DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois), better known … Read Full Bio ↴DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois), better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em or simply Soulja Boy, is a Grammy-nominated rapper, dancer and producer. He shot to fame in September 2007, when his single “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” reached number one on the Billboard Top 100. He released his debut album, Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before da Album in 2007 and followed this with 2007’s souljaboytellem.com and 2008’s iSouljaBoyTellem. His fourth studio album, The DeAndre Way, was released on November 2010.

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.

First Day Of School
Soulja Boy Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

First day of school, Souja

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea I'm freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea I'm freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea I'm freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

That boy there be clean
Man that boy that be fresh boy
That boy there be seen
With nothin' but them dimes boy
That boy that be fresh
That boy that smell col' Polo
That boy there he clean
That boy right there he turned up
That boy that boy be clean
That boy that boy be fresh oh
That boy that boy swaggin'
They cant help me
But he got that pretty boy swag
He got them girls goin' crazy
Gucci served polo draw aw man he crazy

That boy that be fresh that boy that be clean man
That boy he rocked them J's that you ain't neva' seen oh
Man that boy be fresh that boy there be clean mayne
Soulja boy that boy that got the fresh you've ever seen
First day

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea.

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea.

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea freshest in the class, freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea.

What they do soulja?
Man they tried to jock my swag
Soulja boy duplicate can I get that back
Freshest in the class
Yea I know they hatin'
Cleanest nigga in the school class 08'
I swear it soulja,
Boy I told ya
Back then when I was in South Penola
Now these days drop top in my Rova'
I hate to say it but god damn I took ova'
It's Beezy.

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea freshest in the class freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
Yea freshest in the class freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

Hat goin' match my shoe
Shirt goin' match my belt
Man I be so fly, I cant help my self

Yea freshest in the class freshest in the school
And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea

Overall Meaning

The song "First Day of School" by Soulja Boy talks about the desire to be the freshest and cleanest in school. He talks about his matching outfits and accessories, expressing a level of confidence and superiority over his peers. He refers to himself as the freshest in the class and the school, emphasizing his unique style and appearance. He also makes reference to the fact that people have tried to copy his style but have failed to match his level of "swag." The song ends with another rapper named Beezy acknowledging Soulja Boy's prominence and success.

The song provides a commentary on the culture of young people and their desire to stand out and be unique. It also speaks to the importance of appearance in society, which is a significant issue among young people. Additionally, the song highlights the idea that being unique and different can lead to success and admiration.

Line by Line Meaning

First day of school, Souja
Soulja Boy is emphasizing that it's the first day of school and he's excited to dress up and show off his style.

Hat goin' match my shoe
He's planning to match his hat with his shoes.

Shirt goin' match my belt
He's planning to match his shirt with his belt.

Man I be so fly, I cant help my self
He's feeling really good about his outfit and his style.

Yea I'm freshest in the class, freshest in the school
He's confident that he looks the best out of all his classmates and everyone else in the school.

And I bet I dress every day like it first day of school yea
He's saying that he takes dressing up seriously and tries to make sure he looks his best every day.

That boy there be clean
He's pointing out someone who looks really good.

Man that boy that be fresh boy
He's emphasizing that the other boy looks really good.

That boy there be seen
He's saying that the other boy is easy to notice because of how good he looks.

With nothin' but them dimes boy
He's saying that the other boy only associates with really attractive girls.

That boy that be fresh
He's repeating that the other boy looks really good.

That boy that smell col' Polo
He's saying that the other boy's cologne/body spray smells really good.

That boy there he clean
He's reiterating that the other boy looks really good.

That boy right there he turned up
He's saying that the other boy is very excited and energetic about something.

That boy that boy be clean
He's saying once again that the other boy looks really good.

That boy that boy be fresh oh
He's emphasizing the other boy's good looks.

That boy that boy swaggin'
He's saying that the other boy has a lot of style and confidence.

They cant help me
He's confident in himself and his style, and not bothered by others who might not like it.

But he got that pretty boy swag
He's saying that the other boy has a lot of style and looks really good.

He got them girls goin' crazy
He's emphasizing how attractive the other boy is to girls.

Gucci served polo draw aw man he crazy
He's saying that the other boy is wearing really good and expensive brands and looks amazing.

That boy he rocked them J's that you ain't neva' seen oh
He's saying that the other boy has sneakers (Jordans) that most people haven't seen before and they look really good.

Soulja boy that boy that got the fresh you've ever seen
He's saying that he also looks really good and is one of the freshest people you'll ever see.

What they do soulja?
He's asking someone what they've been up to.

Man they tried to jock my swag
He's saying that people have been trying to copy his style.

Soulja boy duplicate can I get that back
He's saying that someone copied his style and he wants it back.

Cleanest nigga in the school class 08'
He's saying that he was the cleanest/dressed the best in his high school class of 2008.

I hate to say it but god damn I took ova'
He's saying that he became really successful and took over the music industry.

It's Beezy.
This is Soulja Boy's nickname/alias.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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