Love” to get me hyped for the day back in high school, so it's got 601 plays on my iTunes library.
I don't know what I've been listening to this year! Just a lot of old stuff and random songs. Project's I've discovered this year and really enjoyed are: Coloring Book by Chance The Rapper EP by Childish Gambino Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung by Hilltop Hoods The Grey Space by Horrorshow Inside Story by Horrorshow King Amongst Many by Horrorshow Mood Muzik 3.5 by Joe Budden The Waiter Minute EP by Seth Sentry This Was Tomorrow by Seth Sentry Strange New Past by Seth Sentry Best Intentions: Part Two by Spit Syndicate My listening isn't as eclectic as yours. I typically get into a song/album/artists at a time and consume it excessively, while also listening to music I already love. I've only listened to 9 projects released in 2016 back to front (that I can recall.)
Changing tack, what brought you to Genius? What are your goals on the site, and how have they changed over time?
Not sure what originally brought me to Genius. I think the first contribution I made to Genius was making a logged-out lyrical correction to D12's “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (interestingly my correction was regarding Proof.) I signed up in 2014 and started making contributions to lots of different things. I remember in the beginnings of my Genius career contributing to Tinie Tempah, 360, Fabolous, Illy and Logic.
Ultimately I'd like to see Genius become the hub of music. I'd like to have artists and contributors working in harmony to create the definitive source for lyrics and musical knowledge. It's becoming an increasingly likely possible with everyday.
What is your dream scenario with Aussie hip-hop on Genius?
As I just said above, I'd like to see Genius become the hub of Aussie Hip-Hop. Ideally I'd like to see hundreds of people actively contributing to Aussie Hip-Hop, with artists verified and working with the community to ensure their legacy lives on. As I said when I re-launched Aussie Hip-Hop earlier this week, “Aussie Hip-Hop Unified is a project forged by a love of Australia's urban scene, with the goal to further it. Its aim is to be a forum of positivity that recognises and supports home grown talent, which will help expand the audience/fan base of deserving artists.”
What other genres of music are you interested in? Favourite bands/artists outside of rap?
Outside of rap I'll listen to Pop, Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Alternative, R&B and Dance.
I loved Imagine Dragons' debut album. Calvin Harris is a great producer. Bruno Mars is dope. Queen is amazing. Back in primary school, I loved 3OH!3 and Good Charlotte. For the last couple of years, though Ed Sheeran has been my favourite non-rap artist.
If your favourite artist was opening for Iggy Azalea, and tickets were $120, would you go?
Good question! I'm a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to some things, but if my favourite artist were opening for Iggy I'd definitely go, no question. It's your favourite artist! Don't tell anybody, but I actually listened to her prior to her debut album… mainly because she collaborated with B.o.B back when I was really into him, but I still enjoyed a few songs of hers.
Who is the one artist you'd do anything to have verified?
One? I want all artists verifed! I'll name 5: B.o.B, Childish Gambino, J. Cole, Suffa of Hilltop Hoods & Styalz Fuego.
Tell us a little bit about the two Genius meet ups we've had. Were they beneficial? Should others organise their own? Was the food good? Why do waiters keep a**uming I am on a diet?
I've really enjoyed engaging in the shared experience. You're all great blokes and it's awesome to speak in person. I'd highly recommend other communities organise events like we did. We were the first community to do it, and now we've done it twice! Sydneysiders have lapped ya fellow Geniuses, better get your runners and play catch up. Why do waiters keep a**uming I am on a diet? Reading that made me laugh out loud. Brilliant *Laughs*. Theonlydjorkaeff's Conclusion: So there it is! We hope you enjoyed reading it half as much as we enjoyed making it, cause we had a ball. If you have any extra questions for either of us drop them in the comments!!