As a beat maker, “Deconstructed” was one of my fav series on KZitem. Now I know why it disappeared. 😢
@Youngnothing
11 ай бұрын
Yo same!! At least we got some clarity now lol
@dinkleberg794
11 ай бұрын
Wait they stopped doing deconstructed videos?! But why? They still do behind the lyric videos
@alanahomewood1855
11 ай бұрын
@@dinkleberg794did u watch the video lol
@Celinestu333
11 ай бұрын
Yooo same here!! My fav was kendricks love
@romchompa6858
11 ай бұрын
making beats is like taking shits.
@TimeNap
11 ай бұрын
I still use Genius for lyrics/meanings. The site feels self-sustaining at this point. Let's just hope it stays up.
@calvin7978
11 ай бұрын
It’s still easily the go-to lyric site, undoubtedly
@stellviahohenheim
11 ай бұрын
lol you simpleton
@laserglider
11 ай бұрын
And you can Wikipedia style edit the lyrics. The community will keep it alive
@DARKredDOLLAR
11 ай бұрын
It's also a go to for me. But lately I've been noticing that annotations stagnate. Songs that may be 2-3 years old only would have like a single phrase annotated (and pretty poorly).
@TimeNap
11 ай бұрын
@@DARKredDOLLAR There are annotations that I want to make but don't have enough IQ. And it's tough to get a lot of IQ when there's so much less activity.
@loganhurley5590
Жыл бұрын
It's crazy to me that the whole video content saga of Genius was entirely unknown to me. I've only ever known about it as a lyric annotation site. I really wish that I had known about the attempt to do annotations of news and literature. I would have really dug that.
@-user_redacted-
Жыл бұрын
The literature part was cool but news not so much. Since the whole thing was user edited, kinda like Wikipedia, it left way too much room for opinion on subjects that should be discussed on a factual basis.
@bomboclaaat92
11 ай бұрын
i used a genius literature article for an english class last year and it worked
@gracie-yq4xu
11 ай бұрын
@@bomboclaaat92😊
@scumnextdoor
11 ай бұрын
Back in High School I used Poetry Genius for essays. Pretty barren though overall but it did help a bit
@holahovito11
11 ай бұрын
You could say poor advertising
@GhostSamaritan
Жыл бұрын
I think the main lesson here is to listen to customer feedback and not spend resources on random crap. I was a RapGenius user back in like 2014 and I'm still not over the fact that it died. The idea was important for the Hip-Hop culture.
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Agree.
@PeytonPearson
Жыл бұрын
Couldn't possibly agree more. Same, user since 2014 and sadly watched it die over the course of a decade.
@cococock2418
Жыл бұрын
You’re literally white though? Act your race… nigga culture isn’t yours
@damotheman4196
Жыл бұрын
Youd wanna start getting over it quick or do something about it, thats a long time my man.
@PeytonPearson
Жыл бұрын
@@damotheman4196 let us mourn in our own time 😂
@gifproductions9597
11 ай бұрын
I remember the time where Genius displayed lyrics and facts/translations for lyrics INSIDE SPOTIFY, just like it is now but it was like 10 slides per song, one slide was the lyrics, next one was explaining those and on and on back and forth
@wakeupsaudiiii
11 ай бұрын
such a good feature, got downgraded so hard
@pumpkinwarrior7138
11 ай бұрын
I miss that feature :(
@tunisiangoldfarmer1508
10 ай бұрын
Damnnn I completely forgot about that
@ms187.
7 ай бұрын
@@wakeupsaudiiiilowkey the full lyrics is better to have
@KIAMVP
7 ай бұрын
Forgot about that completely
@elijahsly
Жыл бұрын
Them suing Google for scraping their site to display lyrics is INCREDIBLY IRONIC because I know for a FACT that RG was, at some point, automatically scraping other lyric sites for lyrics that users weren't annotating.
@evilredflame
Жыл бұрын
I remember some lyrics having the “Lyrics by MusicMatch” in them on some of the more obscure songs that didn’t get annotations lol, it was crazy
@Thegbear
Жыл бұрын
They also don’t own the lyrics, what are they trying to claim is theirs? The literal concept of putting lyrics on a screen?
@rodrigonenhum4832
11 ай бұрын
he completely ripped off the "original hip hop lyrics archive" aka ohhla. it was disgraceful.
@partsaklo
11 ай бұрын
@@Thegbearthe effort of uploading lyrics of many songs online. Idk the law about this but it seems fair to be mad at someone taking for free stuff you used a lot of time to create
@Thegbear
11 ай бұрын
@@partsaklo Yeah but no matter how much effort you put in, you’re still ultimately putting other people’s copyrighted work on your site. You can’t sue Google for that because you don’t own any of it. Be mad if you want to, I guess, but it was your choice to create your business around transcribing other people’s intellectual property. Now, what they DO own are the explanations of the lyrics, the commentary on it is definitely theirs. But that’s not what Google scraped from the site.
