Soulja Boy

soulja boy speaking to a audienceBandai Namco Entertainment America [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]“Transcending hip hop to become a mainstream fad, the 'Crank That' dance was the first in rap history to go viral on the internet and it helped inspire the various dance challenges that have become the norm in the last decade” (Brown). Soulja Boy revolutionized hip hop by changing the culture. Soulja Boy Tell Em, born Deandre Cortez Way on July 28, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois, was raised in Batesville, Mississippi, and later moved to Atlanta, Georgia. His father Tracy Way provided him with a recording studio, and young Deandre took it to his advantage. He was working at Burger King at the time. In 2007 at the age of 17 and in his last year of high school (South Panola High School), he rose to number one on the billboard hot 100 with his hit single “Crank Dat.”  A hero must be influential and inventive to be a success in the hip hop music industry. Soulja Boy is innovative in his style and his music and he is both influential and inventive, therefore he is a hero.

Soulja Boy was influential because a lot of artists today use his word play and repetition of words. In the article “9 Ways Soulja Boy Revolutionized Today's Hip Hop Culture,” Preezy Brown explains how other artists have taken a liking to his marketing methods. “Rappers like 2Pac and 50 Cent are two of the poster children when it comes to beef. But, Soulja was among the first to shift the tide of rap spats being violent to them being comedic. His war of words with the likes of Ice-T, Bow Wow and others often included more humor than vitriol. This new beef tactic has served as a precursor to the likes of Lil Yachty, 6ix9ine and other trolls who have followed in his footsteps” (Soulja Boy). Soulja Boy is the most influential rapper and he paved the way for artists and set the blueprint for how artists promote themselves online. When he had feuds online, he didn’t take them as serious; rather, he played around being playful, making it a joke. Preezy Brown also states in the article that Soulja Boy made the song in his bedroom with a very low budget. “Soulja's simplistic lyrics, catchy refrains, and sparse production would become the method of choice for aspiring rappers looking to make their way in the game. Listen to music by the 'mumble-rap' set of today and you're bound to hear traces of Soulja's style in their songs. This is a testament to his impact on the landscape of rap” (Soulja Boy). Rather than being all serious, he made it fun, making the kids jam to it. People hear his music and wanted to copy it to make their own music using his flow and delivery. Soulja Boy set the mark for how artists promote themselves online and using his lyrics, flow, and delivery.

He created his own video game console and his clothing line called Blvd Supply, which sold really well, earning him millions of dollars. According to International Business Times, the Soulja Boy game console is being sold at a price that most gamers are willing to buy. “The Soulja Game Console is on sale for $149.99, but the original ANBERNIC model that it's based on retails for just $79.49 online. Meanwhile, the SouljaGame Handheld is currently listed with a price of $99, but the original ANBERNIC model is being sold at $59.99” (International Business Times). The video game console has a thousand installed games on it, and when buyers purchase it, they can download all the games at a reasonable speed. Many rappers come out with clothing lines, but he’s the first to come out with a video game console. According to Brian Pechers of Forbes Magazine, Soulja Boy has been very innovative with his clothing line, “but what he seems most excited about is the clothing line, BLVD Supply, for which he's a spokesperson. Today, they are in 2,000 locations worldwide, selling 100,000 units per month.  With a pending  Zumiez deal in the pipeline, the fledgling clothing company is yet another way Soulja is expanding his branded-self into new marketplaces” (Petchers). I think he's a genius for creating a clothing line that people like for cheap and a nice brand. He is doing something no one has done before, finding more Soulja Boy featured on a magazine Arialyssa [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]ways to get more income. He's very innovative making a clothing line no one has seen before.

Being innovative in both his style and his music has made Soulja Boy a success in the hip hop music industry. He is both influential and inventive and became an icon with his revolutionary blueprint for how artists promote themselves online. Soulja boy is a hero because he's inspired many people around the world and shown people how they can promote themselves online. He set the blueprint for how rappers can create music with just using a $15 microphone from Wal-Mart in their house. He inspired how people can rap using repetition of words and his vocal flow. He showed people how they can market themselves on the internet. He inspires me because I love his music and inspired me to make a clothing line as well. He motivates me to work hard for myself. Soulja Boy is my hero, my inspiration, my role model, someone I look up to because I saw something in him that I did not see in other rappers. He created a lot of rappers' careers with his style and flow and marketing technique. He inspired me and other people that if he can make it broke in Section 8 housing with no money at all out of the hood, then so can we. He showed us exactly how we can do that, and everyone follows that blueprint today.

Works Consulted

Brown, Preezy. “9 Ways Soulja Boy Revolutionized Today's Hip Hop Culture.” REVOLT TV, REVOLT TV, 18 Jan. 2019, revolt.tv/stories/2019/01/18/9-soulja-boy-achievements- 070073df76.

Lipshutz, Jason. "Boy meets world: for his third album, Soulja Boy drops the 'Tell 'Em' and enlists the musical and financial counsel of hip-hop heavyweights Kanye West and 50 Cent." Billboard, 13 Nov. 2010, p. 22+. Biography In Context, cAccessed 1 May 2019.

Petchers, Brian. “Soulja Boy's Blueprint To Success And The Next Chapter.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Nov. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/brianpetchers/2014/08/13/soulja-boys-blueprint-to-success-and-the-next-chapter/#16101e203b73.

"Soulja Boy Tell `Em." Contemporary Musicians, vol. 67, Gale, 2010. Biography In Context,  https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1608005454/BIC?u=powa9245&sid=BIC&xid=ce5392cf. Accessed 1 May 2019.

"Soulja Boy Is Selling SouljaGame Console." International Business Times [U.S. ed.], 6 Dec. 2018. Academic OneFile, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A56450