This remarkably handy feature allows graphing of words used in rap songs
“Where Brooklyn at?” is no longer simply a phrase to garner automatic applause at live hip hop shows in the New York area. It’s a genuine cause of concern, as the use of the word “Brooklyn” in rap lyrics has dramatically decreased since peaking in 1992 and 1993. The New York borough now accounts for only 0.00487 percent of rap lyrics in 2014. This statistic has been possible thanks to Rap Stats, a clever and useful new feature at Genius, the social media/lyrics site that collects and furiously annotates the words to thousands of rap and rock songs. “Until now,” says Genius in its official announcement, “you haven’t been able to look at the development of the genre through its building blocks: the actual words used by emcees.”