Legendz

Hate him or love him, there's no denying the success of DeAndre Ramone Way, better known to millions of pubescent Hip-Hop fans as Soulja Boy. The 18-year-old topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007 with the smash #1 hit single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and launched a national dance craze.



Despite poor reviews in the press, including being dubbed "Worst Record of 2007" by Entertainment Weekly, the teenager's major label debut, "Souljaboytellem.com", would go on to sell more than a million copies in the United States and break ringtone sales records with more than five million downloads of "Crank That".



If haters are an indication that you're doing something right, as comedian Katt Williams asserts, then Soulja Boy must have everything clickin'.



First of all, lets talk about the new album. I heard it is scheduled to come out in November. Do you have an official date yet?



No, we don't have an official date yet. It's coming in November and it's called "iSouljaBoy." The album is crazy and the first single is stupid. I can't wait until it comes out. I went in with Polow Da Don to do the first single and once it comes out it's going to be a banger. I'm going to shock a lot of people.



Do you have a lot of guest appearances on the album?



On this album, I'm trying to collaborate with different artists because on the first album I did mostly all of the production. It really didn't have any features at all besides Arab. On this album I worked with Bow Wow. I produced his song called, "Marco Polo." So, I'm going to have Bow Wow, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, Gucci Mane, and Shawty Lo. I'm just working with a lot of different artists on this album instead of having one style.



Happy belated birthday by the way. How was the party?



I threw a huge mansion pool party in Atlanta, Georgia for my 18th birthday on July 28th. There were a lot of different celebrities and the red carpet. It was crazy.



If you did all of that for the 18th birthday, I would like to see what you are doing for the 21st birthday.



Laughs. Yeah, I'm fittin' to do it big too.



You and my sister have the same birthday.



That's what's up. She should come to the next party.



Alright, so I heard you had a partnership with YUMS. How did that come about?



How that situation came about is because I was on tour earlier this year. We was up in Dallas, Texas and I did the "Dougie" remix with Lil' Will. So, I seen the shoes and I asked him where he got the shoes. He told me, and I got in contact with the owner of YUMS and then I told him, "Let's do the deal," and like two weeks later we had it done. I've been promoting the shoes and we did a special. We got in crazy orders from Foot Locker and Finish Line. So, in like six months YUMS is going to be everywhere.



Okay, so talk about this cartoon that you are suppose to be coming out with.



The cartoon is releasing in a couple of months. It will be releasing on Christmas. The cartoon is called, "Soulja Boy Tellem," and basically it is based in Atlanta. I didn't want to just do the typical cartoon; there is a little twist to it. Basically, it's about me living my everyday life as a 17-year-old superstar rapper and still having to go to school acting like a normal kid. If you want any more information you can go to souljaboytellem.com to find out when it's coming out and the casting on it. It's a lot of information on there.



Okay, your first song that was a big hit was, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)." Part of the reason it was so hot is because everybody loves that little dance. So, are you coming out with any new dance moves?



Yeah. "Crank That" was a real big one for me, big dance. I'll be coming out with dances for the second album. I probably will have something up there just because that's what people love me by, the Soulja Boy. I probably will, you'll never know.



According to several websites, the phrase "Superman That Hoe" from "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" means ejaculating on a girl's back, then sticking a sheet on her back like a cape. Is that what you meant?



Nah. I was answering that question all last year. It was hard trying to tell everybody, "Nah." You know what I'm saying? But it's old now so, nah that's not what it meant.



You and Ice-T got into a much-publicized war of words on YouTube. Have y'all called a truce?



Basically, I said everything that was on my mind and basically that is it. I left it at that. I mean it's over on my side. I don't know him and he don't know me. So, it's over with me. I ain't got nothing more to say about Ice-T.



Okay. So, you were able to sell records at a time when nobody else was really selling albums and you won several awards. How does that make you feel?



It makes me feel good with the state of hip-hop right now; for my album to go platinum, "Crank That," went three times platinum with ring tones and everything. So, it was big numbers you know. It's money to be made and for me to be successful in the current state, it's crazy. Hopefully, I can stay successful and stay putting up big numbers like that.



Does it scare you to think about how successful your first album was, and then thinking about how your new album will be?



Yeah man. It doesn't really scare me but that's life. You know, stuff happens. If it sells, it sells and if it don't, it don't. As long as I'm putting 100 percent on the album and I'm giving it all that I got. I know it's good music. If I go in and half do something and throw some singles out, of course I'm going to get bad results. When you go out and make good music then, you get good results. That's a proven fact.



Having a lot of enthusiastic young fans doesn't hurt either.



Yeah. I got crazy fans. Before I got signed I was doing concerts all over the United States. Now, I've been to Canada, Paris, London, Tokyo, and Germany. I been some of everywhere and all over the world it's the same response every time I go on stage. The fans love Soulja Boy. I just keep giving them what they want to see. I keep giving them music, shows, cartoons, and everything. Soulja Boy is everywhere.



What are some of your career goals for the future?



I got a list of goals. I was going to do my movie and I'm going to do it eventually, but I only been in the game for a year. So, I had to turn the movie down because it would have messed up my schedule. I had to record the album and I had to go on tour to promote the album. If I had not done the tour then, my album probably wouldn't have sold or it wouldn't have went platinum. I had to do the tour for the sells to go up and so the album wouldn't flop. I was like man, we need to get out here and grind it out. We will do the movie next year. So, this year I'll probably do the movie when the cartoon is out. I got to balance my schedule. The two things that I want to do besides the cartoon, is the movie and the video game. So, I'll try to accomplish that this year or early 2010.



You seem to be quite the businessman.



Yeah man. I want to accomplish everything in life that I want to do. That's how I got to do it so, at the end of the day, I can look back and see everything that I did. That's life. If you want something done, then you go out and do it.



Any last words for your fans at Yo! Raps?



We got the new website coming soon "iSouljaBoy". It's going to be real good. We got souljaboytellem.com out right now. I got a new group called, "Show Stoppers," that I just signed. They got a single called, "Whoop Rico." It's real big in Atlanta and they are coming out real soon. I'm fittin' to go hard.