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Soulja Boy_百度百科

ja Boy_百度百科 网页新闻贴吧知道网盘图片视频地图文库资讯采购百科百度首页登录注册进入词条全站搜索帮助首页秒懂百科特色百科知识专题加入百科百科团队权威合作下载百科APP个人中心收藏查看我的收藏0有用+10Soulja Boy播报讨论上传视频美国歌手Soulja Boy Tell 'Em,简称Soulja Boy,是美国说唱歌手兼唱片出品人DeAndre Cortez Way的艺名。已发行3张录音室唱片以及一张独立制作的唱片。外文名Soulja Boy国    籍美国出生地伊利诺伊州芝加哥 [4]出生日期1990年7月28日星    座狮子座 [4]代表作品《Souljaboytellem. com》别    名Soulja Boy Tell 'Em职    业歌手目录1个人简介2人物事迹▪出道▪成名▪伙伴▪朋友3专辑▪个人专辑:▪合作发行4所获荣誉5人物事件个人简介播报编辑本名:DeAndre Ramone Way花名:Soulja Boy中文称呼:酱爆弟弟生日:1990年7月28日出生地:美国 伊利诺斯州 芝加哥市祖籍:美国 乔治亚州 亚特兰大市星座:狮子座身高:174cm体重:76kg婚姻状况:单身学历:高中厂牌:Collipark Records酷力公园音乐类型:Dirty South、Pop Rap、Crunk、dance-pop、snap职业:Rapper、DJ酱爆弟弟出生的那一天起,这个世界就爆掉。别人上学,他上网;同学忙着考试、他忙着编舞;隔壁戴维用修改液改作业,他用修改液画墨镜;结果哩?他就认识了钊哥人物事迹播报编辑出道出生于芝加哥,原名DeAndre Chad Ramone Way,妈妈叫他Soulja Boy,我们叫他酱爆弟弟。1995年便开始学习RAP,因为父母离异,1996年移居亚特兰大与母亲同住,从那时起他开始学习抓住节奏和舞蹈。在好友Young Kwon协助下,Soulja Boy学会如何创作与录音工程,但是没钱的压力迫使他于2004年时搬到密西西比州的贝克斯韦尔求助於父亲,Soulja Boy开始靠著电脑的无远弗届,利用自设的音乐网站宣传歌曲,创下MySpace超一千万人浏览纪录。2005年首次登台便赢得满堂喝彩,给了Soulja Boy无比信心。成功的在网络上赢得大批粉丝支持后,Soulja Boy回到亚特兰大,2007年被知名DJ/制作人Mr. Collipark发掘并签入自设厂牌Collipark Records旗下,开始走向成功。成名这位天才弟弟于2006年自创《Crank That (Soulja Boy)就酱跳》,自己架音乐网站,将歌曲一po成名,他在MYSPACE的主页 Profile创下MySpace 2500万人浏览的纪录,在3000万独立艺人当中他排名第一,其它音乐人只能望其项背,老老少少大小粉丝,有事没事都跟着跳酱爆之舞。发行《Crank That (Soulja Boy)就酱跳》单曲,一出场就先把嘻哈巨星肯伊威斯特还没坐热的冠军宝座抢下,拿下Billboard排行七周冠军。接着,歌手碧昂丝、演员山缪杰克森、女星娜塔莉波曼、NBA明星球员霍华德等人纷纷跳起他自创的「酱爆之舞」;YouTube网站上更能找到网友KUSO出来的狮子王、小熊维尼、玛丽兄弟、海绵宝宝等数不完的卡通版MV…厚,更夸张的还在后面,全美手机铃声下载第一名:酱爆弟弟;全美音乐颁奖典礼表演:酱爆弟弟。还不止酱子,除了美国,伦敦、东京、曼谷、首尔、莫斯科、奈及利亚、你说的出地名的地方,都有人上网跟着Soulja Boy大跳酱爆之舞,这个年代、大家都爆了!在08年第50届格莱美奖颁奖典礼上他的单曲Crank That获得了年度最佳Rap所唱累单曲提名,但最后输给了Kanye West和T-Pain的 "Good Life"。伙伴Arab众所周知,Soulja Boy的伙伴叫做Arab(读Ay-rab)。Arab与Soulja Boy同岁,他给Soulja Boyde特别合作的"YAHHHH"进入了Billboard Hot 100和the Billboard Pop 100排名,并在Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs排名34位,在Billboard Hot Rap Tracks排名17位。在《Souljaboytellem. com》中,有一首特别献给Arab并由Arab亲手打造的的 "Pass It to Arab"。朋友Soulja Boy这个新新天才的大热,让人不禁想起另一个比他出名更早更年轻的天才,被誉为新千年嘻哈小王子BOW WOW,令人称奇的是,Soulja Boy和Bow Wow(Bow Wow的Crank That跳的不错!),Omarion,Hurricane Chris的关系非常好~~总是看到他们一起(Soulja Boy的人缘真不错,他甚至和老一辈的50 Cent有一起进理发店的视频呢!)--- Soulja Boy甚至还参与到BOW WOW和Omarion的Face Off组合的大热单曲Girlfriend的Remix的录制中,完成了一首Bow wow & Omarion feat Soulja boy-《Girlfriend Remix》的单曲,MV中大跳酱爆舞,BOW WOW也是个酱爆舞天才,2008年,在BOW WOW新专辑《H.I.M.》中,你就会在已发布的《Marco Polo》等曲目中听到Soulja Boy那可爱的南部口音。专辑播报编辑个人专辑:Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before da Album发行时间:2007年2月19日发行地区:美国语言:英语排名:无美国录音工业联合会证明:无Soulja BoySouljaboytellem. com发行时间:2007年10月2日地区:美国语言:英语排名:第4名美国录音工业联合会证明:白金版(百万销售)介绍:在全球网友以及嘻哈迷的期待下,交由Interscope Records发行企盼许久的首张大作《Souljaboytellem. com》终于问世,专辑中的所有歌曲与制作大任皆由才刚升高一的Soulja Boy一手包办,首周以超越十一万的数量空降全美流行榜(Billboard告示牌)Top4。两度攀至冠军总计六周之久的一鸣惊人代表作"Crank That (Soulja Boy) ",以Dirty South为架构,让南岸饶舌再次於流行乐坛上风光现身;第二支蓄势待发的"Soulja Girl",利用节奏蓝调美声合音谱入增添更多舒缓动人旋律,描写Soulja Boy成名后与女孩间的关系,更不乏多数的投怀送抱;浓烈街头气息的"Let Me Get Em"以及"Pass It to Arab",同时透出Crunk律动;与好友Arab合作的"Yahhh!",绝对是能推动嘻哈派对舞池高潮的重点衬乐;回到80年代Synth-Pop气息的"Don't Get Mad",更是作为称职末曲最引人惊呼的推荐佳作。2008年将有一部他与说唱天才BOW WOW合作的尚未命名的Bow Wow & Soulja Boy Mixtape发行。专辑曲目:01. Intro02. Crank That (Soulja Boy)03. Sidekick04. Snap And Roll05. Bapes06. Let Me Get Em07. Donk08. Yahhh!09. Pass It To Arab10. Soulja Girl11. Booty Meat12. Report Card13. She Thirsty14. Don't Get Mad专辑介绍:新专辑专辑名称:iSouljaBoyTellem歌手姓名:Soulja Boy发行时间:2008-12-16发行公司:Universal专辑语种:英语专辑介绍:Product DescriptionSoulja Boy Tellem's highly anticipated follow-up to Souljboytellem. com (Collipark Music/Interscope). Soulja Boy Tell'em hit the ground running promoting his debut album which led to record setting performances for ringtones (more than 5.3 million downloads), YouTube views (over 300,000,000 views) and an incredible seven-week run at the top of the "Hot 100" chart with the Grammy-nominated single ″Crank That (Soulja Boy).Such staggering stats easily made Soulja Boy Tell'em the top new artist of 2008.Soulja Boy Tell'em follows this mega success with the highly anticipated iSouljaboytellem, produced by Soulja Boy Tell'em, with assistance from super-producer Mr. Collipark (Young Jeezy, Yin Yang Twins, Pitbull) and Polow Da Don (Ludacris, Fergie, Jamie Foxx, Ciara). The first single, "Birdwalk," follows the successful formula mined by "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," with another sure-fire infectious sing-along chant. "Birdwalk" hits the airwaves this week, with the accompanying video scheduled to debut shortly thereafter. Other stand-out tracks include "Yamaha Mama" (produced by fellow Atlanta native Polow Da Don), featuring Sean Kingston, and the street anthem "Turn My Swag On" which will be accompanied by a viral music video."I'm more than ready to release the follow-up to `souljaboytellem. com', I know my fans are ready too." comments Soulja Boy Tell'em. "I have so much more in store this time around with a shoe and clothing deal, an animated series and some special surprises I can't talk about yet. I'm going to continue to keep up the momentum through 2009, so plan on seeing me all over the internet on your favorite websites and blogs with my new videos and updates on where I'm at and what I am doing. You are not going to be able to get away from Soulja Boy Tell'em...YUUUAAAAA!"Soulja Boy Tell'em's high visibility enabled the rapper to sign a major deal with Yums Shoes to personally design his own sneakers under the company's "Block Star" line. The first line of sneakers will roll out in November, 2008, and feature a distinctive street feel with colorful graffiti art emblazoned on the soles of each sneaker. The deal also features clothing apparel specifically designed by Soulja Boy Tell'em in conjunction with Yums' designer and one of the south's biggest graffiti artists Tex. In addition, look out for an animated series created by Soulja Boy Tell'em that will be launching on his Soulja Boy Tell'em website in November.From Amazon.专辑曲目:01. Im Bout Tha Stax (Intro)02. Bird Walk03. Turn My Swag On04. Gucci Bandana (Feat. Gucci Mane And Shawty Lo)05. Eazy06. Kiss Me Thru The Phone (Feat. Sammie)07. Booty Got Swag (Donk Part 2)08. Rubber Bands09. Hey You There10. Yamaha Mama (Feat. Sean Kingston)11. Wit My Yums On12. Go Head (Feat. Juney Boondata)13. Shoppin Spree (Feat. Gucci Mane And Yo Gotti)14. Soulja Boy Tellem15. Whoop Rico (Feat. Show Stoppas)16. I Pray (Outro)合作发行■ 2007 "Supaman" (DJ Scream主发行)■ 2008 "Soulja Bow" (Bow Wow联合发行)■ 2008 "Teen of tha South" (DJ Scream主发行)■ 2008 "Training Day" (DJ Mr. Hanky & Hall A Fame ENT.主发行)■ 2008 "S.O.D. Money Gang: The Official Mixtape" (DJ Scream和DJ Spinz主发行)■ 2008“iSouljaBoyTellem”(souljaboy主发行)Soulja Boy2008年,Soulja Boy开始寻求突破,尝试着与他人进行一些合作,于是,在与同是南部说唱手且出名比他还早的少年天才Bow Wow结交后,新的Soulja Bow组合便呼之欲出了。他们推出了Get Money Niggaz、Marco Polo这两首歌,其中Marco Polo这首歌收到他们俩的歌迷的广泛欢迎,这首歌的MV在Sun Velley Beach拍摄,于2008年与歌迷见面。所获荣誉播报编辑■ 2008 最佳艺人奖(提名)■ 2008 观众选出奖 "Crank Dat Soulja Boy"(提名)格莱美奖■ 2008 最佳说唱歌曲奖 "Crank Dat Soulja Boy"(提名) [1-3]人物事件播报编辑2023年3月22日,美国证监会(SEC)向纽约曼哈顿地区法院提交诉状,宣布对Soulja Boy提出指控,指控Soulja Boy非法兜售Tronix和BitTorrent,Soulja Boy既不承认也不否认SEC的调查结果。 [5-6]新手上路成长任务编辑入门编辑规则本人编辑我有疑问内容质疑在线客服官方贴吧意见反馈投诉建议举报不良信息未通过词条申诉投诉侵权信息封禁查询与解封©2024 Baidu 使用百度前必读 | 百科协议 | 隐私政策 | 百度百科合作平台 | 京ICP证030173号 京公网安备110000020000

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Soulja Boy Is the Father of Modern Rap Music | Complex

ja Boy Is the Father of Modern Rap Music | Complexhamburger menuComplex Main Logomusicstylepop Culturesportslifesneakersshows Complex Volume Search Icon Facebook Navigation Icon Twitter Navigation IconWhatsApp iconInstagram Navigation IconYoutube Navigation IconSnapchat Navigation IconTikTok Navigation Icon Close Icon Complex Main LogoChannelsmusicstylepop Culturesportslifesneakerspigeons & planesshowsvolumepodcastsnewslettersStream onYoutube logo nav bar 0youtubeTwitch logotwitchNetflix logonetflixHulu logohuluRoku logorokuCrackle LogoCrackleRedBox LogoRedBoxTubi logotubiFollow OnFacebook logofacebookTwitter Navigation IconxInstagram Navigation IconinstagramSnapchat Navigation IconsnapchatTikTok Navigation IcontiktokWhatsApp iconwhatsappRead onapple newsFlipboard logo nav bar 1flipboardRSS feed iconrss feedComplex SitescomplexconcomplexlandWork with uscareersadvertisecontact usComplex Globalunited statescanadaunited kingdomaustralianetherlandsphilippinescomplex chinesetermsterms of useprivacyprivacy policycookie settingscookie settingsca privacycalifornia privacysite mapsite mappublic noticepublic noticeaccessibility statementaccessibility statementCOMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.© Complex Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.Complex.com is a part ofComplex Networks logoSoulja Boy Is the Father of Modern Rap MusicThe first web-native rap superstar returns with a new album.ByDrew MillardPhotography By Nikko La MereMar 18, 2016FacebookTwitterMailLinkCOMMENTNone

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When I enter the studio, the Artist’s face is shrouded in darkness. He’s in the booth, blunt in one hand, 7-Eleven cup in the other. He’s listening to playback of himself rapping over spacey synths and drum patterns that could be confused with howitzer discharge.He listens to the song and picks up where he left off, freestyling line by line, discarding what he doesn’t need and keeping what he does. Every lyric earns its own accompanying dance move, seemingly composed on the fly but never anything less than casually intricate.Naturally, the Artist is not alone. On one side is Agoff, a teen of a 20-something with an eraserhead haircut. On the other, King Reefa, a tall, lanky fellow with braids and a deep Tennessee accent. His publicist, tattoo artist, and little brother are also on hand, not doing much of anything. These are his friends and this is his studio session, but the Artist is deeply alone, a Gatsby-figure, holding court in shadowy recording studios, instead of West Egg.He is king. He is jester. He is too perfect and too strange to exist. His name is Soulja Boy, and he has so much more he would like to give to the world.I ask the Artist how he views his career. His response is simple. “I’m a legend, man.”***“You ain’t ready for this,” Soulja Boy tells me. He’s wrapped in a tight white t-shirt, elegantly ripped Robin’s Jeans, and a small, tasteful chain. His blunt, thick and taut, resembles a pterodactyl’s leg in a land before man, modernity, and swag. We’re sitting in a Burbank studio, a few blocks from the Disney and Warner Brothers lots. I tell him I was born ready.“We gon’ start it off like this. Bam!” he says, and begins rattling off his favorite anime films. “Naruto. Cowboy Bebop. Death Note.Full Metal Alchemist. Akira.” In Japan, there’s a word for rabid anime fans: otaku. I am not even a tenth the otaku that Soulja Boy is. “Death Note, that’s my favorite one. You ever seen it?”“No,” I say, meekly. I’m certain that Soulja Boy is about to be upset with me pretending I was born ready for this. I was in no way, shape, or form ready to talk about anime with Soulja Boy. I have failed myself. More gallingly, I have failed Soulja Boy.***Soulja Boy is a genius, and the chief manifestation of his genius is his ability to solve problems that most people don’t even realize they have. He’s naturally intelligent and charismatic, and I have no doubt that if he’d picked up programming instead of music you’d be reading this on a SouljaPhone or SouljaPad right now.Like any visionary, he’s a charming mixture of hustler and huckster, and for every successful idea he’s had, there have been several that have tanked. A perusal of the past decade in Soulja Boy reveals a roadmap for any musician who wants to make money after the Internet sent the music industry as we know it into a tailspin. One of hip-hop’s greatest trolls, he’s beefed with everyone from the entire U.S. Army to Ice-T, and once claimed to have made his most famous song, “Crank Dat,” in 10 minutes. He worked with Lil B, Odd Future, Chief Keef, Riff Raff, and Migos way before they were big, and he worked with Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Andrew W.K. well after they were household names. As we look back at the past decade in rap’s various microgenres—ringtone rap, bop music, cloud rap, trap rap, Vine rap, and perhaps half a dozen others—it seems as if many of them sprang directly forth from Soulja Boy’s ribs. “Every young n—ga that come into the game, you can ask him, ‘Who did this shit first?’ And they’ll say, ‘Soulja boy,” he says. “Period.’”

"I’m a legend, man."

Still, it would be folly not to give Soulja Boy credit as an artist. The music Soulja Boy made during a creatively fertile circa-2010 run of recordings—including his album The DeAndre Way (which he calls “one of my best bodies of art”), the Lil B collaboration Pretty Boy Millionaires, the Young L collaboration Mario and Domo vs. the World, and his solo mixtapes 1Up, The Last Crown, Skate Boy, and Juice—offer an eclectic vision of hip-hop that is alternatively hazy, hard, loose, precise, intentionally blown-out and jagged, or Auto-Tune-drenched and symphonic. Listening to them now, they sound an awful lot like prototypes of the warped hip-hop underground of 2016, as represented by rappers such as Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and the Awful Records collective.But for all that Soulja Boy has given to this world, his genius is far too often only understood in retrospect. When I ask him if he feels like he’s gotten the credit he deserves, he responds immediately: “Hell nah!” Still, he does not care about credit for his innovations as much as he cares about the fact that he’s earned a healthy chunk of change in his career, and that money allows him the freedom to keep innovating. “Everybody’s doing what I was doing 10 years ago,” he tells me. “So I’m worried about the thing they’re all going to be doing 10 years from now.”***

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“Ay y’all, hop off the WiFi!” Soulja Boy tells no one in particular. He’s in the studio, sitting at his MacBook, listening to beats, idly freestyling under his breath. He scrolls, he clicks, he types. He sends emails, he flicks through iTunes, he smokes a blunt that someone else has rolled for him. None of this is particularly interesting on its own, but knowing that Soulja Boy has gotten rich and famous simply by sitting at his computer, performing these basic actions, feels revelatory. Watching Soulja Boy use the Internet is like watching Ron Jeremy’s penis get an erection. “I was always on computers,” he says, adding somewhat cryptically, “ever since I could get on computers.”“When I was like five or six, I used to play piano,” he says. “I didn’t even know how to read music. I sounded like Beethoven but I didn’t know shit—I just knew what sounded good. If I hit a fucked-up key, I wouldn’t press it no more.” That Soulja Boy, as a child, taught himself to play piano through trial and error should be of surprise to no one: His entire career has been an exercise in throwing anything and everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.Soulja Boy first rose to prominence in the mid-2000s, a time before the Internet as we know it existed. Perhaps the first web-native rap star, Soulja quickly became a master of using all of the nascent tools at his disposal to turn his art into a brand, then monetize that brand with more flair and less shame than any musician ever, save for perhaps Gene Simmons. “I’ve been using the Internet ever since I made my first song,” he tells me. “Y’all know the rest.”In case you do not: According to a 2014 Forbes profile, a then-teenaged Soulja would upload his own songs to file sharing services such as LimeWire and Kazaa, ensuring that scores of illegal music pirates would listen to his music by messing with the tracks’ metadata to make it look like they weren’t Soulja Boy songs at all, but instead tracks by famous musicians. He learned to work the systems of such sites as SoundClick and MySpace, where he began to rack up friends at a frenzied pace. “I had 270,000 friends and I was still in the hood,” he says.In June of 2006, he penned his own Wikipedia page, which promised, “As of now Soulja Boy is sure to land a [record] deal soon.” Though the article was marked by the site’s admins as a candidate for speedy deletion because it did not “credibly indicate the importance or significance of the subject,” it was less than a year later that his single “Crank Dat” became a viral smash, its simple lyrics and complicated dance Supermanning its way into the hearts of mainstream America. In September 2007, the track hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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A month later, his debut album, souljaboytellem.com, was released. In addition to “Crank Dat,” it included tracks such as “Sidekick,” which was about T-Mobile Sidekicks; “Bapes,” which was about Bathing Ape clothing; “YAHH,” which was about screaming the word “YAHH” at people; as well as “Donk” and “Booty Meat,” which were both about asses. Though the record eventually went platinum, its existence served as a thorn in the side of the hip-hop establishment.souljaboytellem.com was released into a world where genre lines were drawn in Sharpie, not the watercolors of today. Few casual music listeners had the varied sonic palette to understand that even if a rap song scans as  silly and stupid, its creator could still be extremely savvy and smart. What’s more, the idea of “underground hip-hop” had less to do with the DIY spirit and chaotic pace of artists such as Odd Future, Lil B, and Soulja himself, and more with a strict set of sonic and ideological guidelines, as illustrated by the output of such labels as Def Jux in New York, Stones Throw in Los Angeles, and Rhymesayers in the Twin Cities. This type of underground rap good, even great, it’s just that its practitioners took pains to express their skills, ideologies, and influences in ways that often prohibited the actual music from being particularly enjoyable.Meanwhile, mainstream hip-hop was dominated by an attitude perhaps best expressed by Mims in his inescapable smash “This Is Why I’m Hot”: This is why I’m hot/I don't gotta rap/I can sell a mill sayin nothin’ on the track. Which is to say: so-called “lyrical” rap was in decline, much to the chagrin of many pillars of the genre, who saw the traditional systems of hip-hop eroding at the hands of catchphrases, easy hooks that could be compressed into bite-sized ringtones, and the Internet. Soulja Boy, with his bright smile, his name written on his glasses in white-out, his album title that was also a website, and his almost punkish disdain for anything beyond the primacy of the beat and the hook, became Public Enemy Number One.At the age of 17, Soulja faced accusations that he’d ruined hip-hop, as if he was the first person to ever make frivolous rap tracks, or as if hip-hop’s foundation was so tenuous that even the breeze created by the flutter of millions of teens cranking dat might reduce it to rubble. In this way, he is a Christlike figure for Internet rappers: he suffered so that those who came after him might be free to follow their own singular muses, unbound to such archaic constraints as song structure and lyricism in service of a greater artistic vision.***

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These days it’s clear that Soulja Boy never had anything to apologize for. But regardless, he would like to correct the misconception that he’s not a very good rapper, both to the world through his musical output, as well as to me, right here, at this very moment.“I can really freestyle, man,” he says to me, before playing a thundering, self-produced beat over the studio speakers. It sounds like some unexpected midpoint halfway between Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” and Run-DMC’s “My Adidas.” As I look up from writing a note into my phone, I see Soulja Boy’s face inches from mine, grinning like a maniac as he nods his head in time with the beat. He freestyles for five minutes, incorporating my name as well as objects in the studio into his rhymes as a way to prove he’s not just rapping a pre-written verse, periodically putting his hand on my shoulder as if to focus my attention on him and him alone.And so, I would like to take this moment to say that I have seen Soulja Boy freestyle, and it was pretty good. No one is allowed to say he’s a bad rapper ever again.***“The rap game fucked up,” Soulja Boy tells me. “People are still trying to sell 10 million albums, but that shit’s over with. But everything’s going to balance out. You just got to give it time.” When Soulja says things like this, he sounds less like a 25-year-old rapper with tattoos on his face and more like a venture capitalist making market projections.In a sense, the triumph of Soulja Boy is as much a story of business successes as it is one of artistic coups. As the concept of the album fell into disarray and hip-hop’s primary mode of income vanished, Soulja worked to exponentially expand upon the ways in which a rapper could get paid. It’s not that Soulja only did the stuff that no one else was doing. Instead, he did everything, some of which happened to be what no one else was doing.

“You can’t pick what goes viral And I ain’t going to sit around and wait. I just create.”

“I did so much stuff bro,” he says, and he means it. Stuff like rapping phone numbers in songs, and rigging it so when you called the number in that song, you would hear an ad. This is a real thing that Soulja Boy Did, in on his inescapable hit “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.” “I was getting checks for three years straight,” he says of the ploy, which he claims at one point was netting him $50,000 a month. Throughout the years he’s also hawked hoverboards (to disastrous effect), created a short-lived animated series about himself co-starring the guy who played Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and even charged people money to have him follow them on Twitter.Then there was Soulja Boy: The Movie, a direct-to-DVD documentary about Soulja Boy directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Peter Spirer. It is a deeply strange and mesmerizing film, showcasing the build-up to Soulja’s criminally underrated third album, The DeAndre Way. In the film, Soulja moonwalks on a pile of cash, jumps fully clothed into a bathtub of water, sports a chain with a piece that is also a diamond-encrusted remote-controlled car, gets robbed by someone on his own label, and has a falling-out with his best friend Arab. It is narrated entirely through YouTube comments. I don’t think I could give any context to this stuff if I tried, as the movie works best as a jumble of unpredictable moments, and is best consumed while heroically stoned. When I bring the film up to him, he asks what I think of it.“I think it’s amazing,” I say.“Swag,” he responds.***

None

These days, Soulja’s extramusical hustles are plentiful still. He is currently the purveyor of light-up shoes called SBeezy Lights, runs a line of hookah pens, and owns a stake in the well-known streetwear brand BLVD Supply. On top of that, he is a subject of VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop, though he says he’s looking to parlay his renown as a highlight of the show’s ensemble cast  into getting his own series. He’s also working on new music with SODMG, always doing shows, still producing beats for other artists, and still hunting out new talent and new sounds—he recently worked with ascendant Atlanta upstart Lil Yachty to release “Snapchat.”Earlier this week Soulja released an album, titled Stacks on Deck. Its cover features Soulja sitting on a gargantuan pile of money. It features the track I watched him record, now titled “Benihana.” Its hook goes, “I’m back in the kitchen huh, still water whippin’ huh,” and in its own way, it expresses what seems to be the governing philosophy of Soulja Boy: That if you keep making stuff, eventually some of that stuff will stick. It’s less of an exercise in innate brilliance, and more of a testament to the power of constant grinding, living proof that there’s some truth to the adage, the harder I work, the luckier I get.“I don’t give a fuck if I don’t sell another album,” Soulja says. “Something’s gonna pop. Some money’s gonna be made.”Still, Soulja Boy understands that this type of hustling only works if there’s something behind it backing it up. In order to make money off of music even in unconventional ways, there has to some smattering of brilliance, intelligence, talent, authenticity—or at least a quality product—shining through.So Soulja Boy keeps rapping, keeps releasing music at a frantic pace, knowing that eventually he will hit paydirt and release something that reminds the world why they fell in love with him in the first place. “You can’t pick what goes viral,” he says, “And I ain’t going to sit around and wait. I just create.”

Soulja BoyFeaturesSHARE THIS STORYFacebookTwitterMailLinkComplex MusicNewsletterStay ready. The playlists, good reads and video interviews you need—delivered every week.By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to ourTerms of Service and Privacy PolicySign UpThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy PolicyandTerms of Serviceapply.Latest in MusicThe Miami Dolphins star wide receiver said he still doesn't know the full story behind the blaze. MUSIC | BY JOSE MARTINEZRick Ross Addresses Posting Aftermath of Neighbor Tyreek Hill's Florida Mansion Fire on Social MediaHov and Dame, alongside Kareem "Biggs" Burke, founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 but disbanded in 2004. MUSIC | BY MARK ELIBERTSteve Stoute Talks Jay-Z and Dame Dash Fallout, Dame Says He 'Had to Smack the Sh*t' Out of Stoute 'A Couple Years Ago'Budden clarified that his "bad times ahead" predictions aren't just about Cardi B and the so-called "girl rapper wave," but the industry at large. MUSIC | BY JAELANI TURNER-WILLIAMSJoe Budden Says Future Is Dire for Hip-Hop Artists and 'All of the Musicians Are Broke' or Will Be Very SoonBefore Drake drops his highly anticipated remix of 4Batz’s “Act ii: Date @ 8,” we ranked his best remixes with rising stars through the years. MUSIC | BY JORDAN ROSERanking Drake’s Best Remixes With Rising ArtistsHughley recalled meeting up with Ye after the artist took issue with the comedian calling him a "stalker" over his public efforts to get back with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. POP CULTURE | BY JAELANI TURNER-WILLIAMSD.L. Hughley Reflects on ‘Heated’ Argument With Kanye Over Kim K. ‘Stalker’ Comment: ‘I’ll Have You Killed’Ja Rule spoke briefly on 'Piers Morgan Uncensored' about the sexual assault lawsuits Diddy faces. MUSIC | BY JAELANI TURNER-WILLIAMSJa Rule Does the Opposite of 50 Cent and Sends Diddy Supportive Message Amid Assault Lawsuits: 'I Wish Him Luck'The upcoming series sees the comedian and 'Poor Things' actor trying to "maintain being truthful on camera." POP CULTURE | BY TRACE WILLIAM COWENTyler, the Creator Makes a Cameo in HBO's Presumably Awesome 'Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show'This is his first sighting in Los Angeles since he was hit with the lawsuits. POP CULTURE | BY JOE PRICEDiddy Spotted Getting Drinks With His Sons Amid Multiple Sexual Assault LawsuitsThe collaboration marks the first time the London-based fashion house has worked with a musician for its campaigns. MUSIC | BY ALEX OCHOBlackpink’s Jisoo Revealed as the Face of Self-Portrait’s Spring/Summer 2024 CollectionThis pastor is bringing the words of Gloria Hallelujah Woods to his congregation. MUSIC | BY JAELANI TURNER-WILLIAMSBaltimore Pastor Praises ‘New Gospel Artist’ GloRilla While Using “Tomorrow” Lyrics in His SermonLOAD MORE STOR

Soulja Boy | Biography, Music & News | Billboard

Soulja Boy | Biography, Music & News | Billboard

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Crank That (Soulja Boy)

Soulja Boy Tell'em

07.28.07

1

7 WKS

09.15.07

32

Kiss Me Thru The Phone

Soulja Boy Tell 'em Featuring Sammie

01.10.09

3

12 Wks

04.04.09

27

Turn My Swag On

Soulja Boy Tell'em

03.21.09

19

12 Wks

05.16.09

20

Swing

Savage Featuring Soulja Boy Tell'em

08.16.08

45

12 Wks

10.04.08

20

Pretty Boy Swag

Soulja Boy Tell'em

07.03.10

34

12 Wks

08.21.10

16

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The Influencer: A Decade of Soulja Boy | Pitchfork

Influencer: A Decade of Soulja Boy | PitchforkSkip to main contentOpen Navigation MenuMenuStory SavedFind anything you save across the site in your account Close AlertNewsletterSearchSearchNewsReviewsBest New MusicFeaturesListsThe PitchVideoPodcastFestivalOpen Navigation MenuMenuStory SavedFind anything you save across the site in your account Close AlertNewsletterSearchSearchLongformThe Influencer: A Decade of Soulja BoyEver since he uploaded his first tracks to the Internet in the summer of 2005, Soulja Boy has come to represent a type of viral creativity that is unique to our digital era. By Meaghan Garvey.By Meaghan GarveyJuly 9, 2015FacebookXFacebookXArticle: The Influencer: A Decade of Soulja Boyby Meaghan GarveyJuly 9, 2015Soulja Boy: "First Day of School" (via SoundCloud)Influence is a strange and powerful thing in 2015. As it’s become one of our foremost cultural ideals, it now functions as something of a protective shield against critique. While criticism continues to evolve towards an approach that considers a work’s sociocultural impact alongside its perceived artistry, influence has become inherently valuable in its own right—regardless of what that influence actually entails, more is self-evidently better. So artists of great influence feel increasingly immune to criticism on moral or aesthetic terms; in the same way that clickbait almost always commands the most traffic, being “influential” tends to wield far more power than being “good.” Whether this is democratic or soul-crushing depends on where you’re standing.One recent example of influence as the ultimate 21st century ideal involved the art world clamoring over Kim Kardashian’s selfie anthology with a fervency that often rang fake-deep. Thing is, there’s no need to paint Kim as an artistic genius to acknowledge her very real cultural contributions. The past decade has seen a slow, begrudging acceptance of Kim as more than a sexual object or harbinger of the death of culture, but instead, as someone who is savvy, self-starting, and able to direct the collective dialogue—someone who just gets it, whatever “it” may be. Uncoincidentally, that shift lines up with the rise of social media and our expanding obsession with DIY networking, branding, and self-actualization.But back when the Kardashian multimedia empire was barely a blip, Soulja Boy represented this idea of untouchable influence—of virality above all else—more than any other working artist. Fittingly enough, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”’ first season hit the air in 2007, the same year “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”, the debut single from the 16-year-old born DeAndre Cortez Way, spent seven weeks atop the Hot 100. Kim’s infamous sex tape leaked that year, too, and while people hated her back then, Soulja Boy seemed to incite a particularly intense ire within certain listeners and critics.Soulja Boy: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" (via SoundCloud)“If you’re seeking a circle of hell lower than the one in which ‘Crank That’ is ubiquitous, listen to his entire album,” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Willman in a list that ranked Soulja’s full-length debut, souljaboytellem.com, as the worst album of 2007. On his Urban Legend mixtape the following year, then-50-year-old “Cop Killer” provocateur turned “Law & Order” stooge Ice-T noted: “Fuck Soulja Boy. Eat a dick. You singlehandedly ruined hip-hop.” He also threatened to punch Soulja in the face.Soulja’s response, uploaded straight to YouTube, was the first major indication that he was more than some random kid who could turn a thinly-veiled metaphor about ejaculative strategy into a nationwide smash. He landed some well-placed jabs: “You was born before the Internet was created! How the fuck did you even find me?” Then his face grew serious. “Think about it in my shoes. This time last year I was poor as fuck. I was in the ghetto. Nigga, I worked to get this—I’m 17 years old! You should be congratulating me!” It was a watershed moment, an unofficial-but-official changing of the guard. Even Kanye, another guy who leveraged the power of the Internet early on, weighed in on the dust-up on his blog: “He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song… If that ain’t Hip Hop then what is?”Soulja’s meteoric rise, from a bored teen in Batesville, Mississippi to the most relevant rapper alive, represented not just the first wholly Internet-bred megastar, but the first time the transition from nobody to hip-hop star was publicly documented every step of the way. We are numb to this phenomenon now, having watched it play out time and time again: Lil B, Odd Future, Chief Keef, Mac Miller, Bobby Shmurda. (Often, these DIY all-stars have relied on direct assists from Soulja himself.)But Soulja wasn’t just facilitated by the Internet—he was the Internet. His was the ultimate representation of a brain that had grown up and found solace online: restless, resourceful, chameleonic, quick-witted, with zero patience for anyone unable to keep up. His digital strategy a decade ago, back when he uploaded his first song in the summer of 2005, is our often frustrating current reality: flood the system, prioritize brand recognition and scalability, don’t sweat the details. Ours is not the age of the virtuoso; it is the age of the hustler, the finesser, the strategist. So while Soulja may not be exceptionally “gifted” in a traditional sense, his unflappable self-possession (often verging on shamelessness) and digital self-actualization requires both working hard and working smart—a very real kind of 21st century genius. And though his reign of influence has faded significantly in the past few years, it’s only because culture finally caught up to him.Soulja Boy was a master of resourceful virality, turning seemingly inconsequential bursts of creativity into something inescapable. It’s practically impossible to think about a platform like Vine existing at all without his influence.Photo by Dan MonickEven before “Crank That”—before the digital and ringtone sales records, the Grammy nomination, the conversations everyone hoped to avoid with their parents as to what “Superman that ho” really meant—Soulja was building a minor DIY empire on networks like SoundClick, MySpace, and Bebo (aka Blog Early, Blog Often). He’d often upload his own music to P2P programs like LimeWire tagged with huge names like Michael Jackson, gate-crashing unsuspecting desktops like the crunkest of Trojan horses. Though much of his early web presence has been wiped, his original SoundClick account, registered on July 11, 2005, remains preserved in digital amber, complete with 109 songs still streaming. The music-based social network, which was launched in 1997 and is somehow chugging along today, offered streaming and downloads, and had a profit-sharing margin that would make Tidal’s founders weep from spite: Track downloads cost a dollar apiece and were split 50/50 between the site and the artists. At one point, according to a 2010 interview with The Wall St. Journal, Soulja was averaging 19,000 downloads—$9,500—a day. Four tracks are still available for sale, including the Travis Barker remix of “Crank That”, via an ancient-looking PayPal setup that I am currently too afraid to investigate further.The earliest track on Soulja’s SoundClick was “Leap Frog”, a chintzy but promising dance instructional, made at his dad’s house with a bootlegged demo version of Fruity Loops. He then uploaded some Three 6 Mafia homages and lots of snap tracks—a style he absorbed while visiting his mom in Atlanta in 2005—including web hits “Booty Meat” and “Doo Doo Head”. (According to 15-year-old Soulja’s own edits of his Wikipedia page in 2006, this was around the time he met an Atlanta musician named Young Kwon, who would become Soulja’s first victim of what can be oversimplified as swagger-jacking—more on that later.)Soulja Boy: "Booty Meat" (via SoundCloud)The SoundClick profile also introduced Soulja’s integrated, multi-platform branding strategy. Listed plainly at the top of his artist page is his cell phone number, Blackberry, Sidekick LX, iChat, and Xbox Live GamerTag information. There are links to his merch site, YouTube, Wikipedia, and of course, to souljaboytellem.com, taking Houston self-promoter Mike Jones’ approach and sprinting with it. Each track is prefaced with instructions for purchasing ringtones (“Text SB21 to 30303 for Soulja Girl Ringtone!!!”) along with a GIF of a tiny, 3D-rendered Soulja, bedecked in his own T-shirt and signature glasses, thrusting the souljaboytellem.com CD towards you—it channels the Dancing Baby, by some accounts the first-ever Internet meme.The central tenet of meme culture is participation. Silly or not, memes are communal creative outlets that are shared, reproduced, and riffed on. Soulja’s trademark dances created a similar network (as did his eagerness to engage with fans in a nascent Twitter era). The different variations of “Crank That” that emerged on YouTube as essentially viral remixes—Crank That Batman, Spongebob, Jump Rope, Robocop—allowed his audience to participate in his self-made mythos and created a real community. The official “Crank That” video is a self-contained representation of the whole phenomenon. Much of the video is viewed through the lens of a laptop or phone screen—a viral video about the process of virality. It’s got it all: brand recognition via Soulja’s trademark glasses; interactive dance moves; slapstick humor; and demonstration of its own popularity, showing us exactly what we are missing out on if we do not get behind this juggernaut. It’s brilliant.One of the most common tropes among popular memes is an aesthetic or subject matter that is flawed, goofy, purposefully amateur. Soulja’s homemade material, and even some of his album cuts, were pointedly simple and charming in the same way. He was a regular dude from the hood who worked at Burger King until it conflicted with his MySpace-organized tour schedule, and his songs centered around the mundane: inside jokes with friends, idiosyncratic catchphrases, high school drama, or just, “Hey, watch me do this thing!” Like the thousands of regular kids who’ve parlayed a few seconds of small-town boredom into Vine or Instagram fame, Soulja was a master of resourceful virality, turning seemingly inconsequential bursts of creativity into something inescapable—something you loved even if you couldn’t articulate why. It’s practically impossible to think about a platform like Vine, and the many rap and dance micro-trends it’s facilitated, existing at all without Soulja’s influence. (Naturally, his own Vine account remains a goldmine.)Soulja harnessed the power of hate early, too, capitalizing gleefully off the culture of digital reaction that has become today’s thinkpiece economy. He wasn’t coy about it, either. One of my personal favorite Soulja tracks is “I Know You Hate Me”, a snotty but realistic crunk anthem from 2008’s The Teen of the South. That tape opens with a sampled conversation between the hosts of MTV’s Mixtape Monday show as they engage in a heated debate as to whether Soulja deserves the final spot on their list of the 10 hottest rappers in the game. They uniformly laugh off his lyrics, but cannot deny his influence. Ultimately, he doesn’t make the cut, but Soulja still includes the exchange in full, insults and all, as if to say: “I do not care why I’m in the conversation. I’m in the conversation, and thus, I win.”Often, when we talk about Soulja Boy, we are not talking about his music at all (though I still hear “Crank That” and “Turn My Swag On” playing in public on an improbably regular basis). It’s not because his music is lacking in quality, though there is a daunting amount to sift through: around 40 mixtapes, three major-label albums, a handful of EPs, and countless loosies. But there’s a fluidity to his massive discography, an essential formlessness that makes it difficult to consider en masse. It’s easier to break it down into miniature eras, each with their own self-contained set of influences.The “Crank That” era was clearly indebted to Atlanta’s crunk and snap movements and paralleled the rise and fall of the ringtone industry, which peaked in the U.S. in 2007 with $714 million in sales. The following year, Soulja’s sophomore album iSouljaBoyTellem took the steel-drum snap of his debut in a poppier direction, spawning his second and third million-selling singles. The DeAndre Way, his third and best album, perfected this pop formula but sold poorly upon its release in 2010—only moving 13,360 copies in its first week—as the record industry steadily tanked.The balance was beginning to shift: For the first time in his career, Soulja’s power of influence wavered. But on the mixtape circuit, he had already found a fresh angle in the form of his new best friend and creative soul mate, Lil B. The Based God was the clear inspiration for The DeAndre Way’s biggest hit, “Pretty Boy Swag”, but the overt mimicry started earlier in 2010, on the Cookin Soulja Boy tape. Months later, the two dropped a joint tape, Pretty Boy Millionaires; the project remains a standout in both of their catalogs and kicked off a phase in which Soulja released some of the best music of his career. (It also spawned a straight-to-Tumblr loosie, “Kim Kardashian,” in honor of his kindred spirit.)From Pretty Boy Millionaires to early 2012’s Mario & Domo Vs The World with the Pack’s Young L, Soulja ripped off Lil B wholesale. But it worked, occasionally better than Lil B’s own projects of that time. The 2011 tape Juice introduced “Zan With That Lean”, laying the foundation for Chicago’s hypercolor bop movement. The Bernard Arnault EP, 21 EP, and his most consistent tape, Skate Boy, remain wildly underrated, while mainstream rap is still catching up to the blown-out electronic experiments of Mario & Domo.Soulja Boy and Young L: "All Gold Everything" (via SoundCloud)There’s an argument to be made that Lil B’s influence has been just as powerful as Soulja’s—maybe even more. And oddly enough, B is currently permeating culture like never before. For one week in May, he was the most powerful rapper in the world, for entirely non-musical reasons. After he imposed a curse on Houston Rockets star James Harden for allegedly stealing his signature cooking dance, the cultural response was surreal—the most bizarre intersection of sports, rap, and meme culture I can remember. But though Lil B’s legacy has indelibly altered underground rap over the last few years, his altruistic value system departs significantly from America’s, whereas Soulja’s mirrors it exactly. Lil B may have been the hero we needed, but Soulja is the one we deserve.The most persistent critique of Soulja has involved his habit of shamelessly pilfering ideas and styles from less-established peers. He’s absorbed the Atlanta trap stylings of Gucci Mane and Shawty Lo, the West Coast DIY of Lil B and Tyler, the Creator, and most recently cycled back to Atlanta to court the affections of Migos. He briefly corralled Chief Keef and Riff Raff into his SODMG label, before they wisely saw the light. Lately, he’s been getting cozy with Houston’s Sauce Walka, a rising star who has rejected similar advances from Houston fetishist Drake.Yet while Soulja is belittled for such swag absorption, Drake is praised for leveraging his almighty co-sign to become rap’s most important A&R—a practice that lies somewhere between commendable and parasitic. Sure, it provides opportunities for lesser-known artists, but it’s ultimately self-serving: collecting cool points for being ahead of the curve and establishing a hierarchy of power. In fact, Drake’s done this to Soulja himself. In late 2013, Drizzy uploaded a triumphant loosie entitled “We Made It Freestyle”, featuring Soulja, to SoundCloud. The song exploded, and rap blogs claimed it put Soulja back on the map. But really, this was Drake using Soulja to get ahead, not the other way around; the original had appeared on Soulja’s The King mixtape earlier that year. It wasn’t the first time he had borrowed from Soulja, either: “Miss Me”, off Drake’s debut album, recycled a full two-bar intro from “Whas Hannenin”, one of Soulja’s earliest hits.Drake: "We Made It Freestyle" [ft. Soulja Boy] (via SoundCloud)Soulja’s relationship with Migos’ “Versace” represents an even more convoluted cycle of influence. The song’s Zaytoven beat was originally for a Lil B-inspired Soulja Boy song called “Teach Me How To Cook: OMG Part 2” that appeared online as early as summer 2011 and went largely unnoticed amist the online churn. By the time “Versace” appeared on Migos’ YRN tape in 2013, Soulja’s version may as well have never existed. Perhaps even Soulja himself forgot about it, as he went on to release his own “Versace (Remix)”, making no mention of his original. Which is fair enough: “Ain’t no fuckin’ rules to this shit,” Kanye emphasized in his defense of Soulja seven years ago, and as such, whoever’s got the juice has the freedom to call the shots. But this peculiar chain of influence shows how Soulja is more than a mere copy-cat. At his core, he’s a cultural conduit—a lightning rod through which trends and ideas pass. It is a perpetual current that never rests within him for too long, forever on its way in or out.Soulja’s cycle rarely grew static until late 2012, when his mixtape output began to grind into dull monotony. The increasing ubiquity of social media allowed other artists to latch onto his incessant, multi-platform digital hustle, and the Lil B act had worn out its welcome. He seemed to be dealing with some glaring substance abuse issues to boot, mostly regarding lean. His music grew sloppy, even by his own loose standards, and his web presence became visibly desperate. He began selling Twitter interactions on his website: $2 for a follow, $3 for a shout-out, $10 to appear on the front page. Today, he’s selling $1,500 Soulja Boy-branded hoverboards—the same ones you can catch him riding all throughout his Instagram.There’s something strange about Soulja’s Instagram presence I’ve been stuck on for years. It’s mostly filled with self-portraits—usually in his L.A. mansion, lounging poolside, or posing by some expensive new toy—which in itself isn’t too unusual. But while many of these photos seem to be taken by an assistant, they often feel uncannily solitary—a king surveying his domain from some lofty turret, triumphant yet unshakably melancholy, wondering why he feels so alone. Over the years, Soulja has made his home in Chicago, Atlanta, Mississippi, and now L.A., but he never really felt like he was from those locales. He’s always seemed most comfortable on the Internet, a place as expansive and potentially lonely as outer space.Soulja Boy: "Turn My Swag On (A Cappella)" (via SoundCloud)Around 2011, Soulja got a tiny white puppy, the kind of precious, nervous creature a Real Housewife of Wherever might collect. For weeks, the pet became the focal point of his Instagram. Soulja would refer to him as “lil bro,” and they were instantly attached at the hip. Then, the dog disappeared. I would regularly check in, hoping for a return; maybe one of Soulja’s friends was taking care of him for a bit. But, no puppy. I began to wonder not just about the dog’s well-being, but about Soulja’s infinitely variable existence. A guy who is formless by nature could never sustain anything forever, could he? Three days ago, Soulja posted a photo of a brand new puppy—black, this time—taken from high atop his glowing hoverboard.TagsLil BSoulja BoyRapExperimentalRead MoreNewsVampire Weekend Announce Tour, Share Videos for New SongsBy Matthew StraussNews21 Savage Announces Spring 2024 North American TourBy Matthew StraussThe PitchVince Staples Turns Rap Stardom Anxieties Into Comedy on The Vince Staples ShowBy Alphonse PierreThe PitchListen to Balenci02’s “Trending”: The OnesBy Alphonse PierreNewsNick Cave & the Bad Seeds Announce New Album Wild God, Share SongBy Jazz MonroeNewsKiller Mike Shares Statement After Being Arrested at 2024 GrammysBy Nina CorcoranNewsDiiv Announce 2024 Tour, Share New Video for “Brown Paper Bag” Starring Fred DurstBy Nina CorcoranNewsKanye West and Ty Dolla $ign Release New Album Vultures 1By Matthew StraussThe most trusted voice in musicInstagramXFacebookYouTubeTiktokMore From PitchforkVideoArtistsLists & GuidesPodcastMastheadEventsPitchfork Music Festival ChicagoPitchfork Music Festival LondonPitchfork Music Festival ParisPitchfork Music Festival BerlinPitchfork Music Festival CDMXAll EventsUser AgreementPrivacy Policy & Cookie StatementYour California Privacy RightsNewsletterRSS FeedsContactAccessibility HelpAdvertisingDo Not Sell My Personal Info© 2024 Condé Nast. 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Soulja Boy - Albums, Songs, and News | Pitchfork

ja Boy - Albums, Songs, and News | Pitchfork

Skip to contentSearch queryAll ResultsPitchfork is the most trusted voice in music.HomeNewsReviewsAlbumsTracksSunday Reviews8.0+ ReviewsReviews ExplorerBest New MusicFeaturesLists & GuidesLongformRisingPhoto GalleriesThe PitchVideoOver/UnderLiner NotesUnder the InfluencesOn the RecordsCritical BreakthroughsNewsletterAdvertisingMastheadCareersContactAccessibility HelpMore PitchforkPitchfork Music Festival ChicagoPitchfork Music Festival LondonPitchfork Music Festival ParisPitchfork Music Festival BerlinPitchfork Music Festival CDMXPitchfork RadioPodcastHome NewsReviewsBest New MusicFeaturesListsThe PitchVideoPodcastFestivalToggle main navigation menuOpen search moduleExpand audio playerHome NewsReviewsBest New MusicFeaturesListsThe PitchVideoPodcastFestivalToggle main navigation menuOpen search moduleExpand audio playerShare on FacebookShare on TwitterOpen share drawerSoulja BoyRapJump To:Review (1)News (14)Features (4)The Pitch (6)Reviews (1)Soulja BoyBest to Ever Do Itby: Evan RytlewskiJuly 27 2018News (14)Show AllEve and Trina VERZUZ Battle Announcedby: Evan MinskerJune 10 2021Soulja Boy Facing Another Lawsuit for Assault and Sexual Batteryby: Matthew StraussMay 11 2021Soulja Boy Sued for Assault and Sexual Batteryby: Evan MinskerJanuary 22 2021Soulja Boy Released From Jail Early: Reportby: Matthew StraussJuly 15 2019Soulja Boy Sentenced to Jail for Probation Violation: Reportby: Matthew StraussApril 30 2019Soulja Boy Arrested for Probation Violation: Reportby: Matthew StraussMarch 15 2019Watch Meek Mill Perform on “SNL”by: Madison BloomJanuary 27 2019Soulja Boy Charged With Felony Firearm Possessionby: Noah YooJanuary 23 2017Soulja Boy Arrested for Violating Gun Probationby: Matthew StraussDecember 15 2016Soulja Boy and Bow Wow Reunite for New Mixtape Ignorant Shit: Listenby: Matthew StraussOctober 25 2016Nicki Minaj Taps Soulja Boy For "Yasss Bish!!"by: Zoe CampMay 3 2014Purity Ring Cover Soulja Boy, Announce Spring Tourby: Carrie BattanFebruary 11 2013Features (4)The Influencer: A Decade of Soulja BoyThe Influencer: A Decade of Soulja BoyEver since he uploaded his first tracks to the Internet in the summer of 2005, Soulja Boy has come to represent a type of viral creativity that is unique to our digital era. Meaghan Garvey tracks his unavoidable influence on music and culture over the last 10 years. Photo by Brian Petchers.

by: Meaghan GarveyJuly 9 2015RapExperimentalThe 200 Best Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)The 200 Best Tracks of the Decade So Far (2010-2014)From Drake to Beach House to Deafheaven to Sophie to Grimes to Cloud Nothings to, yes, Kanye—our picks for the best songs of the half-decade.

by: Pitchfork StaffAugust 18 2014RockElectronic+6 moreThe Top 100 Tracks of 2011The Top 100 Tracks of 2011Our favorite songs from the last 12 months, including tracks from Wild Flag, Fucked Up, M83, Danny Brown, Kurt Vile, James Blake, Jay and Kanye, and many more.

by: PitchforkDecember 12 2011ElectronicRap+6 moreAtlantaAtlantaYoung Dro, Soulja Boy, and Rittz headline a new crop of mixtapes from one of rap's most creative epicenters, Atlanta.

by: Tom BreihanApril 13 2011RapThe Pitch (6)Why the Hellcat Is Rap’s Signature Muscle Carby: Sheldon PearceFebruary 28 2019Why Rap Is Obsessed With Dracosby: Sheldon PearceFebruary 21 2019How 2018 Marked a New Era of Trolling in Hip-Hopby: Stephen KearseDecember 18 201810k.Caash Is Helping ‘The Woah’ Go Viral and Putting Texas Dance Rap on the Mapby: Alphonse PierreDecember 7 2018Why Is Rap Obsessed with Naruto?by: Sheldon PearceNovember 7 2018The History of Viral Rap Hits in 9 Songsby: David TurnerJanuary 13 2017Back to homePitchfork Music Festivals: Chicago / London / Paris / Berlin / CDMXPitchfork RadioNewsletterAdvertisingMastheadCareersContactAccessibility HelpFollow Pitchfork on FacebookFollow Pitchfork on TwitterFollow Pitchfork on InstagramFollow Pitchfork on TumblrFollow Pitchfork on SnapchatDo Not Sell My Personal Information.© 2018 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21). Your California Privacy Rights. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices. CN Entertainme

Soulja Boy Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements of Rapper

Soulja Boy Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements of Rapper

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Soulja Boy Biography

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Birthday: July 28, 1990 (Leo)Born In: Chicago

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Soulja Boy, is the nick name of DeAndre Cortez Way, an American rapper and record producer. He has to his credit several singles, mixtapes and albums. An ambitious artist and a seasoned businessman, Soulja Boy’s career in music started early when as a young boy, he relocated to Mississippi, and his father provided him a recording studio. Therein, the young entertainer found all the various connections to pursue a musical career seriously. After successfully promoting his music online in 2004, and establishing his Stacks on Deck Entertainment label, he moved back to Atlanta to pursue industry leads and started doing live performances. In September 2007, his debut single ‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’ peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks. As of January 2017, he has released three studio albums and one independent album. His debut studio album was certified platinum by the RIAA.

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Birthday: July 28, 1990 (Leo)Born In: Chicago

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Also Known As: DeAndre Cortez Way, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, simply Soulja BoyAge: 33 Years, 33 Year Old Males

Family:father: Tracy Waysiblings: Deion JenkinsBorn Country: United States

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Height: 5'9" (175 cm), 5'9" MalesCity: Chicago, IllinoisU.S. State: Illinois

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Childhood & Early LifeSoulja Boy was born as DeAndre Cortez Way on July 28, 1990, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Along with his family, young Way moved to Atlanta at the age of 6.A fascination for music propelled Way to embark on a musical career. Giving wings to explore his musical ambitions, his father provided him with a recording studio in Batesville, Mississippi at the age of fourteen.Continue Reading Below

Recommended Lists:Male RappersAmerican SingersAmerican RappersLeo Hip Hop SingersCareerSoulja Boy’s early breakthrough in music came through web. He had posted a song on the site SoundClick in November 2005, that met with a positive response. This propelled him to establish accounts on YouTube and Myspace for his musical endeavours.His debut album came in on March 2007, titled ‘Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before da Album’. Its song, ‘Crank That’ received its first airplay in May 2007. It peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot RingMasters charts and was even used on the television series ‘Entourage’. Following the success of the single, he inked a deal with Interscope Records.On October 2007, Soulja Boy’s major label debut album, ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ was released. It peaked at number four on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. A follow-up of it came in on December 2008, as ‘iSouljaBoyTellem’. The second studio album was negatively received.Touted as a one-hit wonder boy, he silenced his critics with his third single ‘Turn My Swag On’. The song topped the US Rap Charts and peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he came up with several mixtapes ‘Paranormal Activity’, ‘Dat Piff’ and ‘Cortez’.Soulja Boy’s jinx of unsuccessful albums continued with his third studio album, ‘The DeAndre Way’ being the lowest-selling album till date. However, its lead single ‘Pretty Boy Swag’ reached number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100, number six on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number five on the Rap Songs chart.Beginning 2011, he released a series of mixtapes, starting with ‘Smooky’, followed by ‘1UP’ and next ‘Juice’. Later, he came up with the EP mixtape titled ‘Bernaurd Arnault EP’ which was followed by ‘21: EP’ and ‘The Last Crown’. Towards the end of the year, he released a couple of more mixtapes including ‘Supreme’, ‘Skate Boy’ and ‘Gold On Deck’.In 2012, Soulja Boy released a series of mixtapes including ‘50/13’, ‘Mario & Domo vs. the World’, ‘OBEY’ and ‘Double Cup City’. In September 2012, he released the sequel mixtape ‘Juice II’ which became his most-downloaded mixtape. He followed it up with mixtape ‘Young & Flexin’ and ‘LOUD’, the latter being his first mixtape distributed on iTunes.In 2011, Soulja Boy had announced that he was working on an album ‘Promise’. However, delays in releasing the album led him to release the mixtape ‘Foreign’ in February 2013. Following the expiry of his record deal with Interscope Records, he signed a contract with Cash Money Records. Re-titling his album ‘USA DRE’, he released the first single from the album, ‘Handsome’.On March 2013, he released the EP ‘All Black’ and soon came up with the mixtape ‘Foreign 2’. A series of mixtapes and EPs were released later including ‘King Soulja’ and his second EP ‘Cuban Link’, mixtapes ‘Life After Fame’, ‘23’, ‘The King’.Continue Reading Below

Soulja Boy’s mixtape releases continued in 2014, as he came up with ‘King Soulja 2’ in March. He followed this up with his first digital album ‘Super Dope’. Next, he penned and featured on Nicki Minaj's promotional single ‘Yasss Bish’, which received positive reviews from music critics.On June 2014, he released his second digital album ‘King Soulja 3’ via iTunes. It featured appearances from Gudda Gudda and Rich The Kid. He followed it up with the mixtape ‘Young Millionaire’, featuring appearances from Sean Kingston, Cap.1 and Rich The Kid.Later in November 2014, he signed a new label deal with Universal Music Group. He also announced his upcoming projects including the fourth studio album, ‘Loyalty’.In 2015, Soulja Boy released his fourth studio album ‘Loyalty’. In addition to this, he released singles, mixtapes and a digital album. He followed it up with the single ‘Whippin My Wrist’ that charted at number 48 on Billboard trending 140. He then released several mixtapes including ‘Swag The Mixtape’, ‘25 The Movie’ and ‘M & M: Money and Music’. In July, he came up with his digital album ‘King Soulja 4’Year 2016, saw the release of Soulja Boy’s fifth and sixth digital albums in addition to numerous mixtapes, singles and videos. While ‘Stack on Deck’ was his fifth digital album, ‘Better Late Than Never’ was his sixth digital album. He released several singles including ‘Drop The Top’, ‘Stephen Curry’, ‘Day One’, ‘Rockstar’, ‘Max Payne’, ‘Hit Them Folks’ and ‘I'm Up Now’ and mixtapes ‘Finesse EP’, ‘King Soulja 5’, ‘S. Beezy 2’, ‘King Soulja 6’ and ‘Ignorant Shit’.

Recommended Lists:American Hip-Hop & RappersLeo MenMajor WorksSeveral albums and mixtapes old, Soulja Boy’s best bit, however, came with his debut single released in September 2007, titled ‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’. It peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks. His debut studio album ‘Souljaboytellem.com’ was also a success, peaking at number four on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.Awards & AchievementsSoulja Boy won the 2007 BET Hip-Hop Awards for Best Hip-Hop Dance. Same year, he received the Ozone Award in the category of ‘Patiently Waiting: Mississippi’.Personal Life & LegacySoulja has an elder brother. In 2011, his younger brother named Deion Jenkins died in an auto collision. In 2019, he was romantically linked to Blac Chyna. He also dated Tiona Fernan. He started dating Jackilyn Martinez in 2022. In late 2022, the couple wlecomed a baby boy. In 2019, he was romantically linked to Blac Chyna. He also dated Tiona Fernan. He started dating Jackilyn Martinez in 2022. In late 2022, the couple wlecomed a baby boy.

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10 years after its launch, a look at Soulja Boy’s revolutionary YouTube channel

ears after its launch, a look at Soulja Boy’s revolutionary YouTube channel

The A.V. ClubDeadspinGizmodoJalopnikKotakuQuartzThe RootThe TakeoutThe OnionThe InventoryHomeLatestNewsTVPop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.FilmMusicGamesHomeLatestNewsTVFilmMusicGamesNews10 years after its launch, a look at Soulja Boy’s revolutionary YouTube channelByZach BlumenfeldPublishedMarch 15, 2016Comments (33)Ten years ago today, a 15-year-old kid from Batesville, Mississippi uploaded his first video to YouTube. He called it his ”1st EVER YouTube Video!” in a harbinger of the lyrical creativity that would define his chart-topping music for the next few years.Check it out in its pixellated glory, above. Revel in the audio, which would be nearly unintelligible even if it weren’t horribly distorted and clipped. And oh, that glorious appearance of Comic Sans at the end. Yet this was the beginning of not just a viral dance sensation that rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 2007, but a groundbreaking coalescence of the music industry and the power of social media.We have bad news for anyone who wanted to buy the diner booth from "The Sopranos"

CCShare SubtitlesOffEnglishShare this VideoFacebookTwitterEmailRedditLinkview videoWe have bad news for anyone who wanted to buy the diner booth from The SopranosWhether or not you like Soulja Boy’s music, it’s impossible to deny the impact he had on the interaction between the musicians and the internet and his role as a visionary pioneer. For starters, consider this fact: After a months-long beta period, YouTube officially launched on December 15, 2005 with a daily traffic around eight million views. Soulja Boy uploaded his first video just three months afterward, solidly characterizing him as an early adopter. From there, he proceeded to build a brand that anticipated the rise of such platforms as Snapchat and Vine, showcased the sort of day-in-the-life content that helps modern fans connect with their favorite artists, and brought the phenomenon of viral video to the web. AdvertisementLet’s take a trip down memory lane into Soulja Boy’s halcyon YouTube days, where we’ll witness his rise.AdvertisementApril 23, 2006: “Shoulder Lean Pt. 2”The dance Soulja’s doing here looks like a weird cross between the Bernie and those huge inflatable guys you see outside of car dealerships. (There’s an original Shoulder Lean, too, where he writhes with laughter on that couch behind him for seven seconds.) The key takeaway here is that Soulja Boy’s discovered the power of capturing short, silly slice-of-life moments with the potential to be replayed over and over and over again. Sounds like Vine, right? Granted, the Shoulder Lean is pretty stupid, even by Soulja‘s standards, but for someone just beginning to use a visual medium to chronicle his career, the idea of uploading a snippet of a dance that displays an artist’s human side showed tremendous foresight.AdvertisementJune 12, 2006: “Soulja Boy Tellem New Exclusive Song”You can hardly call this a coherent music video—it’s composed entirely of disparate clips of Soulja Boy dancing, walking around pointing a camera at his own face, and signing the hood of a car in Sharpie (a separate video in its own right). But it does show a major realization that Soulja Boy had early on: that the relationship between music and videos is circular. In using the medium of YouTube to premiere a song rather than his SoundClick account or MySpace page, he could drive more traffic to his videos—taking listeners looking forward to his latest music from those audio-only sites to his YouTube channel. The video itself, in turn, leads off with Soulja Boy’s name and website, which completes the circle of content. Hell, the song itself—it’s called “Crank Dat Dance,” by the way—contains several references to the website. It’s a prime example of art as promotion, a sort of advertisement that builds an audience for greater art to come.AdvertisementOctober 12, 2006: “Soulja Boy Tellem And Arab Walk It Out”2006 was when crunk and its derivative genre, snap, were at the peak of their popular influence, to the point that snap was producing one-hit wonders—the definitive signal that a genre owns a particular era. Atlanta rapper Unk hasn’t produced anything memorable since “Walk It Out,” but he had his moment from late 2006 to early 2007, and Soulja Boy was paying attention. This display of dancing served as a notice to his fans that yes, Soulja Boy is also a fan of rappers, and this is a song that Soulja Boy likes. It’s the same mentality that drives artists today to create Spotify playlists to share with their fan base: a desire to connect over common ground and start a conversation about such things as influence and aspiration. In Soulja Boy’s case, the fact that he enjoyed dancing to “Walk It Out” pointed to his future dominance of the snap movement with “Crank That Soulja Boy,” arguably the last and greatest hit song of the genre. Oh, and his dancing here is on point, as is that of his sidekick Arab, whom it was important for audiences to meet, since he played a pivotal role in Soulja Boy’s music.AdvertisementJanuary 22, 2007: “Soulja Boy Tellem And Arab Performing At Sweet Sixteen Party 2”By the beginning of 2007, Soulja Boy’s music had gained enough traction online that he and Arab could start touring in the Midwest, playing in front of fans who knew and loved them. This sweet 16 party in Chicago showcases the type of hook that would populate his first album—essentially just phrases that were fun to shout with friends. But by filming his performance and presenting to the world just how contagious his songs had already become, he was able to add to the hype machine fueling his rise. When a room full of teenagers is exuberantly yelling “YAHHH BITCH YAHHH,” the rest of the music world begins to pay attention, no matter how objectively bad the underlying song might be. There’s also the fact that this video, though poor in quality, offers evidence that Soulja Boy’s charisma, clear from his other videos, carried through to the stage. Above all, it’s a display of Soulja Boy at his peak influence and strength to that point, carefully packaged and delivered not just to fans eager to devour any new music, but also to A&R people.AdvertisementApril 11, 2007: “Crank That Soulja Boy”This is where things get interesting, because this is obviously not the “Crank That Soulja Boy” music video that accompanied the song’s release on Interscope Records and introduced the track to the mainstream listening public. It’s not even clear whether Soulja Boy is in this video, as none of these three guys looks like him. But this is the earliest video version of the song and dance you can find on YouTube, and regardless of whether or not Soulja Boy himself is here, it’s instructive in illustrating the meteoric trajectory of “Crank That,” because it’s either the source of the viral craze or an early example of the virality itself. (It’s also important to note that without Soulja Boy’s prescient ability to build an independent brand, as delineated in the previous videos, “Crank That” likely wouldn’t have achieved the critical mass necessary to go viral.)AdvertisementThe true brilliance behind the song and its accompanying video was both its replicability and Soulja Boy’s encouragement of that replicability. Rather than keeping the song and dance to himself, he thrived on people’s imitation of his work, which encompassed both live-action recreations and pop culture mashups that we can recognize today as progenitors of the meme. He famously made an instructional video to teach fans how to do the dance, and though it’s no longer on YouTube, it was instrumental in increasing crowd participation in the construction of Soulja Boy’s brand and success. By walking people through “Crank That Soulja Boy” step-by-step and fostering their own takes on the original, Soulja Boy effectively gave them ownership of the song, increasing their engagement in and commitment to the craze. When the official music video for “Crank That Soulja Boy” dropped in August of 2007, it included homages to the original’s viral nature—prominently featuring web footage of early imitators and people watching the dance on their computers and phones. With the might of Interscope behind it, the song became a full-blown movement, and Soulja Boy had cemented his legacy as a key figure in the way music is spread on the internet. He effectively gave birth to what we might call “social music,” wherein YouTube and other visual platforms (as well as the impossibility of enforcing copyright online) allow the listeners to take part in the creation of music’s influence. AdvertisementLet’s see how Soulja Boy’s doing now, shall we?March 9, 2016: “Soulja Boy - Day in The Life episode 2”He’s been out of the public’s eye for years—perhaps because better rappers and producers eventually caught up to his level of online brilliance—but his ethos of transparency hasn’t changed one bit.AdvertisementOne last fact that might blow your mind: Soulja Boy, by now a seemingly ancient figure in music, is younger than Taylor Swift.Show all 33 commentsContinue reading

Soulja Boy - IMDb

ja Boy - IMDb

MenuMoviesRelease CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie SpotlightTV ShowsWhat's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsWatchWhat to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb PodcastsAwards & EventsOscarsSXSW Film FestivalWomen's History MonthSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll EventsCelebsBorn TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity NewsCommunityHelp CenterContributor ZonePollsFor Industry ProfessionalsLanguageEnglish (United States)LanguageFully supportedEnglish (United States)Partially supportedFrançais (Canada)Français (France)Deutsch (Deutschland)हिंदी (भारत)Italiano (Italia)Português (Brasil)Español (España)Español (México)AllAllTitlesTV EpisodesCelebsCompaniesKeywordsAdvanced SearchWatchlistSign InSign InNew Customer? Create accountENFully supportedEnglish (United States)Partially supportedFrançais (Canada)Français (France)Deutsch (Deutschland)हिंदी (भारत)Italiano (Italia)Português (Brasil)Español (España)Español (México)Use appBiographyAwardsFAQIMDbProAll topicsSoulja Boy(I)ActorComposerMusic DepartmentIMDbProStarmeterSee rankPlay trailer3:09Soulja Boy (2019)4 Videos8 PhotosDeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. In September 2007, his debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published to the internet, and later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007.[6] On August 17, Way was listed at number 18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010 for earning $7 million for that year.[7]Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em on YouTube Live.jpg

Soulja Boy at YouTube Live in November 2008

Background information

Birth name

DeAndre Cortez Way[1][2]

Also known as

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Young Draco, Big Soulja

Born

July 28, 1990 (age 33)

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Origin

Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

Genres

Hip hop pop-rap trap

Occupation(s)

Rapper record producer entrepreneur actor internet personality[3]

Instruments

Vocals FL Studio[4]

Years active

2004-present

Labels

Stacks On Deck (SODMG) Universal[5] (current) Collipark Interscope (former)

Associated acts

Bow Wow Mr. Collipark Gucci Mane Rich the Kid Riff Raff Roscoe Dash Sean Kingston Souljarob_SODMG Michael J Skyes

Website

sodmg.com

His second studio album Souljaboytellem.com (2007) was his most successful album to date. His next two albums, iSouljaBoyTellem (2008) and The DeAndre Way (2010) did not match the commercial success of his debut, despite the success of several singles across both albums, such as "Kiss Me Thru the Phone", "Turn My Swag On" zan wit that lean, Speakers Going Hammer,Gucci Bandana and "Pretty Boy Swag".Early lifeBornJuly 28, 1990More at IMDbProContact infoAgent infoResumeBornJuly 28, 1990IMDbProStarmeterSee rankAdd to listView contact info at IMDbProAwards1 nominationPhotos8Known for: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse6.3Soundtrack(as Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)")2015Boyhood7.9Soundtrack("Crank That (Soulja Boy)")2014Never Back Down6.5Soundtrack("Crank That (Travis Barker Remix)")2008Mr. Harrigan's Phone6.0Soundtrack("Turn My Swag On")2022CreditsEditActor26Composer7Music Department1Soundtrack24Producer1Self49Archive Footage7IMDbProExpand belowActorPrevious26Atlanta8.6TV SeriesSoulja Boy20221 episodeSoulja Boy: She Make It ClapMusic VideoSoulja Boy2021Soulja Boy: New DripMusic VideoSoulja Boy2019Soulja Boy: H.M.LVideoSinger2018Soulja Boy: Wanna Be Like SouljaMusic Video2016Soulja Boy: BenihanaMusic Video2016David's Vlog8.3TV Series20161 episodeWanessa Camargo feat. Soulja Boy: Turn It UpMusic VideoSoulja Boy2014Officer Down5.5Rudy2013The Rap Battle: Part 5 - ParodyVideoSoulja Boy2012Twitter Celebrates its 5th Anniversary3.0Short2011Bow Wow feat. Soulja Boy: Get MoneyMusic VideoSoulja Boy2011Soulja Boy Tell'em Feat. 50 Cent: Mean MugMusic VideoSoulja Boy (as Soulja Boy Tell 'Em)2010Malice N Wonderland5.5VideoSoulja2010Gucci Mane: BingoMusic VideoSoulja Boy2010See allComposerPrevious7OuroborosShortComposer2022Soulja Boy: She Make It ClapMusic VideoComposer2021That Kid: Kiss Me Thru the PhoneVideoComposer2020Soulja Boy: New DripMusic VideoComposer2019Soulja Boy Tell'em Feat. 50 Cent: Mean MugMusic VideoComposer2010Nicki Minaj: Itty Bitty Piggy5.3Music VideoComposer2009Soulja Boy Tell'em Feat. Sammie: Kiss Me Thru the PhoneMusic VideoComposer2008Music DepartmentUpcoming1RSVPmusician: Instagram famousPost-production2024In-development projects at IMDbProVideos4Trailer 1:32TrailerTrailer 1:01Officer DownTrailer 1:01Officer DownTrailer 3:09NICK CANNON PRESENTS WILD N' OUT: Soulja BoyPersonal detailsEditOfficial sitesApple MusicCameoAlternative namesSoulja Boy Tell 'EmHeight1.73 mBornJuly 28, 1990Chicago, Illinois, USAOther worksMusic video for V.I.C.: "Get Silly"FAQ7Powered by AlexaHow old is Soulja Boy?When was Soulja Boy born?Where was Soulja Boy born?Related newsContribute to this pageSuggest an edit or add missing contentLearn more about contributingEdit pageMore to exploreListStaff Picks: What to Watch in MarchSee the listListIMDb Staff's 2024 Oscar PredictionsSee our predictionsAdd demo reel with IMDbProMake your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reelUpload your demo reelAdd demo reel with IMDbProMake your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reelUpload your demo reelHow much have you seen?Keep track of how much of Soulja Boy’s work you have seen. Go to your list.ListHillary's 6 Picks for March and BeyondSee the full listRecently viewedYou have no recently viewed pagesGet the IMDb AppSign in for more accessSign in for more accessGet the IMDb AppHelpSite IndexIMDbProBox Office MojoIMDb DeveloperPress RoomAdvertisingJobsConditions of UsePrivacy PolicyYour Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb, an Amazon company© 1990-2024 by IMDb.com, Inc.Back to top

Soulja Boy Highlights His Cultural Impact During Hip Hop's 50th Anniversary: "Ahead Of My Time" - AllHipHop

Soulja Boy Highlights His Cultural Impact During Hip Hop's 50th Anniversary: "Ahead Of My Time" - AllHipHop

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Soulja Boy Highlights His Cultural Impact During Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary: “Ahead Of My Time”

By: Yohance Kyles (@HUEYmixwitRILEY)Category: NewsAugust 14, 2023

Does Big Draco deserve more acknowledgment for his contributions?

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DeAndre “Soulja Boy” Way typically takes credit for being the first rapper to do almost everything. The “Soulja Boy Did It First” meme was mostly taken as light-hearted fun, but the rapper recently took to social media to proclaim his actual importance to Hip Hop culture.

“When I came in the game they said I killed Hip Hop. But really, I birthed the new wave of Hip Hop with internet/streaming. Ahead of my time. #HipHop50,” wrote Soulja Boy on X (formerly Twitter).

He also added, “Now everyone vlogs their career like me. Now everyone uploads their music to the internet. Now everyone goes live for their fans. I started it. Thank me or not. Flowers/Credit or not. #HipHop50.”

When I came in the game they said I killed hip hop. But really, I birthed the new wave of hip hop with internet/streaming. Ahead of my time. #HipHop50— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) August 13, 2023

Now everyone vlogs their career like me. Now everyone uploads their music to the internet. Now everyone goes live for their fans. I started it. Thank me or not. Flowers/Credit or not. #HipHop50— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) August 13, 2023

Soulja Boy Tell’em broke onto the national Hip Hop scene with 2007’s crossover smash “Crank That.” His self-produced track spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Crank That” also earned 3x-Platinum certification from the RIAA.

In addition, Soulja Boy scored Top 20 hits with “Kiss Me Thru The Phone” and “Turn My Swag On” in 2009. His initial rise in the industry during the Ringtone Rap Era was met with accusations of him being the genre’s grim reaper.

Soulja Boy got into an infamous 2008 feud with West Coast legend Ice-T after the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor insisted the then-teenager “single-handedly killed Hip Hop.” SB later caught heat from some rap purists for suggesting East Coast legend Nas is actually responsible for the fall of the culture.

Fifteen years later, despite many of his Ringtone Era peers no longer commanding attention from fans or the media, Soulja Boy continues to remain relevant. The Mississippi-raised rhymer has released numerous music projects throughout his career. He also appeared on reality TV franchises and starred in his own The Life of Draco docuseries on Revolt.

In addition, Soulja Boy played a huge role in Hip Hop’s digital revolution over the last two decades. Back in 2006, he was one of the earliest rappers to use a burgeoning video-sharing platform called YouTube to present his music and videos. After building an online following, Soulja eventually signed a deal with Interscope Records.

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Posted in NewsTagged Soulja Boy

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