You may have seen him giving tours to prospective students around campus or heard him hosting his own radio show, The RapUp! If he isn’t doing either of these, he is preparing to win his next rap battle. Scotty Glaysher is a man of many talents and ambitions. He is an inspiration to all Golden Hawks and it’s no wonder why he was chosen to be Campus Celebrity!
Program: CommunicationsYear: 4th yearHometown: Aurora, ONMotto: “Don’t get bitter, get better”
What are you involved in at Laurier?
Currently I’m involved with the Annual Giving Call Centre as Supervisor, I’m a Campus Ambassador, the public relations manager at Radio Laurier, run my own hip-hop show on Radio Laurier called The RapUp, I’m a writer for The Cord and an avid intramural player.
What motivated you to get involved?
It’s really a snowball effect. Once I started the radio back in first year I added different activities every single semester. Although I do appreciate everything I’m learning from “school”, I know that all my life/work/volunteer experience will come from extracurriculars. Plus, I’m doing things that I love to do. I have a sneaky feeling that the more relevant things I get my hands on, the better off I am.
What is your favorite part about being an on-air personality on Radio Laurier?
Good question! I would say my favorite part is probably playing music that I like and having a good response from the listeners. There is no better feeling than having someone come up to you and tell you that they now listen to *insert rapper’s name here* because of you. It also gives me a chance to talk about things I think about, out loud. I think about hip-hop all day every day and it’s nice to say it out loud and have people hear it.
What was the inspiration behind The RapUp?
I started The RapUp in second year with two of my pals from back home. The premiere hip-hop show on Radio Laurier had just finished up, as the host graduated, and programming had no hip-hop shows. It had always been a goal of mine to host the next “Flow 93.5 or Power 105.1” and Radio Laurier gave me the perfect platform to do that. The idea of playing rap music and talking about it was just the best. We won ‘Show of the Year’ in our first year and have been at it ever since.
How and when did you start rapping?
I listened to so much rap music that eventually you try your hand at freestyling here and there. Everyone who listens to rap on a daily basis has tried rapping themselves. Guaranteed. I actually became pretty good at rhyming words together on the spot so I started rapping at parties, at lunch, in the car etc. etc. I used to get into little freestyle battles in high school too. I also tried to make a song or two which didn’t exactly do well.
Would you ever pursue a life as an artist in the music industry?
I’ve been asked this a few times, but absolutely not. I don’t make songs or write lyrics or anything like that. I just freestyle here and there when the time is right and might get into a battle now and again but in terms of taking it serious; doubtful. I put it like this: I can rap, but I wouldn’t consider myself a rapper.
You recently just won a 2 vs. 2 rap battle with Tech Rymes, what do you do to prepare for battles?
That was crazy. Battling is something I like to do for a couple reasons. I’m a super competitive person and the creativity that goes into battling is fun outlet to play around with. I’ve only ever been in a two premeditated battles. For starters, I always do a little reconnaissance on my opponent so that I have some tailored “bars” that hit home. I’m also a big believer in crowd reaction and delivering rhymes that the crowd will understand, react to and laugh at. With that said, I start to mold my rounds based on what will get a solid crowd reaction while maintaining a level of cleverness. And finally is the memorizing. This is perhaps the most important part. If you forget the lines you’ve written for your opponent then you will lose 100%; and no one likes to lose.
All time top 5 tracks:
1. Champion – Kanye West
2. Closer – Drake
3. U Don’t Know – Jay-Z
4. Bad Man! – Murs
5. Upgrade U – Lil Wayne
How has being a writer for The Cord helped you in your other writing positions?
It has helped a ton. Writing again and again and again is the only way you get better. I have an awesome opportunity to have my work published week after week and those writing samples were the building blocks for my portfolio. The Cord has been an easy place to learn and grow. You can make mistakes and learn from them really easily.
You have so much experience in so many different areas but if you could pick your dream job, what would it be?
It would have to be either the host of HOT97’s morning show or content editor at a big hip-hop website like HipHopDX.com or RapRadar.com. Or all three.
Congratulations on Ambassador of the Year! What do you have to say to all the students who are coming to Laurier next year?
Thanks! For starters I would tell them to “have fun!” These four years are when you will figure out what you want to do and what you’re good at. I would say get involved with whatever it is you like and you won’t go wrong.
Scotty, we wish you all the best as you move forward and we cannot wait to see what you have in store!