Zechory was telling Lehman about a recent dinner party at the home of Ben Horowitz, one of the company’s early investors, that Zechory had attended along with the rappers Kanye West and Nas, the producer Rick Rubin, “and a couple other randos.” Zechory had spent part of the meal trying to explain to West and Nas the appeal of Drake by arguing that the Toronto emcee was “a thespian rapper,” playing a role someone like Zechory could relate to. Both wore Nikes, as they almost always do. Once, when a business adviser sent the company a “start-up checklist”-employee health insurance, bookkeeping system-an employee responded, “ Can you add weed to this? As reported in Daily Intelligencer in 2012.” Related Stories Joint Venture: Can $15 Million Turn Rap Genius Into the Internet Talmud?Īt the party, Zechory, the newly appointed president of the company, which has raised more than $50 million in venture capital, wore a white T-shirt and jeans, while Lehman, the CEO and programming expert, was in cutoff jean shorts and a pastel plaid shirt. was referencing the Boerum Hill headquarters of his old drug-dealing operation the company’s founders had developed a reputation as the tech world’s apex brogrammers A portmanteau of bro and programmer in the popular imagination, brogrammers do push-ups during Skype conference calls and respond well to job listings like this one: “Want to bro down and crush some code? Klout is hiring.”. Rap Genius had made its name as a place where a confused listener could search for the lyrics to “Empire State of Mind,” click on the line “Took it to my stash spot, 560 State Street ,” and find a crowdsourced annotation explaining that Jay Z Jay Z has often rapped about his days as a coke dealer. The sun was setting, and they were hosting a party that, by the company’s bacchanalian standards, barely qualified as one. and Tom Lehman CEO and lead programmer., co-founders of the website formerly known as Rap Genius, stood on a penthouse terrace outside one of 11 apartments turned offices their company occupies in a residential building on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. One Friday this summer, Ilan Zechory The company’s president.
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