Nardwuar: how a tartan-hatted geek became ‘the Paxman of pop’

Courtney Love insulted him, Blur tormented him. But the Vancouver broadcaster continues to quiz the music world’s largest stars

Taken at face value, Nardwuar is probably the last individual on Earth you’d anticipate to get an hour-long interview with Drake. The latter is a worldwide celebrity who hates interviews; the previous is a funny wanting middle-aged white bloke in a tartan hat – born John Ruskin – who calls himself “The Human Napkin”. Yet the pair did meet simply this month, when Drizzy talked about his shrine to Biggie Smalls and his uncle who labored with Al Green to advertise his latest album, Views From The 6. In reality, an interview with this most un-hip-hop of journalists has develop into a rite of passage for younger rappers, as essential as getting a pave set diamond grill.

Nardwuar has broadcast from CITR 101.9, the University Of British Columbia’s scholar radio in Vancouver, every Friday afternoon since October 1987, delivering his proudly geeky tackle good music. However because the rise of YouTube he’s discovered a brand new viewers for his gonzo model of video interviews. In them, he grills performers of all stripes with a method that veers between goofy, charming, insightful and confusing, with various degrees of success.