Genius Bar

"Genius Bar" is a song created by Mike Shinoda, released as one of four tracks on his Ziggurats (stylized as ZIGGURATS) "generative mixtape" on December 2021.

Background

The track's title comes from Mike's verse beginning with Apple references - "I'm the Steve Jobs of the underdogs", "I don't got a chain of Mac stores, I already got Genius Bars", etc. After the first verse, Mike uses Twitch's robotic voices as a sort of short interlude in the song that say, "You are now vibing with Mike Shinoda", etc.

The main version of "Genius Bar" samples at least three known Mike Twitch jams:

1) "7.30.20 Bhangra Boom Bap Zeppelin" from July 30, 2020. The theme for that day on Twitch was for Mike to create a musical mashup of the following ideas: Bhangra Music (requested by Kren_v) + Classic rock in the style of Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith (requested by michele_444_) + Acoustic Boom Bap Hip Hop (requested by imrenemeth). On the stream, Mike played piano in his studio for the track and included that in the livestream.

2) "Trail Mix" from July 30-31, 2020 (titled "7.31 Bhangra Zeppelin Boom Bap 2" by Mike). That day, Mike sampled the "Bhangra/Led Zeppelin/Boom Bap" jam from the previous day doing some scratches to create a new track in the style of the Beastie Boys. After he created a beat with the 808 sounds, he did a poll asking the fans if he had to continue with that style or not, and he did. The jam took different directions and Mike joked about the variety of sounds, so he decided to rename it "Trail Mix" as suggested in the chat by the fans, a nod to Mike often eating trail mix during the streams.

3) "11.2 Masch Plus Cooper Pedal" from November 2, 2020 in which Mike decided to create a song using two new pieces of gear he bought recently, Maschine+ and a Cooper FX Arcades guitar pedal. This was a Freestyle jam Mike made with no specific musical theme.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Genius Bar	Ziggurats	2:21	2020-2021	December 3, 2021
Genius Bar	Ziggurats (Radio Edit)	2:21	2020-2021	December 3, 2021	Censored. Not listed as censored in digital stores.

Lyrics

Album Version

Yo
I'm the Steve Jobs of the underdogs
Drop jaws with the "one more thing" in the monologue
Keep 'em guessing what the reasons are
I don't got a chain of Mac stores, I already got genius bars
Turned a hobby into people all up in the lobby
Not Illuminati, this is neo-literati
With an army here behind me kid don't even try me
Adam bomb on anybody, word to Ben and Bobby

Let the smoke blow, get the brew spillin'
Debut a new villain like Ren and Doom chillin'
My shoes are too winning for you to cruise in 'em
Timeless cool like blue denim I'm losing 'em

And these are just the flows that I was saving
Ever since the days of Pac Man-ing at the Days Inn I been
Paving ways for them to make a basic conversation
The only Asian raising hell from here to Copenhagen
OK I'm half I know the math I'm Japanese (Get it?)
The flow is tight like I got vascular disease
Magically take it where in fact it has to be
I been mapping out the future while your ass was catching Z's

Yeah
It all started after college
Rocking shell toes like my favorite group from Hollis
Manifest the future let the universe allow it
Keys like Khaled I'm just giving you the knowledge (the knowledge)
Damn Janet, I got 'em in control, if you
Like this then you gotta see the show, I'm the
Chef's choice, I'm Nozawa with the flow, you can
Trust me this ain't no California roll

Set menu it's a special occasion
Bass pulsating to the pupil dilation
Clickbait journalists steady spectating
Waiting for the moment they can twist the translation

I don't have a lane to stay in
Associate with great women and great men
Never make time for a fake friend
Snakes never change they just shed their snakeskin
I don't have a lane to stay in
Associate with great women and great men
Never make time for a fake friend
Snakes never change they just shed their snakeskin

Radio Edit

Yeah

Yeah
Let's go
Check

Yo
I'm the Steve Jobs of the underdogs
Drop jaws with the "one more thing" in the monologue
Keep 'em guessing what the reasons are
I don't got a chain of Mac stores, I already got genius bars
Turned a hobby into people all up in the lobby
Not Illuminati, this is neo-literati
With an army here behind me kid don't even try me
Adam bomb on anybody, word to Ben and Bobby

Let the smoke blow, get the brew spillin'
Debut a new villain like Ren and Doom chillin'
My shoes are too winning for you to cruise in 'em
Timeless cool like blue denim I'm losing 'em

And these are just the flows that I was saving
Ever since the days of Pac Man-ing at the Days Inn I been
Paving ways for them to make a basic conversation
The only Asian raising hell from here to Copenhagen
OK I'm half I know the math I'm Japanese (Get it?)
The flow is tight like I got vascular disease
Magically take it where in fact it has to be
I been mapping out the future while your *** was catching Z's

You are now vibing with Mike Shinoda, Nice
That's a very special wombat, I love it
What the hell is going on

Yeah
It all started after college
Rocking shell toes like my favorite group from Hollis
Manifest the future let the universe allow it
Keys like Khaled I'm just giving you the knowledge (the knowledge)
Damn Janet, I got 'em in control, if you
Like this then you gotta see the show, I'm the
Chef's choice, I'm Nozawa with the flow, you can
Trust me this ain't no California roll

Set menu it's a special occasion
Bass pulsating to the pupil dilation
Clickbait journalists steady spectating
Waiting for the moment they can twist the translation

I don't have a lane to stay in
Associate with great women and great men
Never make time for a fake friend
Snakes never change they just shed their snakeskin
I don't have a lane to stay in
Associate with great women and great men
Never make time for a fake friend
Snakes never change they just shed their snakeskin

Lyrical Annotations

Mike annotated the song on Genius on the evening of December 3, 2021. Mike's quotes are italicized, while others are links or descriptions.

"one more thing" - "Jobs always had "one more thing. Also, start watching for themes extending over the whole mixtape..."

"genius bars" - "Oh look Apple -> Genius Bar. Also, a computer reference... to be continued..."

"Adam bomb" - "Adam Bomb is the Hundreds mascot and also their NFT collection. ​https://opensea.io/collection/adam-bomb-squad Ziggurats was launched as the first generative NFT mixtape"

"Ben and Bobby" - The Hundreds founders

"Debut a new villain like Ren and Doom chillin'" - "MC Ren of NWA and DOOM were both known by the nickname Villain. I grew up a fan of both."

"Pac Man-ing at the Days Inn" - "Watch this game reference play out over the rest of the mixtape."

"mapping out the future" - NFTs will be key to accessing metaverse and beyond

"Rocking shell toes like my favorite group from Hollis" - RUN-DMC "My Adidas" music video

"Keys like Khaled" - DJ Khaled - Major Key Alert video

"knowledge (the knowledge)" and "Damn Janet" - Janet Jackson - The Knowledge song

"control" - Janet Jackson - Control song

"Chef's choice, I'm Nozawa with the flow" - Sufarfish restaurant in Los Angeles, featuring dishes like "The Nozawa Trust Me", but

"California roll" - Popular sushi roll, in slang: "To fail to make a complete stop at a red light or stop sign."

"Set menu it's a special occasion" - "most commonly used when dining at Japanese restaurants where the customer leaves it up to the chef to select and serve seasonal specialties"

"twist the translation" - "Get Me Gone" by Fort Minor.

"I don't have a lane to stay in" - Joe Calloway's book "Becoming a Category of One" Template:Collapse bottom

References