First, if you get one thing out of this, let it be http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/141116413.html?page=all&prepage=2&c=y#continue Second: Yes, most recruiters get poems, and in each I try to explore a different mode and persona. This one has two; a polite declination focusing on a purely visual asthetic, and an exaggerated, rap-battle diss making heavy use of assonance, uniform metric, and rhyme. The former started with "what would a poem look like given precise character constraints, and a shape matching its emotional progression?" The latter piece is more allusory; you may find http://valleywag.gawker.com/rap-genius-imma-rape-you-in-your-mouth-1177584961, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NAzQPll7Lo, http://elitedaily.com/news/technology/brain-tumor-makes-founder-rap-genius-tell-mark-zuckerberg-suck-parts/, and http://valleywag.gawker.com/rap-genius-incites-unsolicited-startup-beef-over-sexies-1463237777 useful. No, I don't think all of Rap Genius is like that, and no, my personal feelings aren't that strong. I wrote aggressively to explore a style that I've never tried before, and it seemed particularly apt for Rap Genius, who send emails to tech press asking them to cover their beef with other engineers. Third: I like Rap Genius as a service. There's a powerful argument to be made for annotation and commentary, for democratizing analysis, and for contextualizing art forms defined by their allusive nature. And there's a whole discussion around the role of public persona and "startup douchebags" that we're not having--at least, not often. To what extent is self-promotion intrinsically undesirable? Is it wrong for your startup to supply weed to their programmers? In what way does Rap Genius interact with, support, and subvert a hip-hop context shaped by class and race struggle? In which ways do predominantly rich white men influence rap and hip-hop, through the recording industry? How do those established systems interact with independent artists and minority-owned labels? When Eminem relies on the word "faggot", or when Jay-Z shows us near-naked women, are they being true to an artistic culture, contributing to the oppression of LGBT people and women, or both? Should it unsettle me that the engineering team appears unanimously male? When I write a seething response to let this imagined angry MC/programmer character out of my head, does that contribute in a positive way to Rap Genius' internal culture or to our public understanding of their role? I hope so, but geez, I'm not sure. Anyway that's what's been going through my head. Maybe we can talk about all these questions in more depth. --Kyle On 12/13/2013 11:22 AM, Tom Lehman wrote:> Kyle – > > Don’t be blinded! I’m not some weirdo recruiter – I'm the co-founder / > CTO of Rap Genius and I'm on the hunt for bomb engineers to join our > team. We're big fans of your blog over here, and admirers of Jepsen as a > tool for rigorous analysis of cluster behavior. I especially enjoyed > your recent post on the difficulties of designing a truly fault-tolerant > Redis cluster – we're big Redis users, although still in > single-point-of-failure land. Since you're a sage of scalability and our > project of annotating all of human culture is pretty high scale, I've > got to try convincing you to join the Rap Genius rocket ship / yacht > party. Here's a picture I made: > > Inline image 1 > > You can see that now is a special time at Rap Genius – we've got a ton > of funding > > / traction juice, and yet the tech team is still only 8 people. So it’s > basically a best-of-both-worlds–type situation for anyone who joins now: > you'll have a huge role in shaping a product that a ton of people are > already obsessed with, you'll get to build the team, but at the same > time you'll still make a lot of money, eat a grip > of sushi, and not have to worry that > we're going out of business. > > > Another benefit is you get to work with seriously smart people > ! It’s impossible to make it through > our interview without being truly amazing, which is why we created The > Rap Genius Genius Grant™ > > – everyone who gets a job offer ALSO gets $1,000 cash on the spot just > for being awesome (whether or not you take the job). > > > Ok, but... WHAT IS RAP GENIUS? > > We started RG in 2009 to explain the meaning of rap lyrics > . Anyone can sign up to contribute > annotations and good annotations earn you Rap IQ™, which is highly > sought after and is often called "Bitcoin's biggest rival". We've also > gotten artists themselves involved via verified accounts > which let them explain their own > work to the masses . > > > Our community has expanded to other genres of music > in addition to rap, but the big vision goes > beyond music and touches all of t > ext > – whether it's > the Bill of Rights , a T.S. Eliot poem > , or our very own Heroku takedown > , > WHATEVER: it's all going on Rap Genius. > > > If this sounds at all interesting, I'd love to "hop on a Google Hangout" > and tell you more. Let me know if you're down! > > > Much love / bong bong , > > Tom My sincere thanks for your kind words & earnest invitations Your enthusiasm and new growth; truly commendable However, given Rap Genius's somewhat questionable history I cannot in good conscience support your efforts here Kind regards -Kyle On 12/13/2013 02:53 PM, Tom Lehman wrote: > feel me! that's a major bummer and especially so in verse, and > ESPECIALLY so in un-/anno/tated verse, where I'm left without context / > authorial insight! what about us gives you such bad vibes? regardless > though, if you think we've said stupid things and have been obnoxious / > wack you're not going to get any arguments from me! we are deeply flawed > and yet always trying to improve (just like the annotations on our website!) > > so come onnnnn, let's do a quick hangout – it'll be fun i promise. and > if it isn't and i can't turn you around, you can cmd+w me at any time! > you don't even have to say goodbye – come on admit it that's a sick offer, > > much love It's insufferably sneering with sunglasses askew Monorail's singlethreaded tire fire snafu Toked up rappers slurp down on that bro money mileu And narcissism's a slick one slipping into sinew Shirt shrugged off; vyvanse ice; it's the tumor he spews But insouciantly sleazes right back into the news And that's something I've sensed 'bout the cocksure amused Forcing dicks into everything turns you into one too. Open wide he says, grinning, it goes down real smooth-- I've no patience for rape jokes or your problems with queues. --Kyle