Rap Genius is a North American digital media company now simply known as Genius. It was founded in August 2009 by Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Moghadam, the site allows users to provide annotations and interpretation of song lyrics, news stories, sources, poetry, and documents.
Originally launched as Rap Genius with a focus on hip-hop music, the company attracted the attention and support of celebrities, and venture capital enabling further growth. As of 2014, the site now focuses on various other genres as well.
Their YouTube series of artists explaining the lyrics of their songs has become incredibly popular with millions of views for each video. Check out Aminé describing his latest song “Spice Girl”:
