6. Rap Genius goons infect TechCrunch Disrupt like a bad case of herpes
The long, strange trip of music-annotating startup Rap Genius came to an ignominious end late last year when it was finally acquired for less money than investors had sunk into it over nearly a decade. But in 2013, the company was riding high and its founders’ antics were the biggest news to come out of that year’s TechCrunch Disrupt.
This conference appearance was the birth of the performative Cool Guy Tech Bro. Execs Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Moghadam took the stage wearing shades and prime hipster gear of the time and yammering on about how “turnt-up” the process of launching a business has been.
Okay, this is more of a Q&A than a keynote presentation. I would argue, though, that the Rap Genius boys came to Disrupt to make a one-way presentation of their own obnoxious attitude. This was an announcement that the future leaders of tech wouldn’t be introverted hoodie-wearing math geeks, they’d be more like a guy you watch your drink around at the club.
You can draw a straight line from this event to the kind of NFT fans who complain that no one at the airport complimented their Bored Ape hoodie.
