Rap Genius App Is Delightfully Relevant

by Ruben Lone

The recent debacle with Google SEO spamming gave Rap Genius a run for its money, but as we reported, the founders ‘fessed up and cleaned up their ill-advised internet scheme. Rap Genius has since bounced back with the launch of a new iPhone app,  hopefully steering the app away from the browser window and into an independent cloud.

To be honest, I’m not much a fan of the mainstream rap music of our current age, save for a few choice innovators. However, Rap Genius is well-aware that its site could offer interpretations for text beyond the scope of hip-hop, and it’s News Genius and Rock Genius subsidiaries are indicative of a market gap. By calling the iPhone app “Genius for iPhone,” Rap Genius avoids the “rap” association (save for the diamond logo that conjures flamboyant displays of wealth) and offers wiki-like annotations on rap, rock, poetry, and news.

Cleanly constructed on their signature black background with white text and golden highlighting, the app offers all the same features as the browser version, but without the excess clutter of stats, features, and social media links–unfortunate and hopefully soon-to-be antiquated elements of an unconsolidated internet era.  The search bar is often a little sticky when returning from selected texts, and you may have to re-enter your search query to jumpstart the app. But this seems like a bug to be fixed in a normal update, and the general functionality is stable.

The array of easily accessible annotations on Genius is impressive. Just this morning, President Obama’s State of the Union address had been uploaded and was trending on the app. Also impressively, the fully annotated copy of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” arguably one of the most important and challenging pieces of 20th century literature, has over 150k views. Not exactly the 3 million for Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love,” but promising nonetheless.  You can also search lyrics based on your local music library, and the app will source the lyrics and descriptions for any songs in its database. The mobile app is far speedier than the website, and it’s nice to navigate around a huge library of texts with your thumb. Since Rap Genius functions like a dictionary in many ways, the interface afforded integration into a more reference-based and user-friendly version.

Genius seems like the next big step for Rap Genius, and the company may predictably allow this platform to influence a restructuring in the future that makes the site and app less niche-driven. However, Rap Genius is a viable and reliable source for both lyrics and lyrical annotations, as well as transcriptions of popular text. The company should certainly look to expand this brand into an increasingly universal system whilst leveraging its current user base as a new, quietly connected community of contributors and curious fans music and literature alike. Highly recommended, so download the Genius for iPhone app at the iTunes store.

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