Lyrics annotation website Genius has poached The New Yorker's longtime pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, according to the New York Times.

The website, formerly known as RapGenius and originally featuring only annotated rap lyrics, welcomed Frere-Jones this week as its executive director as part of the start-up's massive expansion. The growth will continue Genius' move to annotate content in other fields, such as literature, history and others.

The start-up, based in New York City, was founded in 2009 by Yale graduates Mahbod Moghadam, Ilan Zechory and Tom Lehman.

Genius was originally designed as a forum for analyzing lyrics in hip-hop. The founders described the endeavor as "critiquing rap as poetry."

Genius, which changed its name from RapGenius in July last year, received a $15 million funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firms Andreeson Horowitz in 2012, according to Billboard.

The tech business now has $55 million in venture capital funding, with $40 million of that amount received in 2014 alone.  Moghadan has since left the company as well as its board of directors, while rapper Nas has joined as an investor.

Frere-Jones, 47, will be building a team that would help him with annotating lyrics, his main focus in his capacity, according to the New York Times report.

The music journalist said he left The New Yorker for Genius after 11 years for several reasons, among which is that he has grown weary of the rigors of his job as a music critic, reports New York magazine.

"I'll be honest. I don't want to stay up until 4 a.m. anymore at shows, and you can annotate lyrics during the day," he said.

He also disclosed some details of his job at Genius, including adding three or four new employees whose roles he said he could not easily describe. He revealed, however, that the tasks will be deeply tied to journalism.

Frere-Jones might contribute occasional articles to the New Yorker, he said. The magazine, meanwhile, told the New York Times that it will be hiring a new critic.