This year, Vancouver-bred rapper Tommy Genesis has spread her words through local art spaces and while touring as the Canadian representative of the mostly Atlanta-based Awful Records team. If the title of her recent World Vision full-length didn’t tip you off, she’s already on her way to bringing savvy avant poetics and wavy beat work to the masses on a global scale.

Best local release other than yours: “It’ll probably be my homie Jay Worthy. He spends a lot of time in L.A., but his mom lives here, so I see him a lot. He just released an EP by the name of LNDN DRGS—the group is also called LNDN DRGS, which is him and his producer Sean House. It’s old-school West Coast rap. He samples a lot of soul music. It sounds like an old record, but everything he’s saying is contemporary.”

The year’s best gig: “I saw FKA twigs play back in November [on November 17 at the Commodore Ballroom]. Her performances are choreographed, so it came across as theatrical, almost like a musical. It was beautiful and serene, with a lot of movement. It also kind of gave me a Matthew Barney vibe: you expected something creepy and weird to happen.”

Best album ever: “It’d have to be Houdini by the Melvins. It’s a weird album for me to like, because I make rap music, but I went through a punk phase when I was little. That album has stuck with me, I still play it. It reminds me of a lot of people in my life. My favourite song is ‘Shevil’.”

Francesco Aquilini’s paying—Where’s dinner? “I eat a lot of homemade food and random sushi, but my favourite place to go is Caffè Brixton [212 East Georgia Street]. Me and my friend Willow go there and draw and paint for hours. They serve food and alcohol, so it’s the best of both worlds. Also, Drake went there when he was in town.”

In the spirit of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You”, who do you really, really like? “Nardwuar the Human Serviette. I like his style. He scares me! He’s always thinking ahead of everyone else. I always see him around and he just intrigues me.”

You won Lotto Max. Where’s your club opening up? “The Hotel Europe in Gastown [43 Powell Street]. I would buy that entire building, gut it, and have each floor be an after-hours. But on the top floor, I’d have a venue where acts would come through. It’s a historic building in Gastown, but apartments are always on Craigslist. I would want to call it the Rihanna, because I think it’d be bossy. It’ll be a rap venue.”