Early life
Born DeAndre Ramone Way in Chicago, Illinois on July 28, 1990, Way moved from Chicago to Atlanta, Georgia at age seven, where he became interested in rap music. At age 14, he moved to Batesville, Mississippi with his father, who provided a recording studio for Way to explore his musical ambitions.
Career
In November 2005, Way posted his songs on the video-based social community YouTube. Following positive reviews on the site, Soulja Boy then established his own web pages on YouTube and MySpace. In March 2007, he recorded “Crank That” and released his first independent album Unsigned and Still Major, followed by a low-budget video filmed demonstrating the “Soulja Boy” dance. By the end of May 2007, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” received its first airplay and Soulja Boy met with Mr. Collipark to sign a deal with Interscope Records.
On August 12, 2007, the song appeared on the Emmy-award winning HBO series Entourage, and by September 1, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot RingMasters charts. Way’s major label debut album Souljaboytellem.com, which was reportedly recorded using just the demo version of FL Studio, was released in the United States on October 2, peaking at #4 on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.
On December 9, 2007, Way was sued by William Lyons (aka Souljah Boy of the Mo Thugs) who claims he first created the stage name “Souljah Boy”.
For the 50th Grammy Awards, Soulja Boy was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song with “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”. He lost to Kanye West’s and T-Pain’s “Good Life”.
The teen rapper recently inked a deal with Dallas-based company, Yums Shoes, for a line of his own sneakers called the “Block Star” and an apparel line. “The Soulja boy exclusive shoe will be released in the fall along with my album,” he said. “The Soulja Boy cartoon will also be released in the fall, so there’s three things to look out for.” The line will be unveiled at the fall Magic fashion trade show in Las Vegas later this year, and the rapper will appear in both television and print ads for it.
Soulja Boy says he will not use better lyrics and get more respect from the rap game, although he could, because it will ruin his reputation and image.
Initial reception
The album Souljaboytellem.com was met with mostly negative reviews, despite a positive one from Allmusic. Several reviewers credited Soulja Boy with spearheading a new trend in hip-hop, while speculating he will likely be a one hit wonder.
Critics and hip-hop figures such as Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Jermaine Dupri cite Soulja Boy as artistically typical of contemporary rap trends such as writing for the lucrative ringtone market, and the ascendence of “Southern hip hop”, emphasizing catchy, mindless music that discards rap’s traditional emphasis on message. And even one article about his songs and heavily criticizing his musical style has dubbed Soulja Boy the “Nickelback of hip hop”. Soulja Boy identifies his goal as making upbeat, party-themed music that avoids the negative, violent image that he sees in most hip-hop. Despite this, his music has been banned from some school dances for sexual, pro-violence content or innuendo and, ironically, many of his recent recordings feature violent content and sexual innuendo. In the original YouTube video for “Shootout”, Way demonstrates his dance while holding a handgun in each hand and pretending to shoot into the audience.
Feud with Ice-T
In June 2008, on DJ Cisco’s Urban Legend mixtape, Ice-T criticized Soulja Boy for “killing hip-hop” and his song “Crank That” for being “garbage” compared to the works of other hip-hop artists as Rakim, Das EFX, Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube. Soulja Boy responded in a YouTube video by mocking Ice-T’s age (Ice-T was born in 1958) and claiming that he needed to support his family through his brand of music. Ice-T proceeded to offer a video response to Soulja Boy’s reaction in which he neglected to offer an apology while reiterating his belief that Soula Boy’s music was “garbage”. Rapper Kanye West defended Soulja Boy by arguing that Soulja Boy created a new, original work for hip-hop, thus keeping the authentic meaning of the music. Soulja Boy followed suit by buying Ice-T a flaming set of gigantic popcorn machines.
References in popular culture
Soulja Boy recently became an item in the first round NBA playoff series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Washington Wizards. In a bout of trash talking before the start of the series, Wizards guard Deshawn Stevenson called Cleveland superstar LeBron James “overrated,” prompting James to say that he wouldn’t return the insult, as that would be “almost like Jay-Z [responding to a negative comment] made by Soulja Boy.” Soulja Boy made an appearance at Game 3 of the series (played in Washington) in support of the Wizards; his music was played over the PA system. Despite his team losing the game by more than 30 points and LeBron posting poor numbers (compared to his exceptionally high averages), LeBron claims that the trick had no effect on him, and that his young son is a big fan of Soulja Boy.
Don't Get Mad
Soulja Boy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't get mad cause the kidz like me
Don't get mad cause the kidz like me
Don't get mad cause the kidz like me
Don't get mad cause the kidz like me
Don't don't don't get mad cause the kidz like me (x4)
Everybody know I got the kidz yellling dont- get- mad cause the kids like soulja boy tell em and they parents they can't see it they blind they wonder why they kids talking bout soulja boy all the time(all the time) they can't understand they ways they wonder why they son and they daughter got the name on they shades(on they shades) or why they only wear bathing apes or why they sit at they computer watching soulja boy all day if you don't get it it's a movement(a movement) I ain't saying that you stupid you just need improvement(improvement) they say the records ain't selling no more jus cuzz errbody on the internet on download now it's my turn to hit(my turn to hit it) if you don't get it by the end of the song you won't get(you won't get it) real talk I spit it(i spit it) I got the kidz on lock and it's jus the beginning, let's go!
(chorus)
Why you mad foe?(why you mad foe) why you hating foe??(why you hating foe)?
Soulja boy tell em what the street been waiting foe now am sign and it's going down(down) taking over radio tv everything man (man) I ain't gon buy my time foe no body if you bug me for your show am a crank up your whole party while you listenin to these songz eaze ya mind if you don't get what am saying press rewind now right now am 16 (sixteen)but when you hear these songz am a be 17 and running things super-man I started that(i started that) but the biggest mam flotery is jus a lotta cappri cats(a lotta capri cats) its all good cuz am on deck(am on deck) its so major what I did with a mic in the internet(internet) new rappers every day world wild no deals jus the fans and the fans they on my side
(chorus)
Am the kidz favorite rapper (yuh) do tha dance never(yuh) if anyone else can do it I can do it better got the grown folks scratching they head they say wha'z goin on what so special about soulja boy man whats going on this all I got to say in my rap(in my rap) when it spread to the grown folks man its a raw if u hating better pop your breaks(pop your break) dont get madd cuz the kidz fans and they watching my face (we luv u soulja boy) (3x) soulja boy my favorite rapper,no his my fav.raper, no my favorite rapper )
(yahh)
(chorus)
In "Don't Get Mad," Soulja Boy addresses the criticism he has faced for his popularity among kids. He says that parents don't understand why their children are obsessed with him and his music. He argues that his influence is a positive movement and that if people don't get it, they need to improve their understanding. Soulja Boy believes that his music is a movement that has taken over the internet, and now he is taking over radio and television. He affirms that he is not going to wait for anyone to recognize his talent and is determined to make a name for himself.
The song is notorious for its spelling errors (such as "foe" instead of "for" and "cappri" instead of "Capri"), which some believe is intentional to reinforce Soulja Boy's image as a carefree, uneducated rapper. However, Soulja Boy has denied this speculation and said that the errors were mistakes.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't get mad cause the kidz like me
Don't be angry just because the kids like me, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em.
Everybody know I got the kidz yellling dont- get- mad cause the kids like soulja boy tell em
Everyone knows that I have the kids shouting 'don't be mad because the kids like Soulja Boy, tell them!'
and they parents they can't see it they blind
Their parents can't see it and are blind to the appeal of my music.
they wonder why they kids talking bout soulja boy all the time(all the time)
They wonder why their kids are constantly talking about me, Soulja Boy.
they can't understand they ways they wonder why they son and they daughter got the name on they shades(on they shades) or why they only wear bathing apes or why they sit at they computer watching soulja boy all day
They can't understand why their children have my name on their shades, why they only wear Bathing Ape clothing, or why they sit at the computer watching me all day.
if you don't get it it's a movement(a movement)
If you don't understand, it's a movement that's happening.
I ain't saying that you stupid you just need improvement(improvement)
I'm not saying you're stupid, you just need to improve your understanding of this movement.
they say the records ain't selling no more jus cuzz errbody on the internet on download now it's my turn to hit(my turn to hit it)
They say that records aren't selling anymore because everyone is downloading from the internet, but now it's my turn to make a hit.
if you don't get it by the end of the song you won't get(you won't get it)
If you don't understand by the end of this song, you might not ever understand.
real talk I spit it(i spit it)
This is my real talk, I'm speaking the truth.
I got the kidz on lock and it's jus the beginning, let's go!
I have the kids locked in and this is just the beginning, let's do it!
Why you mad foe?(why you mad foe) why you hating foe??(why you hating foe)?
Why are you angry and why do you hate me?
Soulja boy tell em what the street been waiting foe
Soulja Boy, tell them what the streets have been waiting for.
now am sign and it's going down(down)
Now I'm signed and things are happening.
taking over radio tv everything man (man)
I'm taking over everything, from the radio to TV, man.
I ain't gon buy my time foe no body
I'm not going to wait for anyone.
if you bug me for your show am a crank up your whole party
If you bug me for your show, I'll make your whole party amazing.
while you listenin to these songz eaze ya mind
While you're listening to my songs, just relax and enjoy.
if you don't get what am saying press rewind
If you don't understand, just rewind and listen again.
now right now am 16 (sixteen)but when you hear these songz am a be 17 and running things
Right now, I'm 16, but when you hear these songs, I'll be 17 and in charge.
super-man I started that(i started that)
I started being a super-man, doing cool things.
but the biggest mam flotery is jus a lotta cappri cats(a lotta capri cats)
But the biggest man's flattery just means a lot of fake people.
its all good cuz am on deck(am on deck)
It's all good because I'm ready to go.
its so major what I did with a mic in the internet(internet)
What I did with a microphone and the internet is huge.
new rappers every day world wild no deals jus the fans and the fans they on my side
There are new rappers every day, from all over the world, with no deals, but the fans are on my side.
Am the kidz favorite rapper (yuh) do tha dance never(yuh)
I'm the kids' favorite rapper, and they love to do the dance.
if anyone else can do it I can do it better
If anyone else can do the dance, I can do it better.
got the grown folks scratching they head they say wha'z goin on
The older people are confused and wondering what's going on.
what so special about soulja boy man whats going on
They're wondering what's so special about me, Soulja Boy.
this all I got to say in my rap(in my rap)
This is what I have to say in my rap.
when it spread to the grown folks man its a raw
When the older people start to like it, it's cool.
if u hating better pop your breaks(pop your break)
If you're hating on me, you should stop and reconsider.
dont get madd cuz the kidz fans and they watching my face (we luv u soulja boy) (3x) soulja boy my favorite rapper,no his my fav.raper, no my favorite rapper )
Don't get mad because the kids are fans and they're watching me. They love me, Soulja Boy, and I'm their favorite rapper.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind