DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), better known by his
stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply
Soulja Boy, is an American
rapper,
record producer,
actor,
entrepreneur, and
internet personality.
In September 2007, his single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published on the internet, and it later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007.On August 17 Way was listed at #18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010 earning $7 million for that year.
Way has currently released three studio albums and one independent album: his debut studio album ''Souljaboytellem.com'' (2007) was certified platinum by the RIAA. However, his next two albums, ''iSouljaBoyTellem'' (2008) and ''The DeAndre Way'' (2010) did not match the commercial success of his debut, the latter only selling 80,000 copies, despite the success of several singles across both albums, such as "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" and "Turn My Swag On" (''iSouljaBoyTellem'') and "Pretty Boy Swag" (''The DeAndre Way''), the latter later being certified gold by the RIAA.
Early life
DeAndre Way was born in
Chicago and moved to
Atlanta at age six, where he became interested in
rap music.
Career beginnings
At age 14, he moved to
Batesville, Mississippi, with his father, who provided a
recording studio for Way to explore his musical ambitions. Way founded his
record label "Stacks on Deck Entertainment" in 2004. While Way was signed under
Interscope and
Collipark Music, he claimed that his label had distribution deals with Interscope,
Universal Records, and
Koch. In November 2005, Way posted his songs on the website
SoundClick. Following positive reviews on the site, he then established his own web pages on
YouTube and
MySpace. In March 2007, he recorded "
Crank That" and released his first independent album ''
Unsigned & Still Major: Da Album Before da Album'', followed by a low-budget video filmed demonstrating the "Crank That" dance. By the end of May 2007, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" received its first airplay and Way met with
Mr. Collipark to sign a deal with
Interscope Records.
Music career
2007-08: souljaboytellem.com
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.
For the 50th Grammy Awards, Way 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".
''Souljaboytellem.com'' received a favorable review from Allmusic, but received mainly negative reviews from other sources such as ''Entertainment Weekly''. Several reviewers credited Soulja Boy with spearheading a new trend in hip-hop, while speculating he will likely be a one-hit wonder.
2008-09: iSouljaBoyTellem
The follow-up to ''souljaboytellem.com'', ''
iSouljaBoyTellem'', was released on December 16, 2008, to negative critical reception. The first single from the album, "
Bird Walk", peaked at number 40 on the ''
Billboard''
Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart and the top 20 on the
Hot Rap Tracks chart it was performed on the first ''
YouTube Live'' on November 22, 2008, with an introduction from
MC Hammer. "
Kiss Me Thru the Phone", with
Sammie, followed, peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts.
Chris Brown was originally Way's first choice to sing the hook, but respectfully turned down the offer. Way then tried to do it on his own with
Auto-Tune but he found it unacceptable. It sold over 2,000,000 digital copies in the United States, becoming his second song to reach the two million mark in downloads.
On January 26, 2009 Way released his third single "Turn My Swag On". it topped the US Rap Charts and peaked at #19 on the Hot 100. it has so far sold over 1,000,000 digital downloads in the US. It became Soulja Boy's third song to sell 1 million or more downloads.
2009-2010: The DeAndre Way
''
The DeAndre Way'' is Way's third studio album, Way has stated that the album is intended to be his most personal and successful album thus far. When speaking on possible collaborations, he stated he wished to work with artists such as
Jay-Z,
Lil Wayne, and
Kanye West,
Eminem, among others. The lead single from the album, "POW", was released in January 2009 but failed to garner success and was dubbed a promo single. On October 30, 2009 Way released three mixtapes ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Dat Piff'' & ''Cortez''. Then it was announced on February 18, 2010 that the first single from the album was gone be "All Black Everything" but it was cancelled & was just put on his promotional mixtape ''Legendary''. The album was titled "The DeAndre Way" but was changed in early 2010 to ''Dre'' with a commercial video snippet for "Do It Big" as the first single but it was cancelled as well. However it was reverted back to ''The DeAndre Way'' in July 2010.
