Thrillable Hours: Mahbod Moghadam, co-founder of Rap Genius

You were an associate at Dewey LeBoeuf and dreamed up Rap Genius on a deferral of your start date. How did the site come about?

Rap Genius started on a couch – I was explaining Cam’ron’s “Family Ties” to my friend Tom Lehman (he was working at a hedge fund at the time) and he built the site the next day. We started to get so much attention that we decided to work on the site full-time, along with our friend  Ilan Zechory, an ex-Googler, about a year ago.

How did your legal education inform the way you see the world today? Do you still identify yourself as a lawyer?

Helllls yeah! There is a major nexus between hip-hop and the law – we are actually trying to turn Rap Genius into a firm. From the Rap Genius LLP page: “Lawyers want to be rappers, rappers want to be lawyers; it’s a tale as old as time. And Rap Genius is no exception to the legal/rap nexus: we have editors who are graduates of elite law schools, and we also have a judge on the 9th Circuit who contributes (hint: obsessed with Gucci Mane!)”  We also have two of our editors currently clerking for the Supreme Court, Kagan and Sotomayor, respectively.

What do you find most fulfilling about your current job?

We’re starting to kick it with all these rappers who are my heroes – I can’t wait until we meet Jay-Z. Our analysis of his “99 Problems” is straight out of Crim Pro.

I’ve got a soft spot for Venn diagrams, so I need to know: who came up with Rap Genius’ logo?

That was Tom’s design – it actually got ripped off by a rapper! Donald Glover of “Community” aka Childish Gambino pulled a jack move on us –>

Do you have any advice for professionals who are interested in leaving private practice but concerned about what is out there?

Don’t be scurred! The nice part about law is that there’s a ton of cake so you can have your cake and eat it too – just remember to pay off your loans. Also, I know it sounds corny – but law is a great preparation for entering many professions – business or journalism, etc. I hate when lawyers complain about their jobs. Law is dope, you just have to get into it.

Do you plan to return to the practice of law?

We’re practicing every day. We’ve got all sorts of partnerships we’re forming right now – I feel like I’m our General Counsel sometimes! Also, we’re trying to build a “Law Genius” site. We recently explained the Bill of Rights, Rap Genius-style, to set it off.

What do you have to say to those who tell me lawyers can’t have fun?

Lawyers are down to party – and lawyer girls tend to be sexy so that’s wassup.

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Want more from Rap Genius? You can find them on their website, on Twitter or on Facebook.

For more alternative careers for lawyers (chefs, yoga practitioners, writers, photographers and more), please see the full list of Thrillable Hours interviews.