Why Literally Everyone Should Have a RapGenius

            I'm sure you wouldn't expect a writing tutor of all people to be big into rap music – I mean, those clowns just butcher the language, right? Well, maybe some “rappers” do                                                                           

 

                                                            

                 (Cough Cough)









but there are a lot of true artists in the hip hop genre, and I'd argue, a lot more artists than, uhm, whatever these guys count as. One of my personal favorites, Milo, for example, is a philosophy major and to open the first song of his most recent work, Cavalcades samples a talk by Ludwig Wittgenstein about the source of meaning in language in the song “Geometry and Theology”. Doesn't sound like a bunch of idiots banging on drums and shouting nonsense anymore, huh? Good, because it's not, and RapGenius is a great way of exploring and understanding hip hop.

           

            Anyone can make an annotation, but a collection of editors and moderators choose whether to accept or reject a suggested annotation so there's not willy nilly misinformation left and right. Plus, any annotation that hasn't been reviewed yet has a little disclaimer saying that “This annotation hasn't yet been reviewed by the ___Genius editors” so you know whether you can trust something that seems a little bit off.

But that's just the tip of this beautiful iceberg, so I'm going to give a slightly basic run down of the full experience. The first step is easy: make an account. You can even just hit the “log in with Facebook” button and never have to worry about it. The next step is to find a song that someone (now that you're signed up, it could be you!) transcribed and uploaded and read through it. You can find anything from rap/Hip Hop, great works of literature like The Great Gatsby and The Odyssey (PoetryGenius.com), news casts and press releases (on NewsGenius.com), to poetry and spoken word (PoetryGenius.com), rock and pop songs, (RockGenius.com and even the King James Bible (PoetryGenius.com). You can read annotations on any part you don't understand or want to learn more on. A single annotation usually covers a specific line or couplet, but often covers an entire verse. Any parts of the work that haven't been annotated, you can annotate!

 If the editors/moderators think what you wrote is quality stuff, it gets accepted for other people to enjoy. Adding annotations gets you IQ points, which you can see on your profile, or if you just hover over your name. This is another way of checking validity – if someone has hundreds and hundreds of points in the subject matter, they're probably more reliable than someone with no points. You can get your own points by adding songs and annotations or by other people saying your stuff is good. There's a guide to points here (http://rapgenius.com/1811112)

With all different kinds of works to analyze and all sorts of tools to do that analysis with, you can use the Genius websites to do so much more than understand songs. You can become cultured and well-read, you can learn philosophy, you can sharpen your literary analysis skills, you can study for English exams, you show off your smarts to your friends and see who can get the most IQ, THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS. If you need any more incentive to become a part of this amazing community, or want to see my work on the site, email me at sammy.branson@gmail.com