But on June 8, 2010, the official lead single from the album was "Pretty Boy Swag". The single has reached number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, number six on the Billboard Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number five on the Billboard Rap Songs chart. The album's second single was due to be "Digital" but it was just used on his promotional mixtape ''Best Rapper''. Then it was announced that "Speakers Going Hammer" was gone be the second single, but "Blowing Me Kisses" was released on August 31, 2010 as the second single instead. On October 13 Soulja Boy performed "Pretty Boy Swag" & a snippet of his third single "Speakers Going Hammer". On October 19, 2010 Way finally released "Speakers Going Hammer" on iTunes the single peaked at #48 on the ''Hot R&B; & Hip Hop tracks'' Billboard. ''The DeAndre Way'' was released on November 30, 2010 it has so far has only sold 70,000 copies making this Way's lowest selling album. Soulja Boy was to be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongside Flo Rida, Jay Sean and Travie McCoy in November 2010, but in lieu of his current album release date Soulja Boy had declined the offer & just embarked on his Who They Want tour.
2011-present: Mixtapes and Respect My Hustle
On January 22, Way released his first mixtape of 2011 ''Smooky'' which cover featured a cartoon version of Way on a bicycle doing a 360. Then On March 17, 2011 Way released the mixtape ''1up'' which cover was based on the
Naruto anime Way stated "If I was in a video game, this mixtape would advance me to the next level with an extra life. Power up with the new offering". On April 20, 2011 Way released his mixtape ''Juice'' which cover was based on the ''
Juice'' the movie Way stated he would also released a mini movie of his own to go along with the mixtape Way stated that he was headed to greatness with the mixtape. In September 2011, Way confirmed he is working on a new album, called ''
Respect My Hustle'', which will be released in October.
Personal life
Legal issues
On December 9, 2007, Way was sued by William Lyons (a.k.a. Souljah Boy of
Mo Thugs Family) who created the stage name "Souljah Boy" in 1996.
On October 7, 2009, Way was arrested on one count of obstruction, a misdemeanor, for running from police when he'd been ordered to stop. The rapper was released on $550 bond.
In May 2011, Way and his labels were sued by a local Pennsylvania promoter for failing to make promised payments in connection with a rescheduled concert.
Victim of robbery and assault
On December 30, 2008, Way was robbed and assaulted in his home. Initial reports indicated that the robbers were six masked men with
AK-47s and
pistols but on December 31, 2008, video clips surfaced on the Internet of two masked men claiming sole credit for the crime. Soulja Boy described the incident to
MTV News a month later: He had come home very late at night after attending an album release party and was recording songs with friends when the robbers came in pointing their guns.
Family tragedies
On March 22, 2011, Way's little brother Deion Jenkins was killed in a car crash on Sunday night. Then on March 24, 2011 Way's older brother threatened to committ suicide.
Controversies
Way's music has been banned from some school dances for sexual and violent content or innuendo. However, he has denied these claims. In the original YouTube video for "Shootout", Soulja Boy demonstrates his dance while holding a handgun in each hand and pretending to shoot into the audience.
Nas
On February 25, 2008, Way said in an interview that "
Nas killed hip hop and his own career". Way later apologized for his comments.
Ice-T
In June 2008, on DJ Cisco's ''Urban Legend'' mixtape,
Ice-T told Way to "eat a dick" and criticized Way for "killing hip-hop" and his song "Crank That" for being "garbage" compared to the works of other hip-hop artists such as
Rakim,
Das EFX,
Big Daddy Kane and
Ice Cube. The two then traded videos back and forth over the Internet. Rapper
Kanye West defended Way by arguing that the younger artist created a new, original work for hip-hop, thus keeping the authentic meaning of the music. The feud was parodied in a 2010 episode of
The Boondocks.
Charles Hamilton
On December 9, 2008,
Charles Hamilton commented in a interview by saying that Way was making it harder for new artists to be signed. Way responded by saying "X out the Sonic and fuck with Mario, you might want to got damn eat a mushroom."
Charles Hamilton responded with the diss song "Im You Last Year With Talent". Then the diss song "Word Aight".
Bow Wow
On February 2, 2009, Way challenged
Bow Wow to a race in their
Lamborghinis and claimed Bow Wow's Lamborghini was a rental. On February 4, 2009
Bow Wow proved that he owned his Lamborghini and said "its halloween in Bankhead for you everyday nigga..you scared..you all nervous and shit". Way responded on twitter by saying "HE FUCKED UP!!!! IM BOUT TO SHITTTT ON THIS NIGGA!! LOL!!!!!". On February 7, 2009 both artist sent diss songs to each other such as Way's "Fuck Bow Wow" &
Bow Wow's "What I Think About You". Later that day during a phone conversation both rappers settled their differences.
Fabolous
On December 28, 2010,
Fabolous during a radio interview commented on the claim that Way does cocaine, saying "pretty boy swag but never coke my nose though", a reference to Way's song "Pretty Boy Swag. "Soulja Boy went on a tirade on Twitter in response, saying "I ignore dis foo like 5x before this. fuck that. If you send some niggaz to spray me @myfabolouslife at least I die I real nigga fuck you boy." 50 Cent also took to Twitter to say, "leave him the f*** alone before somebody get hurt." Way and Fabolous ended their beef on a radio interview.
"Let's Be Real"
In September 2011, Soulja Boy released the song "Let's Be Real". One of the lines of the song went: ''"Fuck the FBI and the army troops ... fighting for what? Be your own man ... I'll be flying through the clouds with green like I'm Peter Pan."'' After the song was released, Soulja Boy was highly criticized by the military members and their families, especially in regards to the timing relative to the 10th anniversary of the
September 11 Attacks. Soulja Boy apologized, "When I expressed my frustration with the US Army, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them." He adds, "So, I write this to give my sincerest apology to all members of the United States military services, as well as their families that were offended by my most recent lyrics." Representatives for Soulja Boy have indicated that the song has been pulled from his upcoming album, ''Respect My Hustle,'' and will not be available for sale. They are also attempting to remove the video from the internet.
Discography
;Studio albums
''Souljaboytellem.com'' (2007)
''iSouljaBoyTellem'' (2008)
''The DeAndre Way'' (2010)
''Respect My Hustle'' (2011)
Tours
''Americas Most Wanted'' (2009)
''Who They Want'' (2011)
Filmography
Awards and nominations
BET Awards
*2007: Best New Artist (Nominated)
*2008: Viewer's Choice Award: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" (Nominated)
*2009: Viewer's Choice Award: "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (Nominated)
BET Hip-Hop Awards
*'2007: Best Hip-Hop Dance (Won)'
Grammy Awards
*2008: Best Rap Song: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" (Nominated)
Ozone Awards
*'2007: Patiently Waiting: Mississippi (Won)'
*2008: Best Breakthrough Artist (Nominated)
*2008: TJ's DJ's Tastemaker Award (Nominated)
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
*2007: Favorite Male Singer (Nominated)
Teen Choice Awards
*2009: Choice Music: Rap Artist (Nominated)
*2009: Choice Music: R&B; Track for "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (Nominated)
*2009: Choice Music: Hook Up for "Kiss Me Thru the Phone"
*2009: Choice Music: Artist (Nominated)
See also
List of artists who reached number one in the United States
References
External links
Official website
Category:1990 births
Category:Living people
Category:Actors from Mississippi
Category:African American actors
Category:African American rappers
Category:African-American businesspeople
Category:African American film actors
Category:American film actors
Category:American film producers
Category:American hip hop record producers
Category:American Internet personalities
Category:American music industry executives
Category:American music video directors
Category:American pop musicians
Category:American record producers
Category:Businesspeople from Mississippi
Category:Hip hop musicians
Category:Hip hop singers
Category:Interscope Records artists
Category:People from Panola County, Mississippi
Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia
Category:Rappers from Chicago, Illinois
Category:Rappers from Mississippi
ar:سولجا بوي تل إم
da:Soulja Boy
de:Soulja Boy
es:Soulja Boy
fr:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
ko:솔자 보이
hr:Soulja Boy
is:Soulja Boy
it:Soulja Boy
nl:Soulja Boy
ja:ソウルジャ・ボーイ・テレム
no:Soulja Boy
pl:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
pt:Soulja Boy
ro:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
ru:Soulja Boy
simple:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
fi:Soulja Boy
sv:Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
th:โซลจา บอย เทลล์'เอ็ม
tr:Soulja Boy