@dean988
Жыл бұрын
its crazy cause genius really couldve been so huge and had so much potential to be more than it became
@gerardsmiith
11 ай бұрын
Their deconstructed series is super underrated. It’s like a time capsule for soundcloud rap
@gawdspeed
11 ай бұрын
genius always does a breakdown for songs that don’t need a breakdown. they should’ve brought on more guests with rap lyrics that could use a real breakdown
@ct1296
Жыл бұрын
As someone who used to edit back in the very early days, the turning point for me was when they changed the rules on what annotations should be. In theory, the change made sense - the message to editors was that not every line needed annotating, and annotations should be more concise. In reality, the people engaging with the site wanted to dig deeper than was deemed “necessary”, and people reading annotations wanted more than a surface-level translation of what one particular slang term meant. If you look at 2012-era annotations, you’ll see links to interviews with the artist where they’ve discussed similar topics to what they’re referring to in the song, fan theories, similar lyrics from other rappers etc etc. Nowadays, there are frequently only a handful of annotations per song, and they rarely amount to more than “this is a slang term for cocaine” or “this lyric refers to an incident involving this particular celebrity”. Maboo was obviously a loose cannon and by no means should he have been allowed to stay after the “incel incident”, but it became clear after he left that the other co-founders didn’t have a grasp over why so many passionate hip-hop fans had an interest in contributing to this project in the first place. Hanging with friends and discussing which rappers have the dopest lyrics, and backing up your take by reciting bars and explaining the meaning behind them, is an experience most long-time rap fans can probably relate to - genius was the internet’s version of this, and reducing it down to surface-level information is neither providing a service the wider public need, nor is it catering to the needs of your passionate community. It’s also worth noting that in the early pre-forum days, there was a Facebook group for all the editors/mods etc which was vibrant and allowed people to connect in a way that anonymised forums didn’t. Connecting with people who you could see were more than just a username on a forum page was cool, and there were a bunch of really cool opportunities that got offered up during that time - I remember the whole group were given the opportunity to get guest list for their secret SXSW takeover with Childish Gambino, and they’d set up private Q&A sessions with artists who were coming to the office to do Genius Verified stuff when that was just starting to get off the ground. They had something really amazing going on and it’s such a shame they let it die off.
@P2k23P
11 ай бұрын
Damn. Much respect to you for being one of the OGs
@lancesamaria8130
11 ай бұрын
Well explained!
@SAVOTYB
11 ай бұрын
Sheeeesh what an essay! Haha but very explained!
@clv735
10 ай бұрын
I'm just picturing someone going line by line through a Pusha T song.. "cocaine reference, cochise reference, cocaine reference" Instead of what I KNOW those genius pages used to look like.
@BasedEngineer
10 ай бұрын
I agree, especially with the first paragraph. I remember 2013 onward none of my annotations would get approved. And the ones from other users that would be approved all lacked depth or were just outright wrong. I stopped using the site shortly after because I could tell the people running the site were not real Rap fans. I'm not sad to see their demise.
@Itscliffbooth
Жыл бұрын
Incredible video so well researched. Another thing, there was a thriving community on the forums but around 18-19 they locked all uses out of the forum to 'clean it up', where they basically deleted half of all threads and band some of the most active users. They said it was to get conversations more on topic but it ultimately destroyed any character / culture the community had and most of us had no more reason to keep checking in
@MichaelMixerMasonGASS
Жыл бұрын
yeah i miss the forums. honestly, it was more civilized than other hip hop forums and they had a good balance between jokes/memes and serious rap discussions.
Genuinely cannot comprehend what drives CEO's to just burn money like that, nobody thought that anything they were doing was a good idea both in and outside the company lmao
@CErra310
Жыл бұрын
It's what CEOs do when you hire them to run a company they have no personal stake in. They make the line go up, collect a million dollar bonus and when the company goes tits up they collect a "parachute" on top. Literally the ideal way to do their "job". And it's not going to stop unless they're made liable for the failure of the companies they run
@yuotueb
Жыл бұрын
The problem is venture capital: If someone gives you 50 million dollars, they expect a chance to make half a billion back. A community of people annotating rap lyrics won't achieve that return. That means you have to take big risks to try and dominate the world in some way. Hence all the stupid, overambitious product ideas, rather than focusing on and improving what works.
@asonofliberty3662
Жыл бұрын
@@CErra310 nothing to do with a genius but OK.
@CErra310
Жыл бұрын
@@asonofliberty3662 that's true, nobody who is involved in this mess could be considered "a genius"
@charlesboliong1076
11 ай бұрын
@@CErra310 VTT
@amoney464
Жыл бұрын
this is CRAZY, cause in middle school (in like 2012 or 2013) I had to do a presentation on a company of my choice (for career day) and I chose RapGenius, cause I thought it had so much potential at the time, and I was fascinated by it.
@Lucas_Antar
11 ай бұрын
Spotify and Apple music added lyrics to there own apps. Not that hard.
@amoney464
11 ай бұрын
@@Lucas_Antar they weren't popular and well-developed back in 2012/2013 lol
@SupremeOracle
11 ай бұрын
@Lucas_Antar having lyrics & explaining the lyrics are very much different bro..... Spotify could never. Lol
@CoolWhipGaming568
11 ай бұрын
@@SupremeOracle Spotify messes up lyrics 😂
@UniqueHandles
11 ай бұрын
Lol your teachers know you turned out just like Genius did
@Haituga
Жыл бұрын
I was/still am a editor at Genius. Started as a hobby in 2013 and when it became more dedicated, the german moderators began contacting me if I wouldn't be interested to officially join them. We still have a semi-active group chat where this video was posted. Great video, honestly! One of my favourite fuck up stories about Genius is that they tried to expand globally, but especially in Europe.We had a site manager who got paid 450€/month to keep him "warm" and he got a couple of bonuses to keep him a operation in Germany afloat. With that whole icon change thing: Guess what they dropped as well? Any expansion efforts they've tried for the last three years. Our site manager was just dropped and reduced of being a moderator.
@bemoty
6 ай бұрын
cosign
@90snerd53
Жыл бұрын
this videos style is vaguely reminiscent of disrupt, and i am living for it. the editing is wonderful. your language is engaging. it has the investigative journalism feel while still being evident of a personal style. very good video, man. crazy it has so few views compared to what i’d expect. this should be a 700k views video at LEAST
@jjcoola998
Жыл бұрын
Algorithm promoting this like rn was the bud on my feed and many other I'm sure
@jeffreyzie
11 ай бұрын
Well said
@dickmaker5405
7 ай бұрын
U right
@Christian-eq6pq
Жыл бұрын
I’ll never forget BET did this back room cypher thing on 106 and Park where they brought rappers to freestyle for like 3 minutes and they partnered with Rap Genius to showcase the annotations proving the lyrics and meaning while the rapper was rapping. A lesser known Vic Mensa had one of the best freestyles and reading the explanations form Genius made me dive into the website and did that for more songs.
@GREJ-MUSIC
11 ай бұрын
What we don't talk about is the fact that the staffs of international communities have been so neglected, whereas for example, Genius France generates a lot of traffic on the site, and artists such as Freeze Corleone get a lot of annotations when there's a release of even one featuring verse on another rapper’s song.
@Spitty95
Жыл бұрын
Damn crazy how we get this kind of quality storytelling on KZitem. I'm literally a verified artist who's been annotating his own lyrics for years on Genius and didn't know any of this. Thank you
@thekongstocks
Жыл бұрын
WOW -really? Since I'm an investor/trader as well as music fanatic, I always try to stay-on-top of both finance & music industries - Rap Genius had so much potential, it's a damn shame - aside from the Google dilemma, they did what most inexperienced & unsuccessful startups (which is a cardinal sin); they tried to expand too quickly into different avenues & others genres (i.e. WeWork, Snap, Jawbone, Crumbs, etc.) without focusing on their underlying "core" business #UNREAL #RapGenius documentary by @TyFrom99 #KZitem
@annieothername
Жыл бұрын
Who would have thought - three corny Yale grads a la Kendall Roy from HBO's "Succession" killed yet another community-generated and maintained forum. These businessmen know so little about how driving and preserving culture can be a real moneymaker in a time where everything feels fleeting. Really cool work on this, man, subbed and have your Creator Courses video on the queue!
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
always white people making comments like this....
@ITNoetic
Жыл бұрын
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool hip-hop head from NYC. In a fit of frustration with inaccurate transcriptions on Genius one day, years ago, I sat and wrote a complete, accurate transcription of a song in my rotation. I waited weeks or months, checked again, and saw that my annotation had never actually been checked or approved. I tried to find out how to make that happen. Apparently, I had to participate in the community for a certain amount of time in order to level up my account to the point where I could just add a transcription without having to get someone else to approve it. Til this day, 5+ years later, the version of that song's lyrics is the highly inaccurate one full of nonsense and missed words, while my actually perfect transcription sits on their servers, un-approved. That is why genius failed. Their model is to use users to build out their product, but they don't actually make that process accessible.
@vanhuvanhuvese2738
11 ай бұрын
I think that is your opportunity to start something that YOU KNOW ABOUT its sad that white people start companies on black art they know nothing about and bag billions while most of the contributes are black. Start small who knows
@nazbernard
11 ай бұрын
what's the song?
@laincoubert7236
10 ай бұрын
oh tea. also that part is subject to abuse of power by some editor/mod who doesn't know better and rejects your version without even checking 😭
@crackerjackson
8 ай бұрын
I'm an old school Genius editor (going wayyy back) and still write in-depth annotations sometimes, for the same reason - I care about the music, and hate to see those kinds of errors. I still have my account privileges - drop the name and artist, I'd be happy to verify your transcription.
@ITNoetic
8 ай бұрын
@@crackerjackson detroit's son by guilty Simpson. "buying stamps near" tf
@simplycleva
Жыл бұрын
This video was so well made. I was a user back in 2015 and left my account in 2018. I had no idea of the history and current fallings of Rap Genius.
@nootnoot9810
Жыл бұрын
I was a mod on the site for a couple years. ~50k iq last i checked. Me and a bunch of the other moderators mostly left the site together and started a big group chat around 2019. We're all still active in the group chat and we all keep in touch. A couple of the guys still use the site but not like they used to and most of us don't use it at all anymore. Was a cool hobby for a while but the staff had no clue what they were doing and it became more frustrating than rewarding fast. Made some lifelong friends from that site and it sucked to see the downfall of it but god they did it to themselves.
@poppinc8145
Жыл бұрын
Someone could easily make a rival. There's a lot of lyrics sites already, one of them just needs a good annotation userbase.
@RobExNihilo
Жыл бұрын
Bro I watched the whole video, went to click your profile to check out more vids and was blown away to see your subs. From the quality I was expecting like 100k+. Hopefully you get there soon, the talent and quality are already there.
@cococock2418
Жыл бұрын
How many times are y’all gonna write this same comment every single time you discover a small channel?
@MrAjking808
Жыл бұрын
@@cococock2418exactly lol begging for a like from them
@heavenly2k
11 ай бұрын
Genius is goofy because people will explain lines like "she give me brain even tho she dumb" like they're clever.
@leaffinite2001
3 ай бұрын
Yeah its kinda funny tho Like pretty much anytime kanye meantions gettin head its so cringe but ppl act like its deep and thats funny as hell imo
@SuffocateMe
7 ай бұрын
i signed up for this site back in 2013 just to annotate some lyrics for my favorite Bones songs, i had no idea about more than half of this stuff. i never used to the forum. i only signed up mostly just cuz i liked the idea that you could explain lyric meanings to people who otherwise wouldn't understand them. crazy how there was so much going on behind the scenes for such a simple concept
@salembendeck
Жыл бұрын
The fact that this video still only has 11k views is astounding, I hope the algorithm picks this up.
@sadmermaid
Жыл бұрын
55k now!
Жыл бұрын
It seems to do so 😄
@moocowthepersom
Жыл бұрын
114k now…. the algorithm seems to be working wonders for once 😅
@GiantIQvault
3 ай бұрын
Now it has 1million views🥰, this is what I like about KZitem, older videos also gets a chance to strive
@souls1lver
11 ай бұрын
Can believe they got rid of deconstructed, that was the only outlet for us young producers to pick the brains of our favorite producers or producers that produced hit songs.
@jonharker9028
Жыл бұрын
I happened across this video just now, curious about a website I’d passively enjoyed for a little while but never dove into. From end to end, I found the story eye-opening, and your brilliant production quality really held my attention. Also - perhaps most of all - I appreciate that you’re interested in tackling new perspectives with this work and committed to addressing your own inaccuracies. Keep up the fantastic efforts, and I wish you much success with this channel!
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot for this comment man, glad you enjoyed it
@Lemanic89
Жыл бұрын
As a musician, I’d prefer Genius to be semi-bound to the labels the artists are working under and that every artist page allows for unique designs so that the experience of reading the lyrics folder the analog way can be successfully transposed.
@TheToobNube
Жыл бұрын
This is brilliant!!!
@marthastewwart
Жыл бұрын
Def a great idea. This was always a highlight of buying a CD. Some of the most memorable things were looking through the artwork and seeing how it interacted with the words, and also seeing what font the artist went with. I always felt lucky if there were some written lore stories. The most memorable booklets I recall were Slipknot and Gorillaz (their self-titled debuts to be specific).
@2fingacriminal
Жыл бұрын
that means that users' annotations would be heavily policed and skewed
@Lemanic89
Жыл бұрын
@@2fingacriminal Well, that’s Auteur Theory for you.
@DonDadda45
11 ай бұрын
@@2fingacriminal Considering most annotations on genius are quite ass that just sounds like a positive
@AtPlume
Жыл бұрын
You mentioned very early on in the video that they were inspired by the movie "The Social Network". And to me, this already tells me everything I need to know. I hear this, and, yeah! Of course it's going to fall apart! Movies like these are supposed to be a warning, not a damn lesson! This is why somebody telling me that their favorite movie is "The Wolf of Wallstreet" is one hell of a glowing red flag to me...
@thrownstair
Жыл бұрын
"Don't model your business attitudes after people who got in massive amounts of legal trouble" doesn't sound like that contentious of a statement, but we live in a very silly world.
@RedAngryBadger
Жыл бұрын
I don’t think The Wolf of Wallstreet being someone’s favourite film is a red flag in itself, moreso the reason for it
@thejosher51
Жыл бұрын
I like the Wolf of Wallstreet bc its an entertaining and funny warning
@AST-erisked
11 ай бұрын
I was going to say that! Movies like WOWS, Fight Club, and American Psycho are great movies but a lot of people that love them didnt understood their message at all. Media literacy I guess.
@nachoskyful
11 ай бұрын
Niggas can't like movies anymore
@DeVonnePrelle
7 ай бұрын
I’m 27 and you made me feel so old every time you said most viewers only know genius for the verified videos 😭😭 my earliest memory is around 2011-12 when it was still rap genius and all I did was look up Tyler the creator and Earl sweatshirt OF lyrics 😅
@bodyheat1990
Жыл бұрын
bro, 1500 subscribers and already great editing, good audio quality, superb research? i'm proud, keep going!
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@marcel1372
Жыл бұрын
*Ballstate Insurance*
@Ryanska_u
Жыл бұрын
Jesus your editing feels like it came out of a channel with millions of subscribers. Keep up the grind 💪🏼
@William.Vickers
Жыл бұрын
This video was amazing! You are honestly one of the best upcoming content creators, its very well made. Excited to see you build your video catalogue 😁
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Wow, thank you
@evanbelcher
Жыл бұрын
Wow I had no idea about any of this. I always just thought of Genius as a lyrics company, one that always had the best and most reliable lyrics for a song, often with annotations. I had no idea that the forums were such a core part, or that they tried 100 different side projects based just on the not-that-exciting concept of annotations. This whole video is just proof that any idiots can have a good idea, any rich and savvy idiots can turn that idea into a company, but those same idiots will inevitably drive the company into the dirt.
@jeffreyzie
11 ай бұрын
Damn this was good!! Great storytelling with facts to back it up. The editing was superb. And I learned a lot about Genius and what NOT to do as a company. Glad my cousin sent this to me
@nicholasrosella2952
Жыл бұрын
Awesome vid. Had no idea Genuis has such a long and interesting history, always thought it was just a lyrics site and KZitem channel
@srinivasnahak3473
2 ай бұрын
I didn't even know about "Rap Genius" but your story telling was one of the best I've seen in youtube
@EZdelFresco
11 ай бұрын
Crazy to see how things wound up. Me and the homies would be up breaking down Lupe lyrics on Rap Genius like we got paid for it. Was the dopest shit ever.
@stinklerton
Жыл бұрын
Damn man this is some amazing editing, you definitely deserve more than 2k subscribers I easily see you reaching 200k.
@oluwaseeniolabode-odebunmi6864
11 ай бұрын
They had a product that could reliably incite emotions in me almost every time. The euphoria of reading annotations, seeing if you got it right. Watching Deconstructed and really leaning into the producer’s vibe. Sad to see they fumbled that.
@hookedonfandom
11 ай бұрын
Great video! It popped up on my home page so KZitem is giving it some traction. Commenting to help boost the algorithm.
@zpicy
Жыл бұрын
actually incredible video. great storytelling on a niche but interesting topic, good speaking voice, good editing. i was shocked to see you only have 3,000 subscribers. awesome stuff!
@snowwsquire
Жыл бұрын
They won't even allowed leaked songs to have lyrics anymore, when pissy pamper literally went number #1 on genius
@andreagallegos3120
Жыл бұрын
Idk why this was recommended to me, but this is an amazing video. I had absolutely no idea all of this was going on, i thought the site was just to look up lyrics
@thenetpirate
Жыл бұрын
I found your channel on reddit and im surprised with the quality. Youve given me motivation to improve my editing game too and I hope you grow big in the future !
@midniteauthor
Жыл бұрын
Seems to be an issue a lot of Internet companies fall into. Constant growth. Not just happy to create a good service for a specific interest, everything needs to be a media empire now.
@ShadFer
11 ай бұрын
Just started the video but it’s crazy. I was a very active member of the Genius forums, it was a truly special place where hip hop could be discussed in passionate depth.
@Sendmetothesky
10 ай бұрын
They tried to sell my company an analytics solution where you could see how many times your brand was mentioned in a rap song as a show of relevance. I was like, I don’t think we need that data point but it sounds cool though!
@leightonpetty4817
10 ай бұрын
Absolutely beautiful Doesn’t Genius have… you know, a search bar?
@CringePoop
Жыл бұрын
i hate what happened to genius, because genius is still the best source of lyrics. musixmatch can't even get the lyrics to "rapp snitch knishes" correct ("rap snitch kisses"), it only gets worse the more obscure the song
@phistoltv5196
Жыл бұрын
At least they still have a large volume and cataloge of lyrics. But unfortunately their annotation which made them unique from other lyric websites is outdated or incomplete. Most MF DOOM and other old school song lyrics suffer suffer that fate
@Mayflower96
Жыл бұрын
man.. ballstate insurance is SENDING ME😭😭
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
did you read the article??
@tommyali1787
Жыл бұрын
nahh after they stopped doing genius deconstructed, thats what killed them. they needa bring that back!
@frag2
Жыл бұрын
amazing video, hope your channel blows up
@luckyautumn
Жыл бұрын
fr
@hypnagogue
10 ай бұрын
imo the worst part of their downfall was how horrible the recent site redesign was. seems like everyone who used the site universally hated it because the old design was pretty much perfect for what it was but the new one is unintuitive and makes you scroll way too much. all to create more space for ads of course. i used to love writing annotations but i haven’t used it much since they fully switched to the new design
@sultanqasim7639
Жыл бұрын
I remembered the breakdown of rap beefs, their instrumental series, etc. should’ve just stuck to that
@phistoltv5196
Жыл бұрын
And that deconstructed series was good
@RaghuRoxx
5 ай бұрын
*MAHBOD PASSED AWAY TODAY. I REMEMBER WATCHING THIS VIDEO! JUST CAME HERE TO PAY HOMAGE TO HIM.*
@Quadrocephis
5 ай бұрын
same here
@dariansmithjr
4 ай бұрын
this comment is how I just found out… 🤦🏿♂️
@hommeboy
Жыл бұрын
Having ER’s manifesto annotated and Mahbod calling it beautiful is hilariously based
@adinakruijssen3056
Жыл бұрын
As long as it keeps having lyrics with explanations I'm happy, that's all I wanted
@adinakruijssen3056
Жыл бұрын
Plus the move from rap-focused to music in general was good
@adinakruijssen3056
Жыл бұрын
Don't like the videos though, I just ignore them
@Lyper15
Жыл бұрын
I absolutely love the end of the video as to where they are now. It's kind of expected for these people.
@Johncllctn
11 ай бұрын
man, I wasnt part of the forum in 2011-2013, but I can remember it so vividly in back in 2014 when rap genius had rnb genius, pop genius and all the other genres on their website and the yellow diamond logo, but for other genres it would be different colors and maan I thought it looked so cool and the concept that every genre had its own site was one of the coolest things to me as a child, i would be on their site for hours and hours just clicking through stuff. Then, genius verified videos came out at some point when i was a teenager and i was like ,,oh, people don't know genius like that, they don't know how legendary this site actually is'' And then all of a sudden this series became such a hit which was so weird to see for someone who mainly knew them for their website. I'm so so glad you made this video cause it put everything into perspective for me. literally just last week i was thinking: man, will people ever know that genius was rap genius, and rnb genius and other kinds of genius as well? I want to see this old site one more time just to reminisce lol I was so surprised watching this video and seeing that around the time I enjoyed rap genius the most (2013/2014) it was already starting to fall apart which i never wouldve guessed cause i was never on their forum as a early member, man. It's really sad to see, this site meant so much to me man, it was the only way for me to look at lyrics and start understanding them for what they were, it really shaped my listening experience and it quickly became my favorite thing on the internet as an absolute music lover Nowadays, when i want to search for lyrics i still look at genius, but it just doesn't feel special at all. The app on the phone is terrible (filled with ads and lags), the website itself doesn't seem to have any interesting articles anymore, even the annotations which was really what made genius iconic for me, have become less and less. I remember being blown away when I would look up a kendrick song back in 2015 and the whole site was colored yellow it was like the craziest thing to see lol
@CASPERDANCE
Жыл бұрын
This is a fantastic video, super entertaining and informative. I can't wait to see what you do next. ~ also, love the Mr. Robot clip at the beginning.
@hurtboychulo7371
11 ай бұрын
It went from niggas explaining complex bars to Stunna Girl breaking down "shake that camel toe"😭
@scumnextdoor
11 ай бұрын
That’s absolutely fucking wild that some people didn’t know about rap genius website lol. Guess it’s a sign that I’m getting old. This video was really informative because I still go on rapgenius for artists I like and wondered why albums are getting little views/annotations over the years. I guess I found out why 🤷♂️
@MADD-MANX
Жыл бұрын
A VERY highly produced video for someone with only 2k+ Subscribers. But keep up the good work and I'll just keep on supporting 👌🏿👌🏿
@heavylbeatz
10 ай бұрын
I also feel like the reason why Genius also died was customer service. They used to have good customer service, but they messed it up.
@TTBRalt
Жыл бұрын
0:20 Heyy, I see you Mr. Robot opening shot. Good stuff
@svntn
Жыл бұрын
Genius Deconstructed was the best series on youtube. So much information and tricks to help producers
@mcnichoj18
11 ай бұрын
One kinda major thing you missed is that the Rap Genius forums is where the term "GOAT" was popularized. Ten years ago you'd see it everywhere on their forums and then only a couple years after would you see it being used everywhere in mainstream culture.
@Excalibur13
10 ай бұрын
nah def saw GOAT before then especially in gaming
@mcnichoj18
10 ай бұрын
@@Excalibur13 na, you're thinking GOTY (Game of the Year) which is a completely different thing. Same energy but not the same meaning.
@Excalibur13
10 ай бұрын
nah nah it was def GOAT, greatest of all time, I know it from COD especially MW2 (2009) or Black Ops 1 through Whiteboy7thst on YT. I think it was used in World of Warcraft lexicon too, because it came up in a 2008 documentary called Second Skin about gaming addiction. Which is free on YT too. Stuff I shouldn't remember so well anyway lol
@leightonpetty4817
10 ай бұрын
I wouldn’t at all attribute that to RapGenius, the term is old but its popularity comes from the Cool J album. Which came out in 2000.
@JP-mc4gl
11 ай бұрын
Really enjoyed this video, great mini-doc. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing more in future!
@youngandyx
Жыл бұрын
I always thought it was corny how they ran the site like wikipedia and basically used some arbitrary "IQ" system to motivate people into building the entire lyrics catalog for no money at all
@jdsmedley
Жыл бұрын
At least Wikipedia is a non-profit, so volunteers' contributions aren't being used to generate ad revenue.
@successmaker9258
Жыл бұрын
Most free social media have this business model, get users on your site and reward them with internet points whilst blasting ads in between. Everything from instagram Reddit fandom etc
@poppinc8145
Жыл бұрын
Some people like online points even if it doesn't mean much, I see nothing wrong with that. Besides, the IQ is about the editor's knowledge when it comes to annotating lyrics. If you're responsible for explaining or elaborating a lot of it, then obviously you're a "genius" when it comes to lyrics.
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
the IQ should be bitcoin that's whaat I wanted
@catbait
Жыл бұрын
watched this in its entirety and then lost my shit at how you have under 2,000 subscribers or how this video isnt ridiculously more popular. this is genuinely amazing content bro keep it up also this video is 5 months old too which is crazy
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Thanks man
@youtuberob
11 ай бұрын
I used to absolutely love this site for checking up on lyrics. Nowadays I go on to check an absolute mega hit with millions upon millions of streams and am surprised to see less than 10% of the song has even been annotated. Try to annotate it and the song is "locked". what a shame
@Carlos-qh8ty
8 ай бұрын
Holy sh*t!! The quality of this video is amazing! Please keep up making rap-related videos like these 💯
@MichaelTheAnimator.
Жыл бұрын
Prior to this video, my impression of Rap Genius or now Genius, was just some humble website with a neat Annotation mechanism. I am stunned that it was much bigger than what I initially thought.
@hihoneywelcomehome
Жыл бұрын
ive never seen this channel before and when i was watching this video i just had assumed this was one of those video essay channels with a couple million subs, how the hell does this channel only have 2k?
@afasia2341
Жыл бұрын
As an English teacher I used this website a lot in the past and also promoted it to my students. It also had some poetry which was a nice add. I guess I'll have to find something different.
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
why does who made the website change it for you?
@sjb3240
Жыл бұрын
I remember their terrible appearance on the Combat Jack show. Bad decision to make themselves the public face of the company. They weren't built for that.
@biggamallafluer2758
Жыл бұрын
You a real one if you remember that episode. I wish Reggie was still here to see what he started.
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
@@biggamallafluer2758 he died because he fucked with me... be careful
@PewPewShootEmUp
Жыл бұрын
I knew it was over when it became Genius over Rap Genius
@manofteal79
Жыл бұрын
I've been using Genius for years now. Used to like the insight they provided on lyrics and stuff. Had no idea they had all this dirt on 'em....
@187producedit
10 ай бұрын
i can’t remember the name of the channel but your editing style with the text to speech reminds me a lot of them. i enjoyed that style and haven’t seen it in a long time, im glad to see you’re doing your own thing with it !
@toofatforthat3861
11 ай бұрын
Great video man. Super informative and I love the flow aswell as the editing, big props man
@user-uf2hy2no9h
8 ай бұрын
I like how Kaney EAST 's songs went on Genius, and the site actually showed the meaning of the lyrics of his songs
@zigafide
Жыл бұрын
their biggest falloff, in my opinion, is that they stopped doing beat breakdowns
@OPGardevoir
Жыл бұрын
I just knew all these media companies that came out of literally no where (buzzfeed, vox, genius, etc.) were going to fail
@akeme25
Жыл бұрын
Genius was way better when it was just RapGenius
@indecisive.325
11 ай бұрын
I've been in Genius since 2019, way after its heyday, and it's only gotten worse. I remember when Genius got bought by MediaLab. The community was NOT happy. Nowadays, Genius is so ostensibly for-profit, they even advertise their prices for having a front page article. And also, the new song pages redesign looks ugly.
@jovanygaytan1153
11 ай бұрын
The quality of this video is amazing! Great delivery. Surprised at your sub count, I know it’s only a matter of time til it blows up, your delivery is certainly one that is easy to follow and keeps the listener/viewer engaged.
@TyFrom99
11 ай бұрын
Thank you
@doofy3564
Жыл бұрын
This was a very well produced video dude. Good shit.
@BlakeAveryProductions
11 ай бұрын
Swear Tom Lehman of Genius pulled up to YHack 2019. Most annoying ending speech from a company CEO imaginable
@irfansyahril8511
Жыл бұрын
Genuinely thought this was a Disrupt video, down to the text-to-speech readings of names Good job!!
@oamusic4710
10 ай бұрын
Really interesting video, had no idea any of this happened. The fact the founder was promoting an incel mass shooter feels like it shouldve gotten WAY more media coverage
@not2bconfusedwithmaeo
Жыл бұрын
would you believe this is the first time i'm hearing that genius fell? i had no idea
@TyFrom99
Жыл бұрын
Nah the medialab acquisition and their repeated business failures have been overlooked, probably because most people only know their verified videos nowadays.
@usagiwerd6664
Жыл бұрын
That is one crazy ride for a company to become completely irrelevant in a few years jeez I only knew genius in 2016 till 2018 and after that stopped using there site
@mabooification
11 ай бұрын
*their - maybe learn how to spell??
@usagiwerd6664
11 ай бұрын
@@mabooification my ninja way to spell wrong to get nazis like you exposed. Glad your evil
@amitklain4199
Жыл бұрын
The only thing this prove is how out of touch investors in these tech companies are. 200million dollars for a medium sized youtube channel? pfft
@Argonautsv2
11 ай бұрын
It was sorta weird that one day when I scrolled down on Spotify there wasn’t anymore facts and quotes from artists anymore. But eventually I stopped noticing it
@RichardJamesMendoza
8 ай бұрын
I am an Editor of Genius, once a regular contributor like many here. If you happened to be a Public Enemy fan and saw some annotations, chances are I either wrote it, edited it, or made suggestions. I wasn't as "keen," or aware, of the activities of the top honchos (such as the Maboo manifesto incident, or the fire sale, Genius Live), other than like many, we were vying to become editors and moderators so we could handle the lyrics and annotations better. Due to personal reasons, I became inactive a few years ago, but I am slowly becoming active again. I've diversified my genres aside from hip-hop, but as I've discovered transcribing liturgical music, the formatting rules cannot absolutely be uniform. There are some that I agree with, such as making one-bar annotations scarce as possible, but there are times the rules and style guide is... misguided at best. You can't even put Hangul (the Korean alphabet) on a song title! Want to put an all-lowercase title from an artist's song? Too bad, you have to do this and that. One of the many things I resent is the fact that they changed the site for no reason, but as you all can see, it was just surface level. The forums are still shit, the international community has mostly been left aside (in fact, I am the only editor that's visibly listed for my country), and them focusing on articles and videos (that aren't hosted there, but here on KZitem as an additional revenue flow) is just like putting make up on a pig rolling in a dirty sty. When they did that, it was game over. One of the most controversial things to happen in the userbase was the removal of mod role of a prominent user, and well-loved by all communities for his constant coaching and elevation to Editor for several contributors. Many left with him. I stayed out of love for music. Oh, and the IQ system? Garbage. I use my personal annotations like newspaper tearsheets to add up my writing portfolio, but that's about it.
@KyleMillllz
7 ай бұрын
Loved hearing red dot music's instrumental pop up 😂
@KyleMillllz
7 ай бұрын
Oh man and then award tour 🔥
@Individualpsychologe
6 ай бұрын
I was an editor and then a moderator for a while on Genius and was active for like 8 years on there, was a really fun time, but it evolved into something that felt soul- and passionless. I worked on the Elliot Rodgers Manifesto as well and even though it was known that Maboo was kinda an asshole with a drug problem, that was beyond fucked up. The platform was beyond ugly, the community became a cesspool of ads, bots & trolling and there was almost no communication with any of the mods either, the international communities were completely abandoned. Every new feature they launched was expected by many to be failures and mostly they were. The focus on video content became apparent early on. Sad to see such a great idea turn into such a great mess
@MysticJem2016
Жыл бұрын
Personally I knew it was over when they rebranded from RapGenius to Genius .... went from a place I knew I could read accurate rap lyrics, to a place that isn't focused on anything in particular.
@Brian-if9ty
Жыл бұрын
this is some great stuff man!!! how long does it take you to edit something like this, i.e collect clips,pics etc
Пікірлер: 784