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.
Twitter
Soulja Boy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Twitter bitch, Twitter King bitch. yahh.
Moneyyy... ya feel me.
Ill break it down one time,
2010 nigga. S.O.D. stacks on deck.
(waka waka waka waka) nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
You no y? cause im fly & im fly & im fly
Cause im smoking purp & im high & im high & im high
Lambo wheels ridin & ridin & riden
Soulja boy fly & im fly & im fly
Bitch this ya boy soulja
Boy i though i told you
Myspace, youtube, facebook took em over
Now im on twitter
Go look at my picture
Girls say im the sexiest rapper livin
Got more followers than the niggas who invented it
Im so pimpin. twitter bird fly
Swiss side diamonds in my blow-?that will make my haters wanna die
Outer space cush, got me super man high.
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
You no y? cause im fly & im fly & im fly
Im smoking purp & im high & im high & im high
Lambo wheels ridin & ridin & riden
Soulja boy fly & im fly & im fly
Haters talk shit but who doesn't benifit
Soulja boy tellem, king of the internet
Twitter king bitch, 1.9 mill
Im living on my dreams, let me tell you how it feel
I cant believe its real, feals like a dream
Look god in the eye and say thanks for everything
All my jewelry bling,strach that, all my jewelry blindin
& bitch im the shit, just in cause you need a remindin
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
You no y? cause im fly & im fly & im fly
Cause im smoking purp & im high & im high & im high
Lambo wheels ridin & ridin & riden
Soulja boy fly & im fly & im fly
Your hotter than me, fuck boy please stop it
My twitter doing numbers, nigga check the treddin topics
Trappin twitter birds,shout out to sodmg
Takin names, keepin our buissness
Cause we no people over seas-?
Everything rest in peace, yeah ima fuckin beast
& this is my masterpiece, & this is rode untill the day i go-?
I was born in C.H.I. cago, real talk bitch dont spit for wat i no
All my haters ride slow, turk & greese, wheres my dro
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
Nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
You no y? cause im fly & im fly & im fly
Im smoking purp & im high & im high & im high
Lambo wheels ridin & ridin & riden
Soulja boy fly & im fly & im fly
Oh, oh, oh, oh. TWITTER
(Soulja boy talkin)
You no what im saying mane
Im all over twitter, im all over the internet
Wheres my dro, cus im fly & im fly & im fly
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, at soulja boy tellem
Twitter dot com soulja boy tellem
At soulja boy tellem, twitter twitter king bitch
Shout out to sodmg
0h. 0h. 0h. 0h, 0h, 0h, 0h, yeah, yeah
Monayyyy, yah
In the song "Twitter," Soulja Boy Tellem talks about how he is the Twitter King and tries to convince his listeners to follow him on the site so that he can reach two million followers. He boasts about his success on the internet, beginning with MySpace and dominating YouTube and Facebook, he has now moved on to become the king of Twitter. Soulja Boy is proud of his accomplishments and fame which he has achieved through his online presence. He mentions that he is "living on his dreams" and can't believe that it's real, feeling like he's in a dream. He takes the opportunity to show off his wealth in the form of his jewelry and luxurious cars like the Lamborghini.
The song suggests Soulja Boy’s relentless obsession with being famous on social media platforms. He emphasizes his flying status, smoking unusual of the drug that makes him high and wheels he is riding. The rapping style ascertains that he is grateful for his success in life and that he thanks God for everything. Soulja Boy is proud of his internet popularity, and views him as the king of the internet, hence the king of Twitter.
Line by Line Meaning
Yeah,Yeah im talkin about soulja boy tellem
The rapper Soulja Boy is the subject of this song.
Twitter bitch, Twitter King bitch. yahh.
Soulja Boy is referring to himself as the ruler of Twitter.
Moneyyy... ya feel me.
Money is important to Soulja Boy, as it probably is to many people.
Ill break it down one time,
He's going to explain something thoroughly and succinctly.
2010 nigga. S.O.D. stacks on deck.
The year is 2010, and Soulja Boy claims to have plenty of money.
(waka waka waka waka) nigga gone hit me on this site called twitter
He encourages people to contact him through Twitter.
Come and follow me cause im trying to get two million.
Soulja Boy wants more followers on Twitter.
You no y? cause im fly & im fly & im fly
He's bragging about how cool he is.
Cause im smoking purp & im high & im high & im high
He's giving a reason for why he's so cool (smoking marijuana).
Lambo wheels ridin & ridin & riden
He's driving a Lamborghini and enjoying it.
