Mahbod Moghadam - Rap Genius Interview lyrics

CJ: Yeah internets and you are tuned into the Combat Jack Show! With us today we have... who are you Gentlemen? What are your names? MM: On Rap Genius I'm Maboo CJ: We've got Maboo and (MB: Woop!) who else? IZ: On Rap Genius I'm the Abominable Homan CJ: Abominable....Abominable Ho – man. What are your real names? IZ: Ilan MM: It's Mah – Bod CJ: Mah-bod and Ilan (MB: However you want to pronounce it) from the controversial and groundbreaking, at the same time, website Rap Genius. (DP : hmm) You know, you guys have stirred a hornets nest recently with the success of your site, as well as some of the tension and (DP: provocative!) provocative arguments that have centred around your site. (DP: sure!) It is so amazing because I really dont know what to make of your site, which is why you guys are here some people told me I shouldn't have you guys on here because for some reason, just the mention of Rap Genius been polarizing. And I will say this before I fully and officially introduce you, when I was leaving my crib this evening on my way to the show, my 15 year old son said 'who's your guest on tonight's show?' and I said 'oh Rap Genius', not thinking he would know who you guys are and he said 'oh, that's the Hip Hop site for white people.' And I was like 'what do you mean that's the Hip Hop site for white people?' And he was like 'well, they explain rap lyrics and most people of colour understand these lyrics, so this is the white hip hop website.' And I was like 'oh, that's interesting that this guy who I have never had a conversation with about you, that is his perception. So internets, I welcome to the Combat Jack show Rap Genius. What is going on guys? MM: We are ready for combat CJ: You guys are ready for combat. Welcome to the Combat Jack show MM: Your son needs to get deeper in the game CJ: He needs to get deeper in the game? MM: If he thinks that it's for white people? CJ: That is his understanding. But before we even go there ( MM: It is for people of all colours, for people who love knowledge)Thanks for making it out in inclement weather. It is snowy outside (DP: It's a blizzard) it is a blizzard out here! And you guys made it! MM: Just Blaze, one of my heroes, ( JB: Thankyou) it is an honour. ( JB: Much appreciated) CJ: Let's get down to it, what is Rap Genius? MM : Rap Genius is annotated lyrics, it is hard to explain If you have not seen it. You can click any line, and it has got crowd sourced explanations and it is crowd sourced.... but we try to give it a hierarchy, like Samurai Japan, so we try to make things be high quality JB: Samurai Japan or Feudal Japan? MM: no, yeah, yeah. It is a feudalist structure IZ: There are moderators, editors, some guys are bosses. Combat overrules the discussion< CJ: Wait a minute... you guys are losing me... both you guys are losing me with the Japanese reference JB: So it's ranks? As to who can.... MM: We gotta get you a Rap Genius account, Combat Jack cause we have for celebrities the verified accounts CJ: So..so...so... people have accounts and they contribute To their site with regard to their definitions or their version of the lyric to mean MM : Right CJ: And the more they contribute the higher up they go? MM: They get Rap IQ, if their sh** is wack I delete it in one Fell swoop CJ: What determines if their sh** is wack? IZ: There are a couple of things. Their is voting on the site so you can go in, you can upvote something, downvote something and if you have like a reputation on the site, your vote is meaningful you know, so if you downvote something that user is going to get dinged. They are not going to be important anymore and editors, there are like hundreds of editors, who get hand picked by the moderators. They go through and just delete sh** That is wack. And it is basically like, we try to set a good tone, try to not make it like uh... try to make everything interesting and sorta like a work in progress Dallas Interrupts DP: That sounds awesome! MM : Rap Genius is still a baby, Dallas. It is getting grown though DP: That, right there, what you guys just talked about sounds f**ing awesome! MM: You can be like the mayor's milk for Rap Genius cause I remember when … DP: Now why would anyone have a problem with Rap Genius? MM: (not listening) we used to not even have Wu Tang perfectly explained. Much less the cla**ics, that you want explained better and now if you look up 'Mystery of Chessboxing' on the site, I know you guys all have a lot of knowledge from Hip Hop but you might learn something like.. CJ: Well...Well. Well, lets take it back a step further. How did you guys come up with the concept Rap Genius? IZ: We were smoking mad weed and we were listening to rap! MM: I was going through some hard times in my life and Tom can build websites like it is candy, he has built a tonne of websites. He built this site... CJ: And Tom is the? MM: He is the Godfather, he is the swagged out Mark Zuckerberg of Rap Genius. (CJ: OK) He built the site kind of as therapy for me and I started explaining k**a Cam and then all my.... All our friends jumped on, and Ilan explained family time....A milli CJ: So, so, so … you going through these lyrics was in a Sense therapy for you? MM: It was... it was therapy, we never thought it would Be anything more than fun CJ: How so? Explain that man? Dallas interrupts DP : So how do you guys go from being Zuckerbergs to f**ybergs? MM: f**ybergs....because we like to f**! CJ: Wait....wait...wait DP: I mean you guys were on your path to being Zuckerbergs and then you turned a corner CJ: Well, well. Internets if you] MM: (interrupting again) We are trying to be Zuckerbergs, but we are trying to f**... CJ: Internets if you don't know ( DP: f**ybergs) there's been... some of the tension that has existed between RG and some of the internets is actually between Dallas Penn and Maboo. Am I right? DP: No...i mean.... Internets the Rap Genius dudes who I met briefly several months ago, thought I was a rapper ( CJ Tell...tell) and they called my man Mayhem Loren, Smoke DZA( CJ wait... wait....wait) these guys who are earnest and cool dudes, I mean real talk, I smoked weed with these cats CJ: Why did you meet them? Walk us through that Dallas. Be descriptive DP: I met them because my buddy, Rafi Khan was you know, cool with them and he said, come meet these guys who are starting a site called 'Rap Genius.' I think it is a great idea, like I said these guys started out as Zuckerbergs on some real fly sh**, I mean having artisits transcribe their own lyrics is .. that's kind of f**ing supreme because it really cuts to the chase of getting an understanding of what a lyric is and then having people come and explain those lyrics even further...I mean to me it is the perfect idea for Rap nerds. Like this could be Rap nerd heaven right here, and I think it is CJ: So you went to meet these guys ( JB: Who are these guys? Who did you meet?) DP: I... I don't really remember who I met because all white guys look the same... no disrespect but it was some cool, Zuckerberg looking dudes... MM: Dallas I'm darker than you man! You are Pakistan or something...I'm deep India...I'm ???? DP: White guys can be darker than me, that MM: And i'm getting a tan, i'm starting to turn purple Combat overrules CJ: Was it you that Dallas met? MM: I'm the one who thought he was a rapper...I feel like an idiot. These guys googled him and sh**, so they knew IZ: we were kicking it with Rafi and we watched is videos or whatever, we knew who Dallas was but he just had not seen him yet... MM: I respected Rafi because he loves 'Cam and I just told you, the first three songs on the site were all Cam CJ: Right MM: I think Cam in his Golden Age was the best rapper of all time and I wanted the site to be called Cam Exegesis...I'm like … alright...alright CJ: ( Incredulously) Cam Exegesis? MM: Cause originally it was Rap Exegesis, and i'm like – let's make two site we will have Cam Exegesis and Jay Z Exegesis. So.... DP: Exegesis? MM: Now, no one even looks up Cam'ron on the site CJ: So Dallas, were you offended? DP: No, no I wasn't Because again ( MM: He even signed our board, he was one the first people to sign our board!) the IDEA...the concept of Rap Genius is for Rap Nerds....i think, incredible. It's Dope! CJ: And aren't most of us in thie room, rap nerds? DP: Well...i mean.....you know if you f** with rap, maybe you are a rap nerd. But anyhow again, I wasn't offended, I thought it was funny, I thought it was cute of them. You know, it was a nice little environment that they were working in, you know....a BIG mountain of weed on the table, like just kinda...roll your sh** up CJ: You guys, kinda like the weed? MM: Yeah, we're down. I actually can't smoke anymore because of Asthma. Can you believe that? We got a vaporizer tho... CJ: Asthma? Can you smoke ….you can smoke a vaporizer? MM: Aah...even that is not good. ( CJ: oh you can inhale...) I'll do it with Dallas, i'll smoke it with Dallas! Oh man I feel so bad, I thought he was a rapper. I still want to hear you rap Dallas. (Benhameen grimaces) CJ: How did you know he thought you were a rapper? MM: I told him! I told him to get a verified account! MM: I told him! I told him to get a verified account! DP: They asked me to....transcribe some of my songs! CJ: So Maboo, what rapper did you think he was? MM: I dunno, Dallas ? Rafi Khan told me some rappers' coming over I don't know... CJ: Oh so...Rafi Khan set it up... MM: No...no...no! He said Dallas is coming over, and like surprise surprise if it is like “Rap Genius” you are inviting someone over it is going to be a rapper! Heh hehe, I f**ed up man, I shoulda googled it! CJ: But that is an honest mistake is it not Dallas? DP: I'm not upset about that! ( CJ: Ok) I told you I had a good time ( CJ: Ok) we hung out, we smoked weed, we talked sh** CJ: But you guys had good...you guys broke bread! DP: I got to see...no we didn't break bread, we spent time together MM: Oh that was....Action Bronson was there and I ordered sushi, and Action Bronson was like 'I would never eat fish' so that was kinda weird CJ: So what happened? DP: We hung out, we...i went in the office, I saw how their operation worked. I was happy, I was impressed, I was like finally someone took the time, took the energy to you know...connect these dots ( CJ: Another internet?) ...yes. Absolutely. Another internet! Another valuable internet! ( CJ:So internets...) I was happy with what I saw and you know, like anybody else I'm ready for Rap Genius to grow its community ( CJ: to flourish) yeah, sure, sure. To continue to grow and continue to be a valuable contributor within the community. The, the Hip Hop community....although they are focused on Rap, you know they are still part of the Hip Hop community. So I was alright with them....I'm cool....and I'm still alright with the idea of Rap Genius now. It is not...you know...Rap Genius...the idea of it does not f** with me CJ: So we're going all over the place, so...but what is more current is that you guys have exchanged heated Tweets over the past week and a half right MM: Ah the tweets was mainly just, I was on caffeine and I mainly just started flipping out, but the main person who has been blogging about us has been Byron CJ: Byron Crawford? MM: Which, I sent him an emotional email, I mean....the way I found out about that guy is his views on Palestine and I mean I had so much respect for him, there was a reason why when Rap Genius was just a little baby, I'm always linking, emailing him, asking for links and then finally, someone is like 'Hey, if you want t link him, you gotta diss him!' so I made a diss rap, haha CJ: Oh so, somebody lured you into dissing Byron Crawford? MM: Ah you know it was, for me it is all just fun anyways IZ: This is like...three years ago MM: I said, Byron Crawford, you are lame like Hartford, you know. It is not like the most cutting line, I got a lot of respect for him, and you know to some extent I feel like he is having a good time with this too. I've got love CJ: So...it is not really that...serious? MM: I hope not... DP:No! END OF PART ONE!