Bitch this ya boy soulja
Self-explanatory - Soulja Boy is introducing himself again.
Boy i though i told you
Apparently, he has introduced himself several times before.
Myspace, youtube, facebook took em over
Soulja Boy claims to have become famous through social media sites.
Now im on twitter
He's moved on to using Twitter as a platform.
Go look at my picture
He's telling people to look at his Twitter profile photo.
Girls say im the sexiest rapper livin
He claims to be very attractive to women.
Got more followers than the niggas who invented it
Soulja Boy says he has more followers on Twitter than its creators do.
Im so pimpin. twitter bird fly
He's saying he's really cool, and making a reference to Twitter's logo.
Swiss side diamonds in my blow-?that will make my haters wanna die
He's wearing diamonds and saying his haters will be jealous.
Outer space cush, got me super man high.
He's using marijuana again and referencing Superman.
Haters talk shit but who doesn't benifit
He's saying that people who criticize him still help him become more popular.
Soulja boy tellem, king of the internet
He's saying he's the ruler of the entire internet.
Twitter king bitch, 1.9 mill
He says he has almost 2 million followers on Twitter.
Im living on my dreams, let me tell you how it feel
Soulja Boy is living the life he always wanted.
I cant believe its real, feals like a dream
He can hardly believe that his success is real.
Look god in the eye and say thanks for everything
Soulja Boy is grateful for his success and wants to thank God for it.
All my jewelry bling,strach that, all my jewelry blindin
His jewelry is so shiny and flashy that it's practically blinding.
& bitch im the shit, just in cause you need a remindin
He knows he's cool and wants to remind people.
Your hotter than me, fuck boy please stop it
Someone is suggesting that they're better than Soulja Boy, but he doesn't agree.
My twitter doing numbers, nigga check the treddin topics
Soulja Boy's Twitter account is very popular and often discussed.
Trappin twitter birds,shout out to sodmg
Not entirely sure what this means - possibly something about attracting Twitter followers on purpose.
Takin names, keepin our buissness
Soulja Boy takes other people's names and protects his own interests.
Cause we no people over seas-?
Not really sure what this means - maybe he's saying he knows a lot of people from other countries.
Everything rest in peace, yeah ima fuckin beast
He's saying he's a beast and everything he's doing will turn out well.
& this is my masterpiece, & this is rode untill the day i go-?
He's saying this song is his greatest accomplishment and he'll be remembered because of it.
I was born in C.H.I. cago, real talk bitch dont spit for wat i no
Soulja Boy was born in Chicago and is stating that he tells the truth.
All my haters ride slow, turk & greese, wheres my dro
His haters aren't as cool as he is and he's asking about his marijuana (dro).
Oh, oh, oh, oh. TWITTER
This is the chorus, repeating the word Twitter many times.
(Soulja boy talkin)
Soulja Boy is speaking between the choruses.
You no what im saying mane
He's checking in and making sure people are following him.
Im all over twitter, im all over the internet
Soulja Boy is everywhere online.
Wheres my dro, cus im fly & im fly & im fly
He's asking again about his marijuana, and saying he's cool again.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, at soulja boy tellem
He's repeating the chorus again.
Twitter dot com soulja boy tellem
He's giving his Twitter handle.
Shout out to sodmg
He's giving a shout out to someone or something called SODMG.
0h. 0h. 0h. 0h, 0h, 0h, 0h, yeah, yeah
Another repetition of the chorus.
Monayyyy, yah
He repeats once more about the importance of money.
Contributed by James W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Soulja Boy
I dedicate my next album to everyone who has watched me grow from the start (the bottom) to where I am now (the top). thank you! i really appreciate the support!
Soulja Boy
I love all my fans, let's get this money people 2010 shit swaggin
Soulja Boy
My new album drop 2010 it's called "Stacks On Deck". all my fans get ready i'm going to give you your money worth I promise. My best album to date.
Yanka r
He was the first popular rapper to make a song about twitter before it reallyyy got poppin in 2011 lol
Soulja Boy
My new album "Stacks On Deck" dropping 2010. Get Ready :p
Soulja Boy
And to all my female supporters. I love you too. Let's make history? :)
Soulja Boy
Follow the Twitter King @souljaboytellem
Soulja Boy
S.O.D. Money Gang
Radoslav Stanchev
Yo Soulja Respect bro! I love your music and 100% i will buy your new album. I dont care about the money i know its going to be great music. Best Wishes ;)
Kat
soulja boy jus keeps gettin better and better; killin it on dis